From BCD to BPW: The Evolution

[Nemrod]

I cut rubber bands from my old bike tubes, usually the 28mm-32mm size from my Cross-Check, and slide them onto the webbing for various purposes. If the rubber band causes the webbing to crush/bow, then in my opinion it is too soft. Several of my harnesses bow and I hate that, the keepers (and I call them keepers) slide, the shoulder straps sag making them hard to get into and all in all I like the stuff that is relatively stiff enough to hold shape. The Oxy webbing seems about right.

N

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I originally saw them called belt slides, then tri-glides, and then keepers in this thread. No wonder us newcomers get confused!

I just looked in my Trident catalog and they are indeed called "Keepers", so that's what I am officially going with.

 

[uncfnp]

Finally got to try it in the pool. I am now a complete believer in the Freedom Plate. Most of the dive, I never knew it was there. As for the harness. I finally settled on the one piece webbing with the PVC/D-ring pipe addition that Akimbo posted and, yes, chest straps. In the water, I don't need it. But on land, shore diving Bonaire, the chest strap works the best to keep the shoulder straps from bruising my arms/shoulders. The combo of softer 1 1/2 inch webbing and the straps would probably be the most ideal but I wanted to keep it as simple as possible. And if boat diving, the chest straps are easily removed. Got to love the BPW adaptability! Thanks to Eric, Lowviz and Akimbo for helping me find the perfect BPW and harness set for me.

 

[maniago]

Finally got to try it in the pool. I am now a complete believer in the Freedom Plate.

Sweet! For thread completeness, can you post a final pic of your rig, and mention whose webbing, keepers and wing you finally went with? I haven't bought anything beyond the plate, waiting for this thread to play out. Thanks for all your hard work - projects like this are super informative!

 

[DanMont]

Just got my setup today, red hat stainless steel plate, dive rite basic harness, voyager exp wing + scubapro crotch strap. Subsequently spent 2 hours setting it up rather than revising for my exam tomorrow (ooops! :ermm Anyway i love it so much already! Really comfortable so can't wait to get it in the pool next week. Will get some photos up one here later to show you all.

 

[Akimbo]

Just got my setup today, red hat stainless steel plate, dive rite basic harness, voyager exp wing + scubapro crotch strap. ...

FYI, the Freedom Plate is very different from a standard doubles plate. It is designed for singles and has compound curves rather than a flat plate with some bends.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bu...952-new-freedom-contour-rolex-backplates.html

 

[maniago]

......rather than revising for my exam tomorrow (ooops! :ermm .

Not that it matters, but you brought a smile to my face. I haven't seen or heard the word "revising" used like since my boyhood O-levels 40yrs ago, and I knew you had to be from the mothership! As they say, two English speaking countries separated by a common language.
Thanks for the quick trip down memory lane.

 

[Colliam7]

I originally saw them called belt slides, then tri-glides, and then keepers in this thread. No wonder us newcomers get confused!

It is a conspiracy - you can buy the same item multiple times:

Reef Scuba weight keeper

Dive Gear Express belt slide

Northeast Scuba Supply keeper

Dive Rite In Scuba tri-glide

It is recommended that you get 3 tri-glides for your rig. Of course, you will also need three keepers. And, don't forget the belt slides.

 

[uncfnp]

Sweet! For thread completeness, can you post a final pic of your rig, and mention whose webbing, keepers and wing you finally went with? I haven't bought anything beyond the plate, waiting for this thread to play out. Thanks for all your hard work - projects like this are super informative!

The webbing is from the LDS. I believe they get it from Dive Rite and its the same stuff on Dive Gear Express. The hardware is courtesy of lowviz. And the wing is Oxycheq. For incidentals I used Dive Gear Express, Piranha Dive, and Cave Adventurers.