giles45shop
Contributor
Great explanations so far, a couple other considerations which have not come up yet:
1. A BP&W system does not have pockets for storage of items. There are a couple ways to address this. One is that you have pockets on either your drysuit or wetsuit, another is a thigh pocket, which has a loop that threads on your harness waist strap and another strap which goes around your thigh to hold it in place. Another option are stretchy shorts that are worn over your wetsuit which have built-in pockets. Yet another option is a pocket that threads onto the waist strap. This type of pocket sits at waist level, as opposed to the thigh pocket which is situated in the thigh area.
2. For ballast weights, you have a couple options. One is to wear a weight belt, which is a popular way to solve the problem of how to carry weights. The other way is to have weight pockets on the waist strap of the harness. This works as well, issue may be limited space on your waist if you have combined wight pockets along with other storage pockets.
Depending on your combination of exposure protection, tanks, plate (Al or stainless), etc., you may find that you have to wear little to no weight. when I dive in freshwater, w/ a HP 100 steel tank, stainless plate and 5mm wetsuit, I don't wear any weight. For cold salt water diving, w/ a 7mm wetsuit, same HP100 tank and stainless plate, I have to wear ~ 18 lbs on a weight belt.
Obviously, this can very greatly from person to person, but just something to think about.
Dive safe,
John
1. A BP&W system does not have pockets for storage of items. There are a couple ways to address this. One is that you have pockets on either your drysuit or wetsuit, another is a thigh pocket, which has a loop that threads on your harness waist strap and another strap which goes around your thigh to hold it in place. Another option are stretchy shorts that are worn over your wetsuit which have built-in pockets. Yet another option is a pocket that threads onto the waist strap. This type of pocket sits at waist level, as opposed to the thigh pocket which is situated in the thigh area.
2. For ballast weights, you have a couple options. One is to wear a weight belt, which is a popular way to solve the problem of how to carry weights. The other way is to have weight pockets on the waist strap of the harness. This works as well, issue may be limited space on your waist if you have combined wight pockets along with other storage pockets.
Depending on your combination of exposure protection, tanks, plate (Al or stainless), etc., you may find that you have to wear little to no weight. when I dive in freshwater, w/ a HP 100 steel tank, stainless plate and 5mm wetsuit, I don't wear any weight. For cold salt water diving, w/ a 7mm wetsuit, same HP100 tank and stainless plate, I have to wear ~ 18 lbs on a weight belt.
Obviously, this can very greatly from person to person, but just something to think about.
Dive safe,
John