Installing something to clip a retractor to inside a BCD pocket
Welcome to ScubaBoard, an online scuba diving forum community where you can join over 205,000 divers from around the world discussing all things related to Scuba Diving. To gain full access to ScubaBoard (and make this large box go away) you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:
Participate in over 500 dive topic forums and browse from over 5,500,000 posts.
Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
Post your own photos or view from well over 100,000 user submitted images.
Gain access to our free classifieds marketplace to buy, sell and trade gear, travel and services.
Use the calendar to organize your events and enroll in other members' events.
All this and much more is available to you absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact the ScubaBoard Support Team.
I think the grommets are the way to go, you can buy a "kit" for just a few bucks at a fabric store, or harbor freight, however those grommets usually are made of (&*%^$) from somewhere that doesnt have the strictest quality control and they tend to corrode easily, so you'd want to buy some additional stainless or "real" brass grommets for your dive stuff, I use the (good) brass ones, as they are easier to instal and cheaper than the stainless. Obviously they will still corrode but as long as you keep them clean... I have some that are over 20 years old and still look and work fine.
So I went to the Home Depot and got a brass grommet kit for under $10.
Ultimately I was successful but it got a bit hairy at one point and I thought I screwed up my new $400 BCD.
The two problems were
1- The underside of the pocket isn't readily accessible, you have to sort of fold and hold the material out of the way so it's a bit tricky to get a clean blow with the hammer when giving the two grommet halves the required strike, and on two of the grommets I didn't come down directly on top of the grommet...
2- The BCD pocket material is quite thin (especially when punctured to make a hole for the grommet) and more prone to tearing than a heavy tarp for which the grommet kit is designed.
So put those two things together, and what happened was that 2 of the 4 grommets went in with no problem but the other two...the grommet halves didn't seat firmly together and the grommet shifted during the strike and slipped right out, leaving a large dime sized hole which was a bit larger than the center of each grommet.
So I had to work my way around the "grommet axle", glueing the BCD pocket material with crazy glue as I pulled it toward the center of the grommet half. When the glue was dry and set, I then hammered the other half and that seemed to result in a very secure grommet. The glue is really just to hold the material during the grommet hammering process so the grommet halves don't slide, now that it's all together the glue really isn't needed so it should hold up ok in the water.
I will no longer be responding to vision care advice requests either via pm or on the thread I started on that subject. My apologies in advance for any consternation that may result.
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Originally Posted by MichiganScott
Reply With Quote