Harness & Air Delivery System for Dry Suit while Cage Diving

[Cabub]

Good evening!

I am going to be doing some cage diving in temperate waters, therefore, I am wanting to dive my dry suit during the dives. Does anybody know if there is a type of harness system out there that will hold a mini/pony bottle that one could use dive a dry suit while doing some cage diving?

I greatly appreciate any suggestions or ideas that any of you would know about.
Thank You!!

 

[Brett Hatch]

Hi there, I've never been cage diving, and I'm not 100% sure that I understand the question, but here goes.

Will you be diving on SCUBA (ie have your own tank attached to your body) or will your breathing gas be supplied by the surface? Either way, I imagine that you'll be able to wear a BC or BP/W to maintain your buoyancy. If that is the case, then you could rig a backup air source in the standard way that tech divers rig a stage bottle. This setup complements 2 D-rings on your harness, one on your hip and the other on your chest. Traditionally this is done on the left side, to avoid tangling things up with the breathing hoses on the right side.

 

[wstorms]

If you are talking about just a suit bottle, why not just add a d ring to your weight belt and clip it off there?

 

[rongoodman]

Just use a standard back plate without the wing? There are some ultra-light fabric versions made for travel which might work even better.

 

[wstorms]

Think you might have put the post in 2 separate locations by accident. seems to be the same as
Harness & Air Delivery System for Dry Suit while Cage Diving

Anyway, if you are looking for just a drysuit bottle, simple put a d ring on your weight belt and clip of there

 

[Cabub]

Hi there, I've never been cage diving, and I'm not 100% sure that I understand the question, but here goes.

Will you be diving on SCUBA (ie have your own tank attached to your body) or will your breathing gas be supplied by the surface? Either way, I imagine that you'll be able to wear a BC or BP/W to maintain your buoyancy. If that is the case, then you could rig a backup air source in the standard way that tech divers rig a stage bottle. This setup complements 2 D-rings on your harness, one on your hip and the other on your chest. Traditionally this is done on the left side, to avoid tangling things up with the breathing hoses on the right side.

Brett,
Thank you for your reply as it is appreciated more than you will ever know. As far as cage diving, they usually won't let you go down with your BC and fins as people tend to exit the cage to share water with the sharks. Therefore, you go down with just a wetsuit and weights to keep you on the cage floor with air supplied from the surface. Since I won't have a BC to connect my dry suit hose, I am just trying to figure out what is the best set up for my air source for my dry suit. Great White's are found in temperate waters (55-70 degrees) and I am tired of freezing my butt off.

I appreciate any and all suggestions/advice.
Tim

 

[Cabub]

If you are talking about just a suit bottle, why not just add a d ring to your weight belt and clip it off there?

Sir,
Thank you for your reply as it is greatly appreciated. Like I said, I am going to be doing some cage diving and since Great Whites are found in temperate waters I want to wear my dry suit as I am tired of freezing my rear off. Since the operator I usually go with does not allow us to go down with our BC's and fins, I am just trying to figure out the best way to rig up an air/gas source so that I can use my dry suit. Do you believe adding a "D-Ring" and attaching a suite/pony bottle is the best most efficient way to do this?

Again, thank you for your advice and suggestions.
Tim

 

[Brett Hatch]

Brett,
Thank you for your reply as it is appreciated more than you will ever know. As far as cage diving, they usually won't let you go down with your BC and fins as people tend to exit the cage to share water with the sharks. Therefore, you go down with just a wetsuit and weights to keep you on the cage floor with air supplied from the surface. Since I won't have a BC to connect my dry suit hose, I am just trying to figure out what is the best set up for my air source for my dry suit. Great White's are found in temperate waters (55-70 degrees) and I am tired of freezing my butt off.

I appreciate any and all suggestions/advice.
Tim

I see. Well, keep in mind that it really doesn't take much gas to inflate a drysuit. Trimix divers often bring a 6cf tank full of argon or air to fill their suit (since helium is a very bad insulator), and some get more than one dive off a single fill -- and those guys go really deep. DRIS sells one for about $200, complete with the QD hose. The thing is only 3 inches by a foot or so. I can understand why they wouldn't want people to have fins etc. But see if the operators will let you bring some sort of harness just to have a D-ring to clip the bottle to. Or if your drysuit has pockets with a D-ring, consider just clipping it on and sticking it in your pocket.

 

[wstorms]

I am just trying to figure out the best way to rig up an air/gas source so that I can use my dry suit. Do you believe adding a "D-Ring" and attaching a suite/pony bottle is the best most efficient way to do this?

Yes, if you only need to inflate your suit a bit, a small suit bottle would do. If you don't have a d-ring laying around, you might be able to use a little bungee loop. loop it around the weight belt and clip of there. On further thought, are you even going to be deep enough to need a suit bottle? It might be possible, depending on how deep that cage is going to be, to simply make sure there is enough air remaining in the suit from the surface. You might need a few kilo more lead than you are used to, but since you will simply be standing in the cage instead of diving I can imagine it is not a big issue. Probably best to ask the dive operator what they recommend.

 

[rhwestfall]

A little off topic, but I see one interesting issue here. Cage and a DS.... You are going to need to be horizontal or all the air will go to the upper portion of the suit. Do you intend to be in this orientation for the entire experience?

As to a rig point, you could consider a weight harness and attach d-rings. Not a "fancy one" like the DUI, but a simple one that is just webbing.

Innovative Scuba Weight Belt Suspenders

Good luck.