I have about 30 dives on my Oceanic BC and can't seem to keep my belt tight enough to hold the tank in place. No matter how tight I have the belt holding the tank while on the boat, in the water the nylon must stretch which than sends the tank a swimmin' on its own. Any tips out there to resolve this problem? Different belt? Thx.
Help, My Tank Falls off!
- Thread starter PandaBear
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PandaBear,
If it's a cam buckle, made sure it's threaded correctly:
1-through the bail (metal loop)
2-middle slot from the outside
3-bottom slot from the inside
4-top slot as you finish the tightening, just before you clamp it down
There may be a diagram on the strap, or numbers molded into the buckle. Check the manual.
Get somebody to show you how to thread and use it correctly, you'd be surprised how many people don't know how to. Also, make sure that there is a rubber "anti slip" piece somewhere, either on the strap or on the backpack portion.
The place that sold it to you will be happy to check it out for you.
Lastly, are you a small person? Use more muscle when you tighten it, and you can always lay it down to lean on the buckle. (big guys beware, you can break them). Hope this helps,
Neil
If it's a cam buckle, made sure it's threaded correctly:
1-through the bail (metal loop)
2-middle slot from the outside
3-bottom slot from the inside
4-top slot as you finish the tightening, just before you clamp it down
There may be a diagram on the strap, or numbers molded into the buckle. Check the manual.
Get somebody to show you how to thread and use it correctly, you'd be surprised how many people don't know how to. Also, make sure that there is a rubber "anti slip" piece somewhere, either on the strap or on the backpack portion.
The place that sold it to you will be happy to check it out for you.
Lastly, are you a small person? Use more muscle when you tighten it, and you can always lay it down to lean on the buckle. (big guys beware, you can break them). Hope this helps,
Neil
Iguana Don
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PandaBear,
Try wetting your BC before strapping your tank in, this will allow the webbing to "prestretch" while you are securing your tank. This is often forgotten.
ID
Try wetting your BC before strapping your tank in, this will allow the webbing to "prestretch" while you are securing your tank. This is often forgotten.
ID
Another thing to try is taking two big rubber bands, doubling them over a couple of times and threading them to two places on the cam band. It does a nice, inexpensive job of adding a bit of compressible material and increasing the friction.
JoelW
JoelW
OceanSpirit
Guest
I used to have the same problem with my Oceanic BC until some wise old dive guide showed me how to secure the cylinder properly. First, check that the band is threaded correctly, second, wet the band by dunking BC in the water and thirdly (and here's the real knack) you tighten the band up as much as you can and then 'walk' the buckle up the band, little by little. You do this by opening the buckle slightly, pulling hard on the band and then open and close the buckle half a dozen times keeping the band pulled as hard as possible. Each 'step' put a fraction of band through each time making it tighter and tighter. I can promise you, you won't have any more problems.
Madder_Than_Hell
Guest
I would recommend that you get a Scubapro cam band, the one with the metal clasp. It will hold a tank nice and snug. If your BC will allow, put two of them on it. I promise it won't go anywhere!
fooks
Contributor
My BCD is an Oceanic Probe. I ran into the exact same problem. No matter how hard i would tighten the strap on my bcd my tank would still come off. Finally one day I removed the strap from the buckle and then looped it back through. On my buckle there are numbers that correspond to how the strap is to be fed through. I.E. Put the strap through hole 1 first etc.. You may have to play with it for a bit. Another thing to check for is that the strap has one of those non slip dealies. Hope that helps.
boydski
Contributor
My Oceanic BCD ( Balance ) used to do the same thing when it was new. It became quite humorous after a while, I would lay my BCD on the ground, slide the tank into place, wet the strap, and two guys would tighten the strap as tight as possible. We'd wait a minute or so, and then re-tighten. I would literally have everyone in my group check (confirming it was tight) and then I'd put the BCD on, and walk down to the dive site (shore diving in Puget Sound). Invariably, my tank would slide out and hit my butt, long before my feet hit the water (much to the amusement of my buddies).
The oddest part was that my wife's BCD ( a Libra, which is really identical ) never had a single tank slippage, even though it was rigged, tightened and used identically. After becoming very adept at replacing loose tanks undewater, I finally installed a rubber tank-gripper-pad on my band, and it stays tight as a drum now. The one I use was from a Mares BCD, that my dealer ordered for me, but there are several that would work.
I'm also farely certain that the strap has streched out enough (after about 100 dives) that it would probably not slip anyway, but the Pad has saved me lots, and lots of greef!
Your milage may vary,
Boydski
The oddest part was that my wife's BCD ( a Libra, which is really identical ) never had a single tank slippage, even though it was rigged, tightened and used identically. After becoming very adept at replacing loose tanks undewater, I finally installed a rubber tank-gripper-pad on my band, and it stays tight as a drum now. The one I use was from a Mares BCD, that my dealer ordered for me, but there are several that would work.
I'm also farely certain that the strap has streched out enough (after about 100 dives) that it would probably not slip anyway, but the Pad has saved me lots, and lots of greef!
Your milage may vary,
Boydski
For some reason, this problem seems to be more prevalent with Oceanic than other brands. Putting the non-slip pad on the band did it for me. Oceanic was nice enough to send the pad at no charge. You may want to contact them to discuss the problem
DSAO
DSAO
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