Mares XR SF2 Loop...any thoughts?
- Thread starter Zef
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Now that you mention it.
The loops or clips as they call them can be very handy, if you want to have your plate set up a certain way. Here you are looking to have an adjustable system with tighter shoulder straps, but you do not want quick release buckles. So you do not use s triglide on the back of the plate like many videos describe to prevent the strap from sliding.. The clip is put thru from the back to the front of the plate.
You pull the waist strap tight. The webbing slides thru the clip tightening the shoulder straps. Now everything is tight. Which is what a lot of DIR people say you should not do. If you have any accessories, Drings, weight pouches, etc on the belt, this does cause some issues, as the waist belt section goes back and forth a bit. So some versions of the weight pouches including the mares one have a triglide mechanism that can be used to fix the weight pouch position relative to the backplate. When you adjust the straps, the straps slide thru the belt loops on the back of the weight pouches instead of the pouches going back and forth.
OMG there it is again. A gear solution to a skills problem. Or it is a gear problem to a skills solution.
We are going to backplate and wing systems for instructional purposes at the shop. I wish we had done that 10 years ago. Since we have to accommodate a large range of sizes, this is one of the types of adjustment approaches that we are experimenting with.
There are other functionally similar systems on the market which utilize a round surface on the back of the plate rather than a triglide so that the webbing strap can slide more easily.
The loops or clips as they call them can be very handy, if you want to have your plate set up a certain way. Here you are looking to have an adjustable system with tighter shoulder straps, but you do not want quick release buckles. So you do not use s triglide on the back of the plate like many videos describe to prevent the strap from sliding.. The clip is put thru from the back to the front of the plate.
You pull the waist strap tight. The webbing slides thru the clip tightening the shoulder straps. Now everything is tight. Which is what a lot of DIR people say you should not do. If you have any accessories, Drings, weight pouches, etc on the belt, this does cause some issues, as the waist belt section goes back and forth a bit. So some versions of the weight pouches including the mares one have a triglide mechanism that can be used to fix the weight pouch position relative to the backplate. When you adjust the straps, the straps slide thru the belt loops on the back of the weight pouches instead of the pouches going back and forth.
OMG there it is again. A gear solution to a skills problem. Or it is a gear problem to a skills solution.
We are going to backplate and wing systems for instructional purposes at the shop. I wish we had done that 10 years ago. Since we have to accommodate a large range of sizes, this is one of the types of adjustment approaches that we are experimenting with.
There are other functionally similar systems on the market which utilize a round surface on the back of the plate rather than a triglide so that the webbing strap can slide more easily.
Now that you mention it.
The loops or clips as they call them can be very handy, if you want to have your plate set up a certain way. Here you are looking to have an adjustable system with tighter shoulder straps, but you do not want quick release buckles. So you do not use s triglide on the back of the plate like many videos describe to prevent the strap from sliding.. The clip is put thru from the back to the front of the plate.
You pull the waist strap tight. The webbing slides thru the clip tightening the shoulder straps. Now everything is tight. Which is what a lot of DIR people say you should not do. If you have any accessories, Drings, weight pouches, etc on the belt, this does cause some issues, as the waist belt section goes back and forth a bit. So some versions of the weight pouches including the mares one have a triglide mechanism that can be used to fix the weight pouch position relative to the backplate. When you adjust the straps, the straps slide thru the belt loops on the back of the weight pouches instead of the pouches going back and forth.
OMG there it is again. A gear solution to a skills problem. Or it is a gear problem to a skills solution.
We are going to backplate and wing systems for instructional purposes at the shop. I wish we had done that 10 years ago. Since we have to accommodate a large range of sizes, this is one of the types of adjustment approaches that we are experimenting with.
There are other functionally similar systems on the market which utilize a round surface on the back of the plate rather than a triglide so that the webbing strap can slide more easily.
I mounted on on the left side of my plate. I will have to see how useful it is as I have a set of Dive Rite QB weight pockets mounted behind the left and right hip d-rings...this reduces the amount of adjustability that can be realized and also means the pocket and d-ring will move out of position when tightening the system.
We are actually not looking for the ability to cinch the system tighter but just make it looser when doffing to accommodate getting it off the shoulders and get an arm out. It is more of an issue for my wife with her drysuit than it is for me, but we both received one each as a stocking stuffer type of thing.
I will have to don my drysuit and play around with the positioning of the d-rings and weight system on the waist strap to see if I can arrange it so the thing works in a useful way.
In the end I can always remove it form mine and mount them both on my wife's plate so she has right and left adjustability.
I made some pads by tracing the shape and cutting it out of a popped mt bike inner tube. I put the inner tube pads between the plate and the loop, then used an o-ring stretch over it to stabilize it in the webbing slot it passes through. Keep it from jangling against the plate and also keeps it from possibly popping out when the plate is not worn.
I have seen the have round system that DSS made and the one the Subgravity makes....I had played around a few years ago with the concept by mounting a section of PVC over the center of the two slots on one side for the waist webbing....the webbing was too much of a pain to manipulate that I just gave up on it back then. Preliminary dry trial of the Mares loops went well but still need to play with the setup before deciding.
I can definitely see it being useful from an increased adjustability standpoint if I didn't have the weight pockets mounted (wife has them too).
-Z
larrywfowler
Registered
Has anyone had an issue with the Mares SF2 not fitting through the backplate slots? I bought an old OMS aluminum backplate and the Mares clip does not fit through the bottom waistband slots? The loop is too wide. Any thoughts on a relatively easy way to widen (not lengthen) the backplate slot?
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You put your left arm through the left hole and then the right elbow through the right hole
Yes. I wound up add one to each side of my plate, and rigged my harness and dive rite weight pockets in such a way that they are very similar to the OMS Smartstream harness. I think I wrote a post about them with some crappy pictures a few years ago...I recall it was before we moved back from Belgium, and it was before SeaJay (@deepsouthdivers) past away, because I had some back and forth discussions about it with him, where he thought what I had done was a neat design....I didn't realize when I put it together, that OMS had marketed something similar.
The Mares SF2 fits just fine on my Dive Rite stainless steel plate, my wife's Sub-Gravity stainless steel short plate, and our daughters' HOG aluminum plates.
@larrywfowler, It should not be too difficult or too much work to take a bastard file to the slots of your plate to make them wider. A course grit sandpaper (80grit maybe?) will work the same but take a little longer. Another option is to take a Dremel tool with a #455 grinding stone and carefully buzz some of the aluminum away until the SF2 fits through:
Dremel #455 stone bit:
-Z
Bastard file. Most likely from an older usage of the word as mixed or crossbred. A bastard file makes an intermediate cut between a rough file and what's known as a second cut. Bastard file are usually double cut so they remove stock on both the push and pull. The heavy, double cut means they can remove stock fast although you'll need to follow up with something else if you want a precise cut or smooth finish.
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