BP/W comfort type setup for a woman

Hi all,

My friend was going to buy her first BC and I, as well as other people from the Long Beach scuba show and a dive trip we just came back from in FL, convinced her to go straight to a bp/w rather than a jacket BC.

She is 5'5" and about 110-120 regular athletic build. I am now tasked with putting together a rig for her. We are looking at comfort style harnesses such as the OMS comfort harness systems, Diverite Transplate systems, the Hollis Elite systems, Apeks WTX, and the new scubapro x-tec system. The biggest issue is fit. It seems the OMS systems go down only to a 32" waist which is find in a dry suit or cold water wetsuits but if you are going to take that to warm water, it's going to be FAR too big for a smaller girl.

What do any of you ladies use and what have you found comfortable. Keep in mind we want this to be setup for a single tank system in cold water that can be changed/modified to go to warm water (switch to a travel bladder and AL backplate etc). I also need it be able to fit quick dump weight pouches which might be difficult due to limited real estate on the waist.

Please, keep the comments down about jackets are fine or single continuous harness is better etc. She has already made up her mind on what she wants. At least I convinced her that she didn't need a back pad.

Thanks!

Can't keep the comment down! Just get a standard plate and a one piece HOG harness. Cheaper and fits better. One of my female friends bought a comfort harness and found her boobs kept her from being able to use the chest strap. Sometimes the chest strap will also get in the way of the inflator valve for the drysuit. The fluff padding just requires more weight to sink it, and won't add in more comfort. The d-rings are not as adjustable and may not fall into proper place. She could try the single piece harness for around $15 then if she doesn't like it down grade to the comfort harness.

We just set my gal up with a Freedom Plate, Oxycheq Mach V 30lb wing, and a HOG harness. Works perfect for warm and cold water diving in a drysuit. Unfortunately I do not believe the Freedom Plates are currently available, but it is the most comfortable single tank plate I have ever used, including without any exposure protection, against my bare skin.

Scuba Toys has some decent packages. Dive Rite plates, Mach V wings, and all needed accessories.

My girlfriend is slightly taller than your friend. She really likes her Deep Sea Supply (DSS) LCD30 with simple hog harness. She has a medium SS DSS BP for cold water diving locally and a medium Kydex DSS BP for warm water travel -- same LCD30 wing is used both home and away. We've installed XS Scuba trim weight pockets on her tank cambands (one on the top, one on the bottom). She uses a DUI Weight & Trim weight harness for carrying the bulk of her ballast while diving locally in a drysuit. For warm water diving when she's wearing less exposure protection (3mm full wetsuit), she brings along a simple weightbelt just in case she needs a little weight at the hips. However, on our last trip, she ended up not using the weightbelt since she was able to load all of her required ballast into the tank camband pockets. Technically speaking, this meant that she didn't have any rapidly ditchable weight, but both of us were comfortable with that.

The system works great at home and on a tropical dive vacation.

You're preaching to the choir. I dive a hog setup (in cold water) and I went over all the benefits etc with her. She wants the piece of mind of buckles. I think I can get her off the "padded" shoulder straps but she definitely wants a chest strap and at least one shoulder buckle. I can't do much more convincing on that part =/

Clammy:

You're preaching to the choir. I dive a hog setup (in cold water) and I went over all the benefits etc with her. She wants the piece of mind of buckles. I think I can get her off the "padded" shoulder straps but she definitely wants a chest strap and at least one shoulder buckle. I can't do much more convincing on that part =/

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Just for fun about once a year, all of my dive buddies do a dive (easy, shallow daytime local shore dive) where we switch around various dive gear within our group. This way people get the opportunity to try out the new reg/BCD/drysuit that a buddy has been raving about. You'd be surprised how much a hassle-free, no-strings-attached demo influences subsequent buying decisions.

Why not offer to let her dive your BP/W...just once? (Just make sure you use a paint pen to mark the adjustments on the webbing so that it's easy to return the harness to its original setting.)

Ideally I would do that, but we both have time constraints and I'm fairly certain I won't convince her into a hog setup.

Choir or not, if your GF is willing to learn from others, she'll hear all about DSS and continuous harness. If she isn't willing to learn, why bother asking?

Does she travel a lot by air? If so, she may want to go aluminum plate or kydex plate.

Clammy:

You're preaching to the choir. I dive a hog setup (in cold water) and I went over all the benefits etc with her. She wants the piece of mind of buckles. I think I can get her off the "padded" shoulder straps but she definitely wants a chest strap and at least one shoulder buckle. I can't do much more convincing on that part =/

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If she dives a drysuit a chest strap may well not work. As Bubb's suggests have her try on some different units. With a one piece harness you can add in an "unnecessary" shoulder buckle on one side. You leave the webbing continuous and just add the buckles in to take up slack. Some would call the buckle a failure point, so it is not considered a safety item. Shears would be considered a safety item.

I went over the shears thing as well as a failure point thing but no dice.

She wasn't asking about bp/w setups. She was a little curious that everyone I was diving with had one even in when we were doing vacation dives in FL. It has nothing to do with willing to listen or not.

I really don't want to spend this thread arguing this. This is a question of fit and comfort particularly for women who have a similar setup. I am not here to argue the merits of a hog vs comfort harness etc. I, myself, dive a hog bp/w and I've made MY choice. This thread was not to question that so please, again, I ask that you refrain from the hog is better posts in this particular thread. Thank you!

There is no choir.
Some gear just seems to work better for certain individuals. What works for my girlfriend won't necessarily work for your friend.
She should test-dive a conventional jacket BCD, a rear-inflate BCD (Scubapro Ladyhawk, Zeagle Zena, Seaquest Libra), softpack BP/W-like setups (OMS, Dive Rite Transpac, Apeks WTX harness), and a simple BP/W.

It's not a matter of convincing her of anything. A diver won't know what works "best" until she tries it out for herself.

Good luck with everything...