BP/W for beginners?

[Pearlman]

If your harness is adjusted correctly and you have a crotch strap to keep everything tight, any kind of sliding BS is completely unnecessary.

The context is about quick removal of your BP/W harness by another person in water where that person may not know how to handle a BP/W being a BCD user all his life. That user may easily discover that a single tug of the strap on the slider side has loosened it enough to extricate the diver from his gear who is comatose in-water… sure everyone can remove his own BP/W while on the boat with some deft twisting moves of the upper body and shoulder aided by an element of spinal rotation.

Personally I like to wear my harness just slightly tighter than a fist-bump because I like my BP/W to rest a little higher up on my back while standing up with the weight of the tank like a well setup backpack. Otherwise the gear not only sags but the wider Zen BP rests on my hip bone (iliac crest I think?) - it may have to do with my ordering a size L Zen BP rather than the S (1” shorter) because my height is in-between the recommendation for transition from S to L.

Meanwhile I am tickling myself trying to picture someone in a BP/W with the recommended fist-bump loose shoulder straps deftly dropping the BP/W to the floor with a flick of her thumb like that sexy woman in a negligee making a move (like in a Hollywood movie)…

 

[steinbil]

The context is about quick removal of your BP/W harness by another person in water where that person may not know how to handle a BP/W being a BCD user all his life. That user may easily discover that a single tug of the strap on the slider side has loosened it enough to extricate the diver from his gear who is comatose in-water… sure everyone can remove his own BP/W while on the boat with some deft twisting moves of the upper body and shoulder aided by an element of spinal rotation.

Personally I like to wear my harness just slightly tighter than a fist-bump because I like my BP/W to rest a little higher up on my back while standing up with the weight of the tank like a well setup backpack. Otherwise the gear not only sags but the wider Zen BP rests on my hip bone (iliac crest I think?) - it may have to do with my ordering a size L Zen BP rather than the S (1” shorter) because my height is in-between the recommendation for transition from S to L.

Meanwhile I am tickling myself trying to picture someone in a BP/W with the recommended fist-bump loose shoulder straps deftly dropping the BP/W to the floor with a flick of her thumb like that sexy woman in a negligee making a move (like in a Hollywood movie)…

Fiddling with straps in a real emergency sounds like a really bad idea and a waste of time. Cut that sh*t!

 

[Pearlman]

Fiddling with straps in a real emergency sounds like a really bad idea and a waste of time. Cut that sh*t!

Diver unconscious?Ok cut it as per rescue training. On most vacation dives fellow tourist diver who happens to be in-water with you may not even carry a knife leaving it to the dive master who may not be on the surface with the diver … just saying. I’ve rarely ever seen a knife or cutting tools on tourist divers.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

Diver unconscious?Ok cut it as per rescue training. On most vacation dives fellow tourist diver who happens to be in-water with you may not even carry a knife leaving it to the dive master who may not be on the surface with the diver … just saying. I’ve rarely ever seen a knife or cutting tools on tourist divers.

I can assure you that the type of diving we do in Europe is unguided in buddy pairs and people absolutely do carry cutting tools because a monofilament fishing line in poor visibility is no fun. Eezycut trilobites, trauma shears, serrated knives and if you are CMAS/BSAC, a blunt rusty cutlass attached to your calf.

If you are unconscious underwater, you are dead. If you are semi-responsive on the surface, your worry shouldn't be the cost of new webbing because the next thing that gets cut to pieces on the boat is your expensive drysuit... Nobody should look for any bucklers or releases even with a jacket BCD - not on a struggling diver.

The only thing these sliders achieve is to hurt your back, because that 15 litre steel cylinder, lead and whatever else you might attach to the backplate will not sit well on your back, not on a moving boat.

 

[Pearlman]

I can assure you that the type of diving we do in Europe is unguided in buddy pairs and people absolutely do carry cutting tools because a monofilament fishing line in poor visibility is no fun. Eezycut trilobites, trauma shears, serrated knives and if you are CMAS/BSAC, a blunt rusty cutlass attached to your calf.

If you are unconscious underwater, you are dead. If you are semi-responsive on the surface, your worry shouldn't be the cost of new webbing because the next thing that gets cut to pieces on the boat is your expensive drysuit... Nobody should look for any bucklers or releases even with a jacket BCD - not on a struggling diver.

The only thing these sliders achieve is to hurt your back, because that 15 litre steel cylinder, lead and whatever else you might attach to the backplate will not sit well on your back, not on a moving boat.

Makes sense ok (and I was just being silly about saving $30 worth of harness ). My original desire for that slider began with the idea of donning and doffing my gear in-water (considering I keep my harness a wee bit tighter than recommended) later I was just trying to find more possible use-cases for it.

In APAC few tourist divers carry anything except those routinely diving in Europe or the more serious divers. But the point is moot because one should always aim to update ones training and follow it as per standards rather than cater to all the other what-ifs…

 

[Imla]

Please people... Keep in mind that the OP is a new diver NOT YET STARTED their OW class.
While this discussion can be productive and necessary, it might be a bit over the top for the level of the OP.

 

[Still Kicking]

If you are really worried about the scenario of an unconscious diver on the surface, get a harness with adjustable quick-disconnect shoulder straps. It's not really necessary but I would say it's a better solution than the sliders.

 

[Pearlman]

If you are really worried about the scenario of an unconscious diver on the surface, get a harness with adjustable quick-disconnect shoulder straps. It's not really necessary but I would say it's a better solution than the sliders.

Nope I hate extra buckles and like mine the way it is. Let’s stop beating this topic to death because I was just in the mood to experiment with sliders and retrofitting all other possible use-cases where it could be “useable”.

Appreciate the polite suggestion in any case …

Cheers

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I love my Sub Gravity adjustable harness, it's clean, simple and no plastic parts.
Adjustable Harness System - SubGravity