homemade BC/harness?

[zmanzimp]

has anyone bought a backplate and wing, some 2in webbing, some drings and a buckle, and made thier own harness for their BC? how'd it turn out? The "true DIR" style seems to be the simplest overall design and easiest to make. there really isnt a whole lot to the bp/w configurations so it seems like one could save 80 bucks and slide the drings on the webbing themsleves. thoughts/comments/concerns?

 

[Boogie711]

If you're paying $80 for a webbing kit, you're SERIOUSLY overpaying. I think most harnesses are 'home-made.'

 

[Walter]

Fred makes his own.

 

[Wendy]

I made my harness myself, and all of my friends did as well. I think you can buy a kit from Extreme Exposure for like $50 maybe. I saw them there once, had the webbing and all the d-rings and stuff like that there.

 

[SDAnderson]

has anyone bought a backplate and wing, some 2in webbing, some drings and a buckle, and made thier own harness for their BC? how'd it turn out? The "true DIR" style seems to be the simplest overall design and easiest to make. there really isnt a whole lot to the bp/w configurations so it seems like one could save 80 bucks and slide the drings on the webbing themsleves. thoughts/comments/concerns?

I've made my own harness for several backplates. Easy enough to do (you'll need a sharp knife, a soldering iron and a pack of matches to do it right) and I'll do it again as the situation requires. If this is your first time, I'd buy one of the kits - normally you'll save a few dollars over buying all the pieces you need independently. The next time around, all you should have to replace is the webbing and maybe the inner tube bits.

 

[LUBOLD8431]

My last harness I purchased back in December I got thru Reef Scuba. I got 18 feet of webbing, five drings and keepers, and a buckle for about $35 (I dont remember exactly, go to www.reefscuba.com to check it out). Oxycheq sells the same thing for $42. So, there are cheaper alternatives out there. I also bought a FredT harness kit for ~$45. Fred has some nice hardware, and has standard drings or billy rings (which are fixed drings at 45 degrees). So, as you can see, all three of these are MUCH less than $80.

EDITED TO ADD: You will have to get some bungee for backup lights (or inner tube pieces) and the inflator hose. You can get bungee from Reef Scuba as well, and their are infinite uses for it. I always have some around...

 

[jplacson]

$80?!?!? The Halcyon harness on EE costs about $60!!! And that's already the Halcyon!!!

Harnesses are basically all the same. The difference in hardware is what will save you a few bucks... some SS isn't as good as others, you could save $10 over-all. Some are nickel-plated brass, some are slightly thinner or smaller than other D-rings/buckles... this saves on weight and cost as well.

Putting together your own harness could save you about $30 off the Halcyon rig... there are other cheaper brands out there too... they don't really "make" the harness since there's nothing to make... they just assemble it for you. It's no big deal really. You're basically just threading the webbing through the backplate.

 

[simbrooks]

I have found that you can buy the Dive-Rite standard harness for $30 at most with at least 3 LDS's now, so i am not sure if you bought webbing and hardware how much you could really save over that price, maybe $5? You can also pick them up of LP for less i know, but then pay shipping which bring the price up near to the LDS price again.

 

[simbrooks]

One thing i was wondering about with a homemade harness is if you can use more ply-able (sp?) webbing, like a seatbelt style, the regular webbing is kind of stiff after use and if dry (loosens when wet, but sometimes its hard to get it soaked when others are in the water etc), that stuff is just as strong even if its not as thick. I am not sure what webbing is used on parachute harnesses, its been a little while (8 years) since i did that - kind of forget over time if you dont think about it, but is that any more ply-able?

As for making the homemade, i can understand if your webbing wears thin and you still have the hardware to just make a new one with new webbing only for $4-5, but to make a new one when you dont know how it goes together could be harder and i really dont see much saving ($-wise and certainly not time-wise) in it compared to buying a ready made cheaper one like the DR.

 

[jonnythan]

You can use the seat belt style webbing, but from what I hear it's a PITA because it doesn't maintain its shape as you put it on. IE, the webbing rolls up over your arm, unlike the stiff webbing.

There's really no need to worry about it.. even the stiff webbing is more than comfortable underwater.

BTW, it's super easy to put together. The only thing to really mess up is to forget a D-ring or something.. and have to go back and start over. All you do is thread the webbing through the plate and D-ring keepers. Also, if you buy the "harness" separately from the backplate, you're going to have to put it together anyway.