BP/W with chest strap, quick releases and 2 cam bands

[tbone1004]

Any chance you have a picture on this? I think I tried this for my wife but on the DSS plate the angle is kind of to the outside of the plate (if I remember). If you tried to cross them, the webbing buckled pretty bad. I've never seen anyone do this in person.

Thanks!

I haven't tried it on a DSS plate. I know that on the Halcyons they can be crossed easily because the top slot is horizontal and I think the DSS ones are angled a bit more ergonomically. @cool_hardware52 can verify that one.
It definitely buckled a bit, but wasn't terrible. The VDH plate is designed to be crossed on the back.

If you already have the deluxe harness it definitely isn't worth messing with though

 

[Berry Ke]

The most important about buying diving gear is to buy gear that fits and gear that makes you feel comfortable in, but for some reason it feels like if you buy a bp/w with chest strap, quick releases and 2 cam bands the whole concept of diving a bp/w setup as divers see it today goes down te drain and than you might even be better off buying a decent Bcd like Zeagle Stiletto?

Ofcourse with a bp/w you can switch later to a double set or even switch to a one piece webbing, but it seems that that is not your intentions of buying a bp/w?

Edit: I read your other thread and I think solving your husband problem with chest straps isn't the best solution, Ofcourse it will prevent the shoulder straps from slipping off but I suspect that it will pull the overall fit of the harnass out of position?
Of course you can test it, have a look at the apeks wtx deluxe harnass and bp/w...

 

[Dogbowl]

The most important about buying diving gear is to buy gear that fits and gear that makes you feel comfortable in, but for some reason it feels like if you buy a bp/w with chest strap, quick releases and 2 cam bands the whole concept of diving a bp/w setup as divers see it today goes down te drain and than you might even be better off buying a decent Bcd like Zeagle Stiletto?

Ofcourse with a bp/w you can switch later to a double set or even switch to a one piece webbing, but it seems that that is not your intentions of buying a bp/w?

We have no intentions of going tech or cave any time soon. The reason we want to buy bp/w is to assist with better buoyancy and trim. We really don't like when the tank rolls on our back. For ocean diving in places like Cozumel, we really do prefer to have the quick releases to make life easier. For when we NEED to be DIR compliant, say for a GUE Fundamentals course or getting into tech or cave diving, we will not have an issue with buying a one-piece harness at that time.

My husband will STILL have issues with the straps coming off his shoulders but hopefully by that time, he would've fallen in love with the concept of a BP/W and will be more receptive to the work-around (e.g., crossing the straps behind his back).

 

[Charred]

@Dogbowl
I don't think you need to get quick releases to get out of harness easily. I just did Rescue and everyone wanted to practice BCD removal on me and my 1 piece harness bp/w because once you pop the belt, it practically falls off in the water. My "rescuer" always had my BCD off way easier than I could get his jacket with quick releases off. I also could have my BCD off far easier when I was doing to rescue than others in a jacket. Once you pop the waist buckle it nearly falls off if you roll your shoulders around.

 

[Colliam7]

If I were looking for a BP/W setup with chest strap, quick releases and 2 cam bands, what are my options?

The obvious choice would be one of the (MANY) so-called 'deluxe' harnesses, virtually all of which have quick releases in both shoulders, and a chest strap. Beyond that: 1. Two cam bands is easy. Virtually all wings with cam band slots have two slots, and I am not familiar with a single tank adapter that does not have two slots for cam bands; 2. Quick releases can be sewn into a one-piece harness. I have done that on my backplates that I use with my drysuit. After a long dive, it is frankly a lot easier to get out of my DS if I can unclip one shoulder - two aren't necessary. But, you don't have to use a drysuit to want to create a harness with a quick release - I take webbing and a quick release to my shoe shop, and they do the sewing. Costs maybe $10. I happen to prefer a left shoulder QR. The advantage of doing it yourself - you don't have to limit exactly where the shoulder D-rings are placed, which is (unfortunately) true of the majority of 'deluxe' harnesses that I have seen - the swivel rings are always sewn in high enough (in order to facilitate chest strap placement) to limit the available harness strap length above them; 3. You can easily add a chest strap to an existing harness, with a couple of tri-glides and a piece of 1" webbing and a quick release.

 

[tbone1004]

@Colliam7

2. you can add the quick releases without sewing using tri-glides as well

3. you can get away sans quick release as well and use a piece of bungee and bolt snap-not uncommon in the sidemount world

 

[dmaziuk]

You can add a slider or two, also. They're not quite as easy as a quick release but perfectly usable. (Works better when the webbing is wet and soft, when it's dry you may have to push and pull a the same time.) For chest strap I believe they're talking about these Offset S/S Rigid D-Ring or similar.

 

[geoff w]

Any chance you have a picture on this? I think I tried this for my wife but on the DSS plate the angle is kind of to the outside of the plate (if I remember). If you tried to cross them, the webbing buckled pretty bad. I've never seen anyone do this in person.

Webbing comes out over the top like usual, crosses behind your neck, then finishes up on the lower sides like usual.

 

[geoff w]

The obvious choice would be one of the (MANY) so-called 'deluxe' harnesses, virtually all of which have quick releases in both shoulders, and a chest strap. Beyond that: 1. Two cam bands is easy. Virtually all wings with cam band slots have two slots, and I am not familiar with a single tank adapter that does not have two slots for cam bands; 2. Quick releases can be sewn into a one-piece harness. I have done that on my backplates that I use with my drysuit. After a long dive, it is frankly a lot easier to get out of my DS if I can unclip one shoulder - two aren't necessary. But, you don't have to use a drysuit to want to create a harness with a quick release - I take webbing and a quick release to my shoe shop, and they do the sewing. Costs maybe $10. I happen to prefer a left shoulder QR. The advantage of doing it yourself - you don't have to limit exactly where the shoulder D-rings are placed, which is (unfortunately) true of the majority of 'deluxe' harnesses that I have seen - the swivel rings are always sewn in high enough (in order to facilitate chest strap placement) to limit the available harness strap length above them; 3. You can easily add a chest strap to an existing harness, with a couple of tri-glides and a piece of 1" webbing and a quick release.

If you really want to go Rube Goldberg, you can always do continuous webbing with a really long section, weave the two ends of the quick release onto the webbing, so it works like a normal quick release, but the excess webbing is folded when diving

I found with a continuous webbing harness when the webbing goes from the top of the backplate, over your shoulders, and back into the backplate, you really don't need a chest (sternum) strap. With the more comfortable harnesses like the DiveRite Transplate set up with the vertical chest strap coming down to somewhere on the waist strap and a center pivot, the chest strap holds things together. It does take a bit of adjustment to figure out the right place to position the chest strap to mate up with the waist strap (probably the most critical adjustment), but in the end it's worth it

 

[divezonescuba]

Dolphin tech makes the h2 and xdeep make the deluxe harness. The h2 has built in padding, quick releases, and built in d rings and chest strap. It is very similar to a normal bcd harness, but can be used on any plate. The xdeep is more expensive and fewer d rings. The built in padding makes a big difference if you ever have to carry a set of doubles any distance.

The reality of the reliability of solid webbing over buckles is a thing of the past. If one ever did break, you can attach the lower end to a d ring.