"Finally got rig and love it" should be a sticky thread

[bkotheimer]

Did my first dive with my Torus 26 and SS BP at Veteran's Park (Redondo) on Saturday. Got a lot of help from some of the regulars there with the final config. These guys were diving OMS, DiveRite, Halcyon and the like, with all the same DIR-inspired configuration that I've been reading about here.

They suggested a single inner tube around both the corrugated hose and the inflator hose (but not the webbing), far up toward the top, then the standard bungee on just the corrugated hose at the d-ring keeper. Made sense to me, so I went with that.

They loved the finish on the backplate, especially the reinforced slots. Definitely a sexy rig.

Only one potential negative.... they weren't crazy about the turned-up d-rings on the shoulder straps and would have either reversed them so they pointed down or replaced them with flat ones.

But enough of what others thought.... I loved it! Everything felt natural and intuitive, and I really appreciated not being squeezed by a jacket. And having less weight on the belt (about half, in fact) was awesome.

I'm getting a little rotating of the tank sideways (as if the tank were the hand on a clock), but I think I just need to tighten the straps a wee bit to account for compression.

Any of the sensation by the first-time BP/W user (of which I am one) that they're being pushed forward while floating on the surface is easily countered by just leaning back. The rig is actually very comfortable to lean back in and paddle around on one's back.

Finally, I appreciated being able to take it apart easily, fill the wing with fresh water and swish it around to rinse it out. Easy and modular.... I'm going to like this thing.

 

[cool_hardware52]

They loved the finish on the backplate, especially the reinforced slots. Definitely a sexy rig.

Only one potential negative.... they weren't crazy about the turned-up d-rings on the shoulder straps and would have either reversed them so they pointed down or replaced them with flat ones.

I'm not sure I follow you here. We don't provide any "turned up drings" Our Hogarthian Harness kit includes two bent wire drings that are intended for use on the shoulder straps, one each at about your clavicle. The bend "kicks" the loop of the dring out slightly to make clipping off easier. You can hold these "down" by clipping off a back up light. If you carry only one back up put it on the right side, you will be clipping off to the right chest dring much more frequently than the left side.

Bent drings are very commonly used for chest drings.

Tobin

 

[bkotheimer]

Yeah, I knew you'd pick up on that one nit-picky point, Tobin. The bend in the ring makes it stick pretty much straight out (not just kicked out a little), even with a relatively heavy light clipped off to it. This is perhaps more pronounced on a brand-new piece of webbing with a snug keeper on it. The diver in question (a good DM with a nice streamlined configuration) thought flat rings would lie better against the shoulder straps. That's all.

I'll make it up with two more positive comments:

This was also my first beach/shore dive. Walking a good distance down stairs and across sand with all my gear, I couldn't imagine how that would have been with a jacket-style BC. They always feel saggy around the shoulders and under the arms just walking across the deck of a boat to stride in. But the BP/W felt rigid and very supportive of the tank the whole way.

I definitely felt more horizonal and less heads-up than I ever have. While this -- like many of the other comments I've made -- might be said of ANY BP/W versus jacket BC, it's a first for me so I'm giving Tobin and DSS all the credit!

 

[cool_hardware52]

Yeah, I knew you'd pick up on that one nit-picky point, Tobin.

I enjoy the positive comments, but any difficulties will get my attention first.

The bend in the ring makes it stick pretty much straight out (not just kicked out a little), even with a relatively heavy light clipped off to it. This is perhaps more pronounced on a brand-new piece of webbing with a snug keeper on it.

The drings will lay down a bit when the webbing takes a set. I suggest you leave them as is until after you have had the opportunity to clip off a reg or light head a few hundred times.

I'll make it up with two more positive comments:

This was also my first beach/shore dive. Walking a good distance down stairs and across sand with all my gear, I couldn't imagine how that would have been with a jacket-style BC. They always feel saggy around the shoulders and under the arms just walking across the deck of a boat to stride in. But the BP/W felt rigid and very supportive of the tank the whole way.

I definitely felt more horizonal and less heads-up than I ever have. While this -- like many of the other comments I've made -- might be said of ANY BP/W versus jacket BC, it's a first for me so I'm giving Tobin and DSS all the credit!

Thanks!

Tobin

 

[Chazzjoh]

The real question of course is this:

Did Tobin have his "art student" redesign the packaging to be as exciting as waiting for new dive gear warrants? ;-)

 

[ClayJar]

The real question of course is this:

Did Tobin have his "art student" redesign the packaging to be as exciting as waiting for new dive gear warrants? ;-)

What, and ruin the quintessential "Wait a minute, that's from DSS?!? Aw, man, the box is *way* too small. They must not have sent everything at once." reaction that practically everyone has then they see it? :biggrin:


As for the "rotating tank" thing, you can skew it a little while you're strapping it on a tank, at least if you try, but the solution to that is just to be sure you haven't skewed it. (If you have, open the cam band buckle and tap the plate back to straight.) I know I wasn't used to dual cam bands at first, as my jacket BC had the tank-catamaran-and-single-band configuration.

 

[4sak3n]

What, and ruin the quintessential "Wait a minute, that's from DSS?!? Aw, man, the box is *way* too small. They must not have sent everything at once." reaction that practically everyone has then they see it? :biggrin:

That was soooooo what I thought when I got my rig too. :biggrin:

Its always exciting to read about people who are excited about their new rig because it reminds me of how stoked I was when I finally got mine. Come to think of it, reminds me of how stoked I feel every time I see my assembled rig, basking in its glory.

The word "gorgeous" gets mentioned quite a bit when people first see it.