Should all recreational BCD’s have two tank bands?

[Blasto]

To avoid losing my pants, I make sure I have a proper fit and use a belt. There really is no need for suspenders, too.

Nice deconstruction of the old analogy. Come to think of it, I only use my belt as a fashion accessory ("if you have belt loops, wear a belt"), sometimes I skip it. Getting your pants fitted right and maintaining your shape beats a belt and suspenders.

The same applies to diving. A broken-in, tightened band with a correctly threaded buckle will not slip. For novice divers who can't reliably ensure that, the cheap "safety strap" can even be better, because it's a different mechanism, while both bands can fail from one problem - never wetted, improperly threaded buckles, etc.

Actually, this thread has lead me to a minor personal decision: the next time I travel for single tank diving, I'm going to leave my second tank band at home. It's not a lot of weight, not even with my SS buckles, but it's weight I don't need.

 

[Rred]

Safety strap around the top? And here I thought that was a drag strap, to grab onto someone who needs to be rescued, towed, of hoisted.

I have no love for Alu80's and so my BC strap is adjusted for my tank, but needs to be readjusted for those cheap rental tanks. Solved the problem with a paint marker. I put two vertical strips on the cam band, aligned with the slots in the cam. When the first set are lined up in the slots, that's mine. When the second set are lined up--that's the right place for the rental tanks. And both are marked in the "Help me squeeze this down" real snug position.

Two bands appeals to the idea of "it can't wiggle that way" but one band does the trick, as long as it is tight. And it is LESS STUFF to carry around.

 

[Carlos Danger]

...A single slipping cam band doesn't say add another one so much as it says check the one you have twice. Two cam bands just means you have two bands you should check twice, but if you are sloppy and one comes undone, you are covered. If you are sloppy once why not twice and now you have a slipping tank.

Clearly a significant take-away here is that even if there were 3 band systems or other designs/options in play, ultimately it is the diver's responsibility to perform his or her due diligence to help insure their equipment is serviceable and squared away in alignment with their training.

 

[60plus]

All the BCDs I have used have a safety strap that fastens round the valve. My Aqualung Axiom has an overcenter buckle which is easier to fasten than the plastic cam types and it has never loosened.

 

[boulderjohn]

All of this talk about safety straps might have people thinking that these are really important. They aren't. Your tank has a valve with a regulator in it, and that regulator has hoses going to your mouth, wherever you put your alternate, your inflator hose, and your SPG. If your tank comes free of its strap, it isn't going anywhere, you might not even notice it is loose.

The new PADI standards require students to be able to deal with loose tank bands. Under those standards, I have many times come up behind students and opened their tank bands. The tank does not go far, and it is easy for the buddy to effect a repair.

 

[TMHeimer]

All of this talk about safety straps might have people thinking that these are really important. They aren't. Your tank has a valve with a regulator in it, and that regulator has hoses going to your mouth, wherever you put your alternate, your inflator hose, and your SPG. If your tank comes free of its strap, it isn't going anywhere, you might not even notice it is loose.

The new PADI standards require students to be able to deal with loose tank bands. Under those standards, I have many times come up behind students and opened their tank bands. The tank does not go far, and it is easy for the buddy to effect a repair.

Good point. I always make a loop with the safety strap to make it a bit more secure, though as you point out, it really doesn't matter. I guess I started doing that figuring it's like what you do with the chains when hooking up a trailer to your car.

 

[mcohen1021]

The new PADI standards require students to be able to deal with loose tank bands.

Shouldn't that be a ScubaPro Specialty course?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

All of this talk about safety straps might have people thinking that these are really important. They aren't. Your tank has a valve with a regulator in it, and that regulator has hoses going to your mouth, wherever you put your alternate, your inflator hose, and your SPG. If your tank comes free of its strap, it isn't going anywhere, you might not even notice it is loose.

... unless you get a failure like I did in Bali a couple years ago. I was using a BP/W with a single-tank adapter held in place with those kydex wing screws you can get from DSS. One of them stripped and fell off early in the dive. I definitely noticed, as the back end of my cylinder rose up ... putting even more torque on the remaining screw. Then it let go too, causing the tank to fall toward the bottom, and the wing trying to go to the surface, and all I was wearing was a bare backplate. I used the second stage hose to hoist the tank back up where I could grab it, pulled the wing down using the inflator hose, tucked them both under my left arm and signaled the dive guide to turn and head back toward shore. He couldn't believe I opted to swim back rather than surface, but it just seemed like the easier alternative.

In a failure like that it won't matter how many straps are holding your tank in place ... but unless you're using a BP/W with an STA it's not a failure you'll ever have to worry about.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Colliam7]

Under those standards, I have many times come up behind students and opened their tank bands.

Oooh, you are sneaky, John. A very good idea, by the way.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

As a brand-new diver with a brand-new BC I had issues on several dives before I finally took it back to the LDS and asked what I was doing wrong. They'd sold it to me threaded incorrectly (came that way from the manufacturer?), showed me how to do it right, and I never had a problem after. (This was well before http and youtube, and I don't think I even got a manual with the thing.)

Since then, never an issue.

Having said that, I'm not a fan of plastic buckles as another poster noted.