Help on my first DIY Harness

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TectonicDrake

Registered
Messages
26
Reaction score
10
Location
Minneapolis
# of dives
25 - 49
First things first, I want to build my own harness and figure out what commercial back plate to get. I'd love to get some opinions from people who've done this themselves. And what they've learned so I can metaphorically stand on the shoulders of giants, and get this right the first time. To lay out the current scope of project I'm thinking of, phase one is literally going to be a harness and back plate that I just use in the pool over the winter to keep my skills up. I'll worry about the wing and inflator portion this spring.

That being said. I've been digging around and it seems like I just need 2 inch nylon webbing, a waist buckle. and whatever hardware I slap on it d-rings and such. What I haven't found details on is the following: What kind of nylon webbing do people recommend? Where are the best places to get my hardware? Do people have harness diagrams / construction instructions? If I ever plan on trying side mount diving do I need to install the extra hardware right away or is that something I can add later, mostly talking about the hip mount points or really any mount points? can they be added and removed as necessary? Feel free to add in other things I may not have considered. Also which backplates do people prefer and why? Also not having much luck googling for that bit of info. I appreciate any help in advance.
 
I like Deep Sea Supply harness .It's pretty stiff and is a little bit of a pain to thread, but it's a solid harness. Little bit of advice for your first time threading a harness, make sure the shoulder straps are loose. The crotch and waist strap are what holds it all together when you are under water.
 
I use Dive Gear Express for most of my hardware needs.

Hardware, O-Rings and Soft Goods | Dive Gear Express®


harness.gif
 
Altogether, so far, I have made one harness. :) To me the hard part is finding the right 2" webbing online and try to judge it by their description. It should be stiff, but not too stiff. I don't like the soft webbing at all but others might. I don't see any need for teeth on the "sliders" aka "tribars" if used with fairly stiff webbing. I use plastic tribars where there is no stress and stainless where there is. Personally I prefer a nylon quick-release buckle on my harness waist strap but others prefer stainless steel. Apparently someone made one out of aluminum but fortunately there are not very many of those. I do not like side-release buckles for the waist strap but they can be OK for shoulder strap releases. Personally I prefer a Velcro quick-release on the left shoulder strap over all the other choices because it is very flat and smooth. Add a couple of bent D-rings and some snap hooks on the waist strap and I'm good to go. I bought the cheaper Blue Reef stainless backplate and so far I don't have any issues with it but others swear by their more expensive backplates so hopefully they can tell you why. Although I have made only one harness I have used many backpacks over the years and after having tried both I'm leaning back toward the plastic backpack again along with a minimal wing and weight pockets. I have no idea if a plastic backpack would work for sidemount.
 
Side mount is more of a someday project. But I was throwing it in on the off chance is significantly changed what I needed to know. Seems like it's mostly add the butt plate and change the harness hardware. but the nylon seems cheap and construction is something I can all do with harness stitching or similar. For back mount I currently only do single tank and I like a minimalist approach so I had been eyeballing the Apeks ultralight travel plate and would get a very small wing for it. What other non-rigid minimalist back plates exist?
 
I should not judge a book by it's cover or a diver by his avatar. However, the Kraken in your avatar indicates you'll be doing double hose diving. Next is your statement that you mostly dive a single tank configuration. IMHO a plate designed for double tanks and modified for single tank use is far from optimal. The best single tank backplate I've seen is the Freedom Plate that @Eric Sedletzky makes. However, his plates have a waiting list and are not optimal for double hose diving either (but I'm working on him.) So what to do? How about a single tank plate, designed for double hose diving? Store | Vintage Double Hose This plate, while designed for DH regulators, works equally well with single hose regulators-and you cannot beat the price. @Bryan@Vintage Double Hose also sells a complete harness assembly with all the webbing and hardware required.

I don't know anything about sidemount diving, but if that's in your future, you'll probably need to invest in a plate/harness assembly designed for that. If fact, you may as well resign yourself to having a different plate/harness/wing combination for double tank back mount, single tank back mount, and side mount.
 
You are correct I do dive both double and single hose. I do not at this time do any double tank diving. Based on your advice it seems buying specialized rigs rather than a one size fits all future proof style solution is the recommendation. I'm ok with that and I appreciate your feedback. I'm new to both backplates and double hoses so I'm trying to learn as much as I can.

I appreciate your feedback. ^_^ Are you referencing this plate? I apologize but your link didn't take me to a specific product. Based on the descriptions of the items and what you are describing, I think you were pointing me to the Universal Back Plate.
Store | Vintage Double Hose
or this one
Store | Vintage Double Hose

Thanks
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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