How do you use a Crotch Strap

[W W Meixner]

Good Morning everyone, I’m still a fairly new recreational diver who just bought his first set of gear a month ago. I bought a Dive Rite Tanspac. I am very happy with it, except for the fact that I can’t seem to work to crotch strap, with out it feeling like I’m wearing a thong. I’m also a cyclist so butt is kind of use to taking beating, but not that much. I admit I’m not wearing a wet suit which is probably my first mistake, but I was wandering if anyone out there had some sound crotch strap advice.

KCB...

Dove with crotch strap for years...OMS one inch...and standard/soft weave two inch...dive recreational doubles...and rebreather...

Should be adjusted slack...so there is no pulling when sitting on the charter boat...

Helps to prevent the rare occasion when your kit is too loose and wants to ride up over your shoulders...

Once you've got it adjusted properly...you won't know it's there...

Be careful with hard weave two inch straps...they have a nasty habit of cutting through your suit...

Best...

Warren

 

[CWK]

I use a crotch strap with my ScubaPro Hydros Pro BCD. The front D-ring is a good place for clipping on a reef hook. I also have a line cutter stored on the crotch strap below the D-ring.

 

[KenGordon]

I'm just experimenting, what works, what doesn't work ect. I haven't needed the trap so far, but since I'm taking the rescue class soon, I figured I'd try to address all elephants, before hand, the tech shorts seem like a good buy.

When giving Rescue Breaths it is good to be able to get high in the water. If your BCD is not a good fit it may ride up, leaving you too low to be effective. In this case a crotch strap would help.

The strap may also trap a weight belt and slightly complicate de-kitting. Would you rather that first happened on a course of when it really matters?

 

[Dan]

Why would complicate things when you don't need it? I don't need it in 14 years of diving.

You'll find out the hassle when you take the rescue class.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Anyone who is really familiar with how a crotch strap is used and why will have zero issues with it in a rescue class. You undo the waist belt buckle and it falls away. If you run into someone who has it boogered up you just cut it, along with the shoulder straps.
I see more BC's where a crotch strap properly adjusted would be a significant improvement on the design and divers would be more comfortable. Instead of the BC riding up around their ears on the surface or slopping from side to side under water.
Some jacket bc's seem to be designed by an engineer who thinks it's funny when it rides up on a diver at the surface.

 

[Dan]

They'll tend to ride up, particularly on the surface without a crotch strap.

It's just to keep your rig from surfacing without you when vertical.

If you are neutrally buoyant and the shoulder & waist straps are snug, this gear ride up won't happen.

If you feel your gear wants to ride up while underwater, that means you are not neutrally buoyant. Having the gear to be too much positively buoyant than you are while underwater makes the ascent rate to be unsafe. You are not in control over the ascent rate.

To prevent the gear from riding up at the surface, I also have 1/3 of my dive weight on the back trim weight pouches, strapping the tank as low as possible (tank center gravity is closed to my rear end) so when I'm at the surface, the gear setup with fully inflated BCD would keep me vertical. If I lean back a bit, the gear would push me up, like on flotation.

 

[StefinSB]

Adding for posterity...

One thing I would note where a crotch strap may really be necessary is with a traditional BP/W single piece harness where there's no adjustment for shoulder straps. Consequently they have to be set looser than an adjustable harness in order to get the rig on.

[snip]

On a traditional single piece harness for a BP/W, adding harness slides will allow one to cinch down the shoulder straps with the pull of the waist straps. Resulting in the rig being nice and tight and eliminating the need for a crotch strap.

View attachment 523503

Or one could just not add harness sliders, adjust should straps and crotch straps once right, and be done with it. ;-)

 

[CuzzA]

Or one could just not add harness sliders, adjust should straps and crotch straps once right, and be done with it. ;-)

You could, but have you ever read a thread about looking for advice on harness sliders? Of course there's the other issue for those that constantly dive different environments with different exposure protection. I guess if you set your rig up for a 7 mil and then dive in board shorts, you're gonna need as crotch strap.

 

[StefinSB]

You could, but have you ever read a thread about looking for advice on harness sliders? Of course there's the other issue for those that constantly dive different environments with different exposure protection. I guess if you set your rig up for a 7 mil and then dive in board shorts, you're gonna need as crotch strap.

That’s a valid point. However, there are threads here looking for advice how to rinse a regulator ..... I don’t take that as a reason to get a rebreather.

 

[KCB]

Everyone’s got some good info, I got the apeks, tech shorts and I wore my bike shorts under them it feels a lot better, I can already notice a huge improvement to the dive rite transpac on how it feels to my body, I’m happy with my purchases