Need feedback on this sm harness

Hi guys,

I recently got a couple of oxycheq wings and after looking around for a suitable sm harness, I finally realized that the best solution would to make one myself.

So to the sm gurus here, what do you think of this harness.

The harness would be mostly made out of seat belt webbing to give strength but the shoulder harness and waist webbing would be something similar to Halcyon but a tad softer.

The retainers are all custom ss laser cut & 3mm thick.

The diagram shows a basic harness without most of the waist d or shoulder d rings but the feature of this system is complete adjustability.

Anyone from 7' to below 5' should be use this harness as it's a 2 piece design with dual straps that one could thread through and lock at the ss retainers similar to a ss belt buckle.

The ss retainers at the shoulders, crouch and waist allow easy removal, adjustment and replacement of webbing.

I have chosen to use low profile 2" D rings instead of standard 1" rings to secure the stage/main sm tanks as I would be mostly diving from boats and I need something as strong as secure as possible in rough seas.

As with the transpac harness, it would allow the use of bm singles, doubles with the use of the transpac stabilization plates or sta and the spacing of the harness would be simlar to that of a oxycheq wing.

Any comments/feedback to improve the design would be greatly appreciated.



SangP

Why not use standard 2" webbing all the way around? I've heard of people using seatbelt material before... I hear it doesn't take well to abrassion and doesn't cinch down as well as simple webbing.

It kinda looks like you just remade the transpac, with less front adjustment.




If you're gonna go that route, make it all ALOT simpler. Keep a seperate(ideally your current) setup for BM. Then design a simplistic setup for SM alone. Trying to make an all-in-one rig always has disadvantages and IMO, there's already enough of that on the market to even worry about going through the trouble of building something yourself.

Unless you really want to do-it-yourself, take a look at Steve Bogaert's Razor harness. I have one, but haven't gotten it wet yet, partly because I don't have the flotation issue worked out for colder water and heavier tanks. I ran across a site in the UK which makes it look like the Hollis SMS100 wing will work out very nicely with it. The Razor is basically the sidemount version of the one-piece Hog harness, no Fastex buckles, padding, or chest straps, and completely adjustable. There are some amazing videos on the site of Steve diving it in the cenotes and wrecks. I'll be back in Playa next spring, and if I can work out the logistics, would like to spend a couple of days with him in a sidemount class.

SuPrBuGmAn:

Why not use standard 2" webbing all the way around? I've heard of people using seatbelt material before... I hear it doesn't take well to abrassion and doesn't cinch down as well as simple webbing.

It kinda looks like you just remade the transpac, with less front adjustment.

If you're gonna go that route, make it all ALOT simpler. Keep a seperate(ideally your current) setup for BM. Then design a simplistic setup for SM alone. Trying to make an all-in-one rig always has disadvantages and IMO, there's already enough of that on the market to even worry about going through the trouble of building something yourself.

Click to expand...

I wanted to use standard 2" webbing but even the transpac uses different types of 2" webbing as it is very difficult to sew through more than 2 layers of standard webbing. The soft back plate is mostly 2" seat belt webbing but the shoulder and waist harness are standard webbing.

I agree that seat belt webbing doesn't clinch well which is why it is only used for the back plate and all the retainers are sewed onto the webbing, no slips there.

As for the frontal adjustment, I didn't show the adjustable harness which uses double D rings for a clinch system but is extremely secure and easy to use.

rongoodman:

Unless you really want to do-it-yourself, take a look at Steve Bogaert's Razor harness. I have one, but haven't gotten it wet yet, partly because I don't have the flotation issue worked out for colder water and heavier tanks. I ran across a site in the UK which makes it look like the Hollis SMS100 wing will work out very nicely with it. The Razor is basically the sidemount version of the one-piece Hog harness, no Fastex buckles, padding, or chest straps, and completely adjustable. There are some amazing videos on the site of Steve diving it in the cenotes and wrecks. I'll be back in Playa next spring, and if I can work out the logistics, would like to spend a couple of days with him in a sidemount class.

Click to expand...

Actually I did look at the razor harness and designed something similar but with more slots to allow the use of different types of harnesses.



Thanks for all the great feedback guys. The reason for the modified transpac is cus the transpac doesn't fit the recon wing well while the modified razor/safety harness is the lack of slots.

SangP

Personal preference, but I like the shoulder harness to come straight down to the waist harness rather than to the back. It seems to be more stable that way. No need for a chest strap if you're diving lighter aluminum cylinders, but if you plan on using heavier cylinders at all, you may want to consider integrating a chest strap. It's quite easy to make one. I didn't like the chest strap on my Nomad and replaced it with static line and a bolt snap and it works so much better as well as providing me with an additional location to keep clothespins.

Dive-aholic:

Personal preference, but I like the shoulder harness to come straight down to the waist harness rather than to the back. It seems to be more stable that way. No need for a chest strap if you're diving lighter aluminum cylinders, but if you plan on using heavier cylinders at all, you may want to consider integrating a chest strap. It's quite easy to make one. I didn't like the chest strap on my Nomad and replaced it with static line and a bolt snap and it works so much better as well as providing me with an additional location to keep clothespins.

Click to expand...

I completely agree that it is much more stable if the waist straps starts around the waist n not the back and I will make a chest strap.. I have more than enough 1" strap lying about for that !

SangP

Here's what I went with...seems to work pretty well, but light on the shoulders. The low profile drings aren't a great idea. I've got less than 15 dives in it, so I'm presenting it as an idea, certainly not a solution.

Hi James,

Pretty nifty setup there

The hardware I ordered should be available tomorrow and after some deburring and finishing I should be able to post some photos this weekend.

Many thanks

SangP

How much did the hardware cost?

The modified razor harness is about $78, while the modified transpac is about $115... not cheap . However, I get to design the harness exactly the way I want it to be... !

SangP