Cam Band Safety

[Akimbo]

A friend who owns a charter dive boat described losing a Scuba cylinder, and almost losing a diver, when the tank slipped from their BC after jumping off the swim step. Picture a new diver with their second stage yanked out of their mouth and a tank dangling from the inflator hose. Other friends who are instructors related similar horror stories. I was still skeptical until eavesdropping on a conversation in a dive shop between two divers looking at BCs. The condensed version was neither felt comfortable disassembling the buckle.

I started looking around the Net for instructions and found several good videos and a few illustrations. The problem with videos is they move too fast for some people, have marginal resolution, and are not very portable — like in a garage, on a beach, or aboard a boat. The illustrations showed final assembly and are fine for some people but difficult for others to decipher. That is when we started a project to develop instructions that would be understandable by people with a broad variety of interpretive and mechanical abilities.

The result is a set of printable instructions with photographs, illustrations, and text for each step of assembly. The source document is available for anyone to customize including individuals, instructors, and dive shops. Adobe Acrobat files formatted for US Letter and Metric A4 paper are also available. The files are placed in the public domain allowing all or part to be used without fee or credit. Scubaboard has generously offered to host these files and links can be found at:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bu.../391300-cam-buckle-assembly-instructions.html

 

[JEC11718]

thank-you! Sticky plz!!!!! Hey mods! this should be a sticky!!!!!

 

[smellzlikefish]

Well put! This is one of those issues that needs to be addressed. This isn't a problem with newbie divers at all. I was diving with a dive master whose tank slipped out on a shore dive rock-jump entry. She started freaking out at the surface before the dive even started. In reattaching her tank, I found she had assembled her cam band the wrong way, thus the incident. If a dive master can't put together a cam band, how can we expect a newbie to assemble their new gear correctly?

 

[Bob DBF]

Thanks for the heads up.

The plastic cam on my old BC has the weaving instructions on the the side of the cam buckle so that was not a problem. What happened was the band expanded when wet and because the cam was small on the plastic buckle it did not give enough tension to make up for the band streach. Switching to a metal buckle stopped the problem. As an interum measure soak the band for a few minutes before using.

This assumes that you insure the band is square on the tank and all the slack is out of the band.

Now I use a BP/W with two bands and can do a halfa$$ed job and it still works.


Bob
----------------------
I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

 

[RTee]

My cam bands buckles also has weaving diagram and the BP/W assembly me and my GF are using is also based on a two bands system

 

[vladimir]

What happened was the band expanded when wet and because the cam was small on the plastic buckle it did not give enough tension to make up for the band streach. Switching to a metal buckle stopped the problem. As an interum measure soak the band for a few minutes before using.

Soaking the bands works, but it's not always convenient on a charter boat, where the boat's routine might call for equipment set-up at the dock, and no opportunity to soak the bands before that. A better solution is Deep Sea Supply's CAM STRAP TENSION PADS, which compress when you attach your tank, and expand to offset any stretching of the cam bands.

 

[j yaeger]

2 bands are better than one........
amen bob!!!!!!
the bands strech once they get wet,tank falls out,rescue skills evaluation for my divemasters in training...
we teach to get the straps wet,then put the bcd on the tank....
then,when open waters come-they forget that little procedure
lots of other stressors happening
..the tank ends up on their butt,making an uncomfortable open water first time experience...
certain straps strech more
certain cams pull more
double straps take the worry out of it
have fun
yaeg

 

[mdb]

Another option: Apollo Sports: Dive Gear

 

[Akimbo]

The argument favoring two cam bands was presented in this document along with techniques for tensioning the buckle that works for people who might have physical limitations or difficult ergonomic issues.

We worked a lot on illustration and photographic clarity. The back of the webbing was painted red so it would be easier to tell which side was which. Using a blue anodized Scuba cylinder also provided some needed contrast. We tried to depict the simplest steps with a photo, text, and sectional diagram so people would be less likely to get lost. We tried to accommodate people new to diving, where English is a second language, might be a little dyslexic, and/or mechanically challenged. Instructors helped a lot with their experience observing errors. It is fascinating how different people’s minds work.

Here is an image and illustration for two different steps.

 

[davetowz]

I also prefer using a BC system that has 2 cam bands...I hate the floppiness of only having 1 cam band. Good pics. Someone posted a way to remember the pattern.., I just remember it I guess... helps that many OW students screw it upand unthread the buckles that I have to rethread