Which aspects of a bp/w control how high the plate sits on your back? Is it the length of the shoulder straps? The size of the plate? How short the crotch strap is? The phase of the moon when the plate was manufactured?
I ask because I have been having some issues with my head touching my first stage when using a single tank rig. Despite adjustments to just about every part of my harness*, I have not been able to make any sort of improvement. It seems that nothing I do has any effect whatsoever on where the plate sits on my back. And, since the placement of the wing does not affect how close the valve (and hence first stage) sits to my head and the tank is already as low down in the cam-bands as possible, only the placement of the plate on my back can affect the position of the first stage.
First I tried adjusting the shoulder straps. I have gone from having them loose enough to pull my whole arm out while out of the water ... :11: ... to the recommended 3 fingers width spacing.
I also tried adjusting the crotch strap reasoning that it could pull the bottom of the plate downwards however I can never seem to get enough tension for this to happen. What usually happens is that my waist strap is pulled downwards instead of the plate.
I've even tried rotating the cylinder in the cam bands so that the first stage is at an angle to my head. That just made it worse!
Thinking about it logically, the best way to stop my head touching the first stage is to move my plate down on my back. But I have no idea how to go about doing this as any adjustments I make to the harness seem to have negligible effect on the plate.
I suppose that I could just get used to the first stage touching my head. The problem is that it really REALLY bugs me. It is almost to the point that I get claustrophobic when I feel that little piece of metal behind my head. The harness could be as loose as possible (such as when I could pull both arms out) and I would feel trapped and constricted simply because I can't move my head. It gets to the point where I can't enjoy the dive at all because I am continually irritated every time I try to move my head. I feel like I can't concentrate on important things like buoyancy and proper breathing because of the continual background irritation. Its almost like being constantly tickled ... not painful but VERY annoying.
My head only touches the first stage when I look forwards i.e. when I arch my back. If I am looking straight down it never happens. What this means is I usually end up paying lots of attention to whatever is directly in front of me and no attention to proper trim. :no
*for the record I use a single piece of webbing, hog style harness. I have the plate positioned so that I can just about touch the top of it with my fingers. I always put the top cam band just where my dumpy 12L steel cylinder breaks, on the shoulder.
I ask because I have been having some issues with my head touching my first stage when using a single tank rig. Despite adjustments to just about every part of my harness*, I have not been able to make any sort of improvement. It seems that nothing I do has any effect whatsoever on where the plate sits on my back. And, since the placement of the wing does not affect how close the valve (and hence first stage) sits to my head and the tank is already as low down in the cam-bands as possible, only the placement of the plate on my back can affect the position of the first stage.
First I tried adjusting the shoulder straps. I have gone from having them loose enough to pull my whole arm out while out of the water ... :11: ... to the recommended 3 fingers width spacing.
I also tried adjusting the crotch strap reasoning that it could pull the bottom of the plate downwards however I can never seem to get enough tension for this to happen. What usually happens is that my waist strap is pulled downwards instead of the plate.
I've even tried rotating the cylinder in the cam bands so that the first stage is at an angle to my head. That just made it worse!
Thinking about it logically, the best way to stop my head touching the first stage is to move my plate down on my back. But I have no idea how to go about doing this as any adjustments I make to the harness seem to have negligible effect on the plate.
I suppose that I could just get used to the first stage touching my head. The problem is that it really REALLY bugs me. It is almost to the point that I get claustrophobic when I feel that little piece of metal behind my head. The harness could be as loose as possible (such as when I could pull both arms out) and I would feel trapped and constricted simply because I can't move my head. It gets to the point where I can't enjoy the dive at all because I am continually irritated every time I try to move my head. I feel like I can't concentrate on important things like buoyancy and proper breathing because of the continual background irritation. Its almost like being constantly tickled ... not painful but VERY annoying.
My head only touches the first stage when I look forwards i.e. when I arch my back. If I am looking straight down it never happens. What this means is I usually end up paying lots of attention to whatever is directly in front of me and no attention to proper trim. :no
*for the record I use a single piece of webbing, hog style harness. I have the plate positioned so that I can just about touch the top of it with my fingers. I always put the top cam band just where my dumpy 12L steel cylinder breaks, on the shoulder.