Apeks WTX harness rolling tank issue

[Jimbo77]

Hi all,

I just tried my brand new BCD (Apeks WTX confort harness + aluminium plate + D30 PSD wing) and I felt the tank rolling side to side.
As it was the first time, maybe I didn't tight enough the cam band. I will check that next time but it will be in October...

But is there anybody who has the same issue? How do you solve it?

For now, I see three solutions :

• Tight more the cam band
• Add screws to assemble the harness, backplate and the wing in order to add rigidity
• Add the STA

As I will use this BCD for travel, if I can avoid to add more weight with the STA, it would be nice.

Any thought about that?

Jim

 

[GF99/99]

Hi Jim,

Congrats on the new setup.

Couple comments, if this is your first BP&W setup you might just be experiencing the gas shifting from one side of the wing to the other. You have a pretty large wing for a single tank so the gas can really shift around in a wing that big especially if it is "Taco'd" around the tank.

If that is not the case then yes your list of problem solving suggestions is a good route to go down. Worst case you just need to as a STA, check online you can find cheep aluminum chines ones for a little as $20 and honestly they are so light you will not notice the difference were talking 200gr.

Also last thing is to check that you tank is "seated" well. The apeks wings have little bars built into them that the tank nest into to prevent it from rolling. I have the Apeks 18l wing and love it, the tank is sold as a rock so don't see why you should be experiencing tank roll.

Maybe if you can post some pictures of how you have it mounted.

 

[Jimbo77]

Congrats on the new setup.

Thank you

Couple comments, if this is your first BP&W setup you might just be experiencing the gas shifting from one side of the wing to the other. You have a pretty large wing for a single tank so the gas can really shift around in a wing that big especially if it is "Taco'd" around the tank.

I don't believe it's was a gas shifting issue because my wife took a look when we were diving and she saw the tank moving.

If that is not the case then yes your list of problem solving suggestions is a good route to go down. Worst case you just need to as a STA, check online you can find cheep aluminum chines ones for a little as $20 and honestly they are so light you will not notice the difference were talking 200gr.

Yes. I keep that in mind.

Also last thing is to check that you tank is "seated" well. The apeks wings have little bars built into them that the tank nest into to prevent it from rolling. I have the Apeks 18l wing and love it, the tank is sold as a rock so don't see why you should be experiencing tank roll.

I have these little bars as well. But I'm wondering if the problem comes from the fact the webbing doesn't go through the backplate.
As it's the confort harness, the backplate is just in a pouch in order to add weight and add rigidity.
Or as I said I didn't tight enough and the bars couldn't do their job.

You can take a look to the documentation to see how it's mounted (p27) : https://usermanual.wiki/m/ac6719291fc885233ac2c90361488544e7e7b0637b810fc123b4d7b916e3ab3d.pdf

A photo of the webbing. Wing on the left and the harness on the right:

 

[rongoodman]

From looking at that picture is isn't surprising the tank is rolling around as it isn't connected to the back plate. Replace the "comfort harness" with a single piece of webbing. You should be able to re-use 3 D-rings, the waist belt buckle, and the crotch strap. If that doesn't work to tighten things up, you can then add an STA.

 

[Jimbo77]

From looking at that picture is isn't surprising the tank is rolling around as it isn't connected to the back plate. Replace the "comfort harness" with a single piece of webbing. You should be able to re-use 3 D-rings, the waist belt buckle, and the crotch strap. If that doesn't work to tighten things up, you can then add an STA.

So you are saying I have to trash my brand new harness (almost 400€) to replace it by a traditional webbing harness ?

Extreme, not ?

 

[jborg]

You have the appropriate bolt holes. Can you put a couple of bolts or book screws through the wing, plate, and comfort thing to hold them together? That’s what I’d do with a normal backplate and wing.

Though in that case, see that the bolt head doesn’t protrude too much on the wing side or it might itself be something the tank bumps up against instead of nesting between the roll bars. If that is a problem, an STA might help.

 

[Alastor]

The point is that the tank straps do not pass through the BP. They should, however, to ensure firm connection. There are some guys suggesting to add aluminium STA connected via the grommets to the BP. So, even if the cam bands are not through the BP neither the STA, the latter (hence the tank) and the BP would be a rigid assembly and there will be no rolling action possible.

 

[Nemrod]

I do not completely understand how that assembly goes together? Is this a soft plate? If the tank cam bands do not pass through a metal plate then even if you put a STA in the mix the tank will still flop side to side, it might make it worse by setting the tank even further out.

I use the Oxy Ultralite plate often and it being a textile plate will allow the tank to flop side to side if I use a heavy (negative) steel cylinder. The solution is to use the aluminum cylinders it was intended for.

 

[admikar]

wrong response

 

[Jimbo77]

If you want to see how it’s assembled, take a look to this video: