SlugLife
Contributor
What kinds of solutions have you come up with for inexpensive item retainers? For example: Lets say you're fishing sunglasses off the bottom of a silty lake, with a flashlight in one hand, and a mesh-bag of loot clipped to the BCD. When you find a pair of sunglasses, you might want two hands to pickup and insert the sunglasses into the BC. We'd also like to not lose the flashlight, if it's dropped. Meanwhile, silt is getting kicked up, and you're wasting air while fumbling with items. The flashlight is just an example, as I like to secure scissors, knife, compass, inflator hose, etc in a similar manner.
Bungee & clip: The way I've been doing this is putting a key-ring on my harness d-ring, a length of bungee, and at the end a clip (small aluminum carabiner) with the item. Pros: You can drop items any time, without losing them & it's really cheap to make. Cons: Bungee only stretches so far, leading to moderate lengths of bungee, mild entanglement hazards.
Clip Only: Clip and unclip items to d-rings as needed. Pros: No entanglement hazards, very inexpensive. Cons: Drop it while unclipped, you lose it.
Velcro: Use a strip of Velcro (or "Hook and loop") to wrap the item and secure it to your harness. I typically use this with other methods of securing items, like Bungee & clip. Pros: Inexpensive, if you buy a roll of velcro, or large pack velcro cable-retainers. Cons: When used without clips or lines, you might risk items falling out of your harness and losing them.
Paracord & Clip: Same as bungee & clip, just longer.
Spring Retainers (Commercial): Most are either flimsy, or expensive. The only one I've found that I like is rather bulky.
Retractors (Commercial): Apparently, these have reliability problems. And also get expensive.
Clip to Wrist: I haven't done this yet, but the idea is to put a d-ring, or something similar on your wrist. Items are secured bungee & clip, except with the fixed end tied to the item & a short length of bungee (very short) with a clip on the other end. Items are unclipped from your harness & then clipped to the wrist d-ring. I won't list pros and cons, because I haven't tried this yet.
Headlamp? Has anyone tried making a DIY flashlight harness that attaches to or goes around your wetsuit hood or mask?
Double-eye-snaps: I just recently started using these types of clips (instead of the carabiners) and really like them, although I also like to pair it with a line or bungee to avoid losing handheld items.
Bungee & clip: The way I've been doing this is putting a key-ring on my harness d-ring, a length of bungee, and at the end a clip (small aluminum carabiner) with the item. Pros: You can drop items any time, without losing them & it's really cheap to make. Cons: Bungee only stretches so far, leading to moderate lengths of bungee, mild entanglement hazards.
Clip Only: Clip and unclip items to d-rings as needed. Pros: No entanglement hazards, very inexpensive. Cons: Drop it while unclipped, you lose it.
Velcro: Use a strip of Velcro (or "Hook and loop") to wrap the item and secure it to your harness. I typically use this with other methods of securing items, like Bungee & clip. Pros: Inexpensive, if you buy a roll of velcro, or large pack velcro cable-retainers. Cons: When used without clips or lines, you might risk items falling out of your harness and losing them.
Paracord & Clip: Same as bungee & clip, just longer.
Spring Retainers (Commercial): Most are either flimsy, or expensive. The only one I've found that I like is rather bulky.
Retractors (Commercial): Apparently, these have reliability problems. And also get expensive.
Clip to Wrist: I haven't done this yet, but the idea is to put a d-ring, or something similar on your wrist. Items are secured bungee & clip, except with the fixed end tied to the item & a short length of bungee (very short) with a clip on the other end. Items are unclipped from your harness & then clipped to the wrist d-ring. I won't list pros and cons, because I haven't tried this yet.
Headlamp? Has anyone tried making a DIY flashlight harness that attaches to or goes around your wetsuit hood or mask?
Double-eye-snaps: I just recently started using these types of clips (instead of the carabiners) and really like them, although I also like to pair it with a line or bungee to avoid losing handheld items.