How Often I Should Have my Reserve Repacked?
We recommend having your reserve repacked once annually. The reserve can carry moisture trapped in the deployment bag. Over time is can become compressed, and any sand, dirt, or grit can damage the fabric. The annual repack increases your chance of a fast opening time. Untangling your reserve bridle lines before shipping will reduce your cost and the amount of time we spend untangling lines. You must complete the Eagle Service Ticket Form before sending us your items to be serviced. In our professional opinion, reserves that are 10 or more years old, should be retired regardless if they have been used or not. It comes down to safety and overall fabric degradation over the years. We cannot offer repack service to reserves 10 or more years old.
You can expect return shipping costs to be around the same price you paid to ship you service items to Eagle.
We encourage you to get in a simulator and actually throw your reserve before shipping it to us. You want to take the opportunity to get a feel for grabbing the handle and following reserve deployment procedures every time you are having it repacked so it becomes a familiar move. Its best to send your reserve and deployment bag only, and keep your reserve handle and harness at home. This will save you on shipping costs. You will need to send your reserve and harness if you don’t have anyone to help you install the reserve in your harness, or you are not confident you can do that alone. You can expect a one week turnaround time from the time we receive your reserve parachute.
The other option is to stop by our shop at 415 W. Anapamu Street in Santa Barbara, and throw your reserve in our simulator. Either way, you want to make sure you go through all steps of a reserve deployment each and every time you are having the reserve repacked. We have been repacking reserves since 1998. We offer a more reliable service than someone who repacks once a year: we do this every week!
All reserves are aired out to lose their fabric memory, and inspected for damage. We inspect the harness bridle, shoulder attachment points and connections.
