Post-trip questions

[Cobra8472]

Hi!

Had a great time on our trip (despite illness), and a few questions arose during the course of diving. Thanks if anyone takes the time to respond

1) Weight belt. How do you manage having both the weight belt on, and the BP&W and everything on the belt on at the same time? I ended up with two buckles in the front, with the weight belt being closest to my body and the crotch strap OVER the weightbelt. (I.e. putting weightbelt on before putting the BP&W on). It was all very messy, the weights were interfering with the BP&W belt and the buckles were crammed together. I'm probably making a rather major mistake, but I can't wrap my head around it.

2) The BP&W buckle, it is supposed to be in the middle? Was looking at some DIR stuff (and other setups) and many seem to have the buckle at the far right side.

EDIT: Pic on DSS shows it on the right side. Guess I've made a major mistake all this time..
Thanks,

Nick

 

[cool_hardware52]

Hi!

Had a great time on our trip (despite illness), and a few questions arose during the course of diving. Thanks if anyone takes the time to respond

1) Weight belt. How do you manage having both the weight belt on, and the BP&W and everything on the belt on at the same time? I ended up with two buckles in the front, with the weight belt being closest to my body and the crotch strap OVER the weightbelt. (I.e. putting weightbelt on before putting the BP&W on). It was all very messy, the weights were interfering with the BP&W belt and the buckles were crammed together. I'm probably making a rather major mistake, but I can't wrap my head around it.

If I'm using a weight belt, and I usually do with my single rig in cold water, I wear the weight belt under the BP&W harness. If I should ever need to drop weight all I need to do is first open the harness buckle, and then the weight belt buckle, not big deal.

Both my BP&W harness and weight belt are rig for a "right hand release" meaning the buckle is fixed to the left side of the belt and the right side passes through the buckle.

2) The BP&W buckle, it is supposed to be in the middle? Was looking at some DIR stuff (and other setups) and many seem to have the buckle at the far right side.

EDIT: Pic on DSS shows it on the right side. Guess I've made a major mistake all this time..

As you note the harness buckle should be to the right of center. Crotch strap is in the middle, knife the left and buckle to the right.

If you play a bit with the location of the weights on your belt you should be able to find a spot where the weights do not interfere with the BP and harness. If you are using 12 lbs or more in your weight belt consider the bolt on weight plates.

Tobin

 

[Cobra8472]

Thanks tobin.

I rearranged the BP&W buckle so that it is now on the right side. I had also mounted it wrongly before, so it is good that I caught that. Now- however- I am unsure of how to put on the crotch strap!

Do you have a picture of the crotch strap on?

 

[cool_hardware52]

Thanks tobin.

I rearranged the BP&W buckle so that it is now on the right side. I had also mounted it wrongly before, so it is good that I caught that. Now- however- I am unsure of how to put on the crotch strap!

Do you have a picture of the crotch strap on?

Just feed the buckle through the loop on the crotch strap. The loop on the crotch strap is generously sized to allow the buckle to pass through easily.

Tobin

 

[Cobra8472]

Thanks!

All settled now. Things might be better in regards to the weights and weight belt with the buckle now being on the right. The crotch strap is more in the centre now too (before it was slightly skewed).

cheers for the help!

Nick

 

[BEM]

What I've found:

If I use a weight belt (rare) I keep the buckle just in front of my right hip and the bpw buckle in the middle. My DSS plate has the SS weight plates - not inexpensive, but worth every penny to me! I bought a XS-Scuba ditchable-weight pouch that can carry up to a 5 lb weight. - if required

I also removed the crotch strap and, so far, really haven't noticed a difference - the hogarthian harness fits very well. And that includes diving in a dry suit (cold fresh water - 100 cuft steel tank) and a 3mm wetsuit (in the Caribbean - 80 cuft Al.)

 

[cool_hardware52]

What I've found:

If I use a weight belt (rare) I keep the buckle just in front of my right hip and the bpw buckle in the middle. My DSS plate has the SS weight plates - not inexpensive, but worth every penny to me! I bought a XS-Scuba ditchable-weight pouch that can carry up to a 5 lb weight. - if required

I also removed the crotch strap and, so far, really haven't noticed a difference - the hogarthian harness fits very well. And that includes diving in a dry suit (cold fresh water - 100 cuft steel tank) and a 3mm wetsuit (in the Caribbean - 80 cuft Al.)

I do not recommend having 100% of your ballast attached to your rig in cold water. This is less of a concern when using a drysuit, as you have redundant buoyancy.

I do not recommend using the 8 lbs weight plates unless the diver needs about 12 lbs in addition to their back plate, reg and empty cylinder.

Whenever adding ballast to the rig one needs to recheck that their wing can still float their rig with a full tank.

Crotch straps are useful and necessary. A crotch strap stabilizes the plate, and allows the shoulder straps to be adjusted with a bit more slack. This makles donning and doffing easier.

Tobin

 

[BEM]

I agree about not having all your balast attached while in cold water - I use a weight belt with about 10-12 lbs on it (dry suit with thick underware!) In cool water and a wet suit I don't use the weight plates.

I allways make sure the rig can float - with a full tank.

I'll give the crotch strap another try - but I'm pretty comfortable without it.