From BCD to BPW: The Evolution

[DanMont]

Just ordered my own BP/W and am looking forward to getting it in the next week or so to start playing with getting it setup. As such this thread is very interesting! I have one instructor at my club who dives a BP/W so hopefully he can give me some help setting it up over a couple of pool sessions before hitting the open water, if not I may have to turn to you guys!

 

[uncfnp]

Sorry, I've been gone for a few days and just catching up now.

One thing you might want to check, and I can't tell from the photos, but make sure you don't have a half twist in your webbing from the shoulder down to the the waist.
The webbing should sit flat against your body all the way down from where it leaves the top slot all the way to where it goes into the lower angled slot.
Also, on your shoulder area, it looks like you might have quite a bit of bulk with the padding. This could be contributing to the pinch you're getting.
I have a lot of women your size using this plate and they have all settled on the straight one piece harness. They were skeptical at first but once used the whole webbing debacle goes away. Getting out of one is extremely easy. A lot of people put their arms back and try and slide the rig off. I train to put a hand underneath the harness strap and push out from the front. This way makes it easy and lightning fast and it even works with people who have shoulder issues like myself.

On the slide adjustment for the slots. I made some of those rollers like Akimbo suggested. They work great!
I used grey 1/2" PVC with a D-ring too, but it was a bastard to get the D-ring in, so I left it unglued. I figured if it was that hard to get in it's not coming out.
The slots on the newest plates are more rounded than models of the past. You might not even need rollers. They seem to slide pretty good on their own, but they're not super easy to slide. Kind of a happy medium.

E

Eric. The webbing is not twisted. It lies very flat. The "modified harness" in the photo is actually comfortable. Its only when I try the single piece harness that I have the discomfort. I do not use the padding on the single piece harness. I think Akimbo's idea may be right on target. The combo of narrower and softer webbing where it passes over the front of the shoulder to armpit may just solve the problem on the continuous webbing harness. I'll just have to make sure the connection are strong. It will still be a modified harness but much more streamline then the harness in the photo.

Quick note on the UHMWPE, you will need to drill small holes in the plate for at least one screw per side to retain it. Any size screw between #6 and #10-32 should be fine. UHMWPE is really slippery stuff, easy to shape with woodworking tools, and amazingly tough. Most plastics suppliers stock it. My guess is ½" thick material would be fine. It is a lot more work to make is an untested idea so I would test other alternatives first.



I agree with Eric, you might have too much bulk. Have you tried just using unmodified stiff 2" webbing?

I did observe that stiff webbing didn’t make the shoulder to under-arm transition into the slots as smoothly on my female friend’s small Freedom Plate as my plate does on me. It was tolerable on her, but she is at or above average height. Please let me know how your experiment works because it might improve her harness as well. We will be making some pool dives with it next month to refine her whole system for both tropical and cold water.



We tried my friend’s plate without rollers but it hurt her injured shoulder too much to pull slack or do the “slip out” trick.

We also tried soft webbing that was more or less fixed at the lower slots, but that didn’t work with her shoulder either. We didn’t proceed with the UHMWPE test because the soft webbing was so limp when wet it would be harder to don in a suit. The springiness of stiff webbing really does help getting in the straps.

Thinking aloud here:
This was my first serious effort to help a female put her rig together. Their body-mechanics vary a lot from males and between each other. Their arms really do move differently. The old joke about girls throwing baseballs funny is founded in anthropometrics. They can learn to throw a baseball just fine, but not using the same techniques as the average male. That’s probably the same reason men’s shirts didn’t evolve with back zippers. Compound all that with a shorter torso and an injured shoulders and suddenly my bag of tricks is almost empty.

For now I think I will stick with your roller idea, the UHMWPE idea is sweet but I agree that I should try the other options first.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Cut the slot, then throw it into boiling water for several seconds. -temporarily takes the fight out of it.

BTW, Lisa is using steel tanks. I'm guessing that a lot of the discomfort will disappear when she dives the rig.

Yes that is true.
The dynamic drastically changes when the weight is off the shoulders and the wing does it's work underwater. I figure 75% of the weight is removed from the tank as well when immersed.
You have figure also that in a horizontal diving position is when the plate settles in and all or most of the stress is removed from the straps (and shoulders).
Underwater, most webbing will be a little softer.

A good test for feel on dry land is to set the rig on a bench and back up to it. Put it on and then while standing vertically squat down slightly so the pressure is off the shoulders. This will give you a better idea of how it's actually going to be underwater The wing will neutralize the weight.
I you want to feel how the plate snugs up on your back while horizontal then bend over with the tank on and that will give you an idea on dry land, except underwater it will be lighter of course.

 

[lowviz]

The chest strap "thing" was an evolution for me, too. I started out with this:


Very comfortable, but the shoulder D-ring area was "busy". I often missed the floppy D-ring and clipped off to the pentagonal ring by accident. In addition, I noticed that it was hard to get out of my rig. So if it is hard to get out of, do I really need a chest strap to keep me from falling out of it??? Don't get me wrong, I have seen divers, most often females, that get a true benefit from a chest strap.

I needed a bigger backplate, and one that didn't obstruct my rear dump valve. I also had no intention of diving singles with a ten pound BP, so no camband slots. Designed my own BP. This meant that I could cross the webbing below the bolt holes, thus I didn't have to burn holes into my webbing. That alone makes it simple to adjust. In addition, I angled the shoulder slots 8 degrees off horizontal so that the straps hit my shoulders flat, very comfortable. So my new webbing is just one continuous piece with no complications. Of course, the crotch strap is a separate item.

So now, there is just a single, large, clean, non-floppy D-ring at each shoulder where the pentagonal ring was. No chest strap. I always dive with coldwater gloves, see pic, and everything gets clipped off. Even to the glove...

 

[Locus]

See pic.

View attachment 174092

Could you please tell me how you mounted your knife to your crotch strap like that? I have the same knife and I haven't found a comfortable place to mount it to my harness so I would like to try this.

---------- Post added December 29th, 2013 at 12:20 AM ----------

I was recently surprised and disappointed when helping a friend set up her new Freedom Contour with the soft webbing from Strapsworks. It jammed-up with the rollers and was really limp when wet, which made it difficult to don in a wetsuit. It is a great choice for a rig used in warm water against bare skin or a Tee shirt that doesn’t use the rollers though.

Which webbing was this? I'm planning to order some yellow webbing for my harness and I want to stick with the tough, stiff stuff.

 

[Akimbo]

…Which webbing was this? I'm planning to order some yellow webbing for my harness and I want to stick with the tough, stiff stuff.

Flat Nylon, top of the page. It is pretty soft stuff, nothing like dive shops sell for weightbelts.
Nylon Webbing | Buckles, Loops & Rings | Strapworks.com

 

[lowviz]

Could you please tell me how you mounted your knife to your crotch strap like that? ...//...

Note that I had removed the plastic from the lower "sea nut" or whatever they call them, doing so ended up being not at all necessary...



Burn suitable sized holes in the webbing with a hot nail held by a pair of pliers.

 

[Locus]

Flat Nylon, top of the page. It is pretty soft stuff, nothing like dive shops sell for weightbelts.
Nylon Webbing | Buckles, Loops & Rings | Strapworks.com

Thanks, I'll steer clear of that. Which would be the best one to go with for max durability and stiffness?

---------- Post added December 29th, 2013 at 01:55 AM ----------

Note that I had removed the plastic from the lower "sea nut" or whatever they call them, doing so ended up being not at all necessary...
Burn suitable sized holes in the webbing with a hot nail held by a pair of pliers.

Thanks.

 

[Akimbo]

I haven't seen much difference between any of the stiff (resin impregnated) webbing. Any dive shop or Internet dive gear supplier is fine. I have webbing that is 30 years old and working fine. Ragged looking, but nowhere near a breaking point.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I like the webbing that Trident sells.
It's not quite as stiff as some of the webbing I've seen in kits like the Oxycheq kit (really stiff).
And not as limp as webbing used for crotch straps. It's just about right.
I should probably order a roll.
I saw something in this thead about a person wanting yellow webbing. Trident has the most awesome yellow webbing. I have a demo plate set up with it. I actually like using it better than my old black webbing that I've been using for years.