I am currently taking XTR classes with Layne. I spent months researching gear configurations and trying to make half way informed buying decisions. Sunday I was to meet Layne at the lake to look at my gear and dive, so he could take a look.
I was a little nervous, so I talked my buddy Paulw to go out with me first on Saturday to try this out for the first time first. I spent countless hours researching harnesses, hog configurations, and dir configurations getting ready to transition my diving style.
I had some serious doubts how comfortable a hog harness would be for a woman. Since I do not have the ability to try before I buy, I bought a Halcyon hog rig and a DR Transplate to compare. Currently I have two Luxfer AL80s banded together and two Apex XTX200 regs. I have a Halcyon 55# wing and a Whites Fusion with LE skin on order.
Saturday I went out with my dive buddy Paul Werner to Windy Point public. I took the Transplate, 1 crotch strap, and AL backplate. I had already seen inherent problems with this rig for tech diving when I looked at this rig in my living room. The clips on the shoulder harness that I thought would making adjustments easier were in the way. When I tied down my backup lights the rubber tubing covered up the clips rendering them useless. The shoulder straps were comfortable, but tying down the inflator hose was cumbersome. There are also way too many d-rings. For the first dive I used DR weight pockets. Once I started gearing up I realized that I didnt have a buckle on the left side to hold the left weight pocket back. When I got in the water the left weight pocket kept sliding forward making the bp shift sideways. I kept trying to adjust my rig underwater and it must have been a sight, because my buddy said I looked like I was having convulsions! The Transplate also has a chest strap, and Im still not sure how I feel about it. It looked like a good concept but in retrospect its just one more thing I might forget to close. I was wearing a 5mm wetsuit, 5mm hood, and gloves. I started the dive with 5# of lead. I ascended to 20 with 2000 psi of air in my tanks and had problems staying down. Im pretty sure I had all the air out of my wing. I had problems dumping air from the rear and had massive amounts of water in the wing.
On the second dive I had to increase my lead to 12# to go down, and I switched to a weight belt. I found that I was having to add a lot of air to the wing as I descended. My trim felt pretty good the first 10 minutes, then I felt the bp tilting. When I reached down I could feel that my crotch strap was pulling sideways but could not figure out why I could not straighten it out. Once I surfaced I found that the crotch strap had caught on my weight belt. The weight belt had shifted and taken the crotch strap with it. With all the distractions I gave up trying to find the pressure gauge. I have always hated weight belts and now I have one more reason. I also had a problem staying down again at 20 at the end of the dive. I had breathed the tanks down to 1000 psi and was having to pick up large rocks to keep from shooting up. Im not 100% if I had trapped air. Lucky for me, Paul is a very experienced and patient dive buddy who let me take my time to figure out my issues. It was a good day.
Saturday I learned these things. If I slide my light canister all the way to the back of my harness, I cannot reach the on/off switch. I still do not like weight belts. The Transplate is fairly comfortable, but I do not feel that it is suitable for tech diving. Im still not sure how I feel about the chest strap. Im just going to say no to the Transplate.
On Sunday I switched to my Halcyon SS bp and hog harness. I spent Saturday night looking at pics on the BAUE website getting everything placed correctly on the webbing. I still had reservations on how comfortable this might be. Layne had also decided that picnic tables were essential for us, so we met at Windy Point Private. I was concerned that the webbing would cut into my shoulders on the hike down the stairs. When I met with Layne Sunday morning we spent some time looking at my gear and making adjustments. I brought an additional buckle with me to secure the left weight pocket. On the right side I pushed the weight pocket all the way to the back, then put the light canister in front of it. This evened out the left and right weight pocket, and I was then able to easily reach the on/off switch. I had also switched over to a SS bp to reduce the weight I needed to carry. I put 12# of lead in my pockets. My high pressure hose is several inches too long and loops out and away from my rig. It will need to be replaced with a shorter hose this week.
When I stood up the tanks felt very secure on my back. I had no issues walking the rig down the stairs and across the rocks. I sunk like a rock when I descended and had to add massive amounts of air to my wing. I started finding the pull cord on the rear dump easier but still had problems dumping air. Layne thinks I am not putting my butt up high enough. I was able to clip and unclip my SPG several times without too much fumbling. My rig was comfortable and secure under the water. The Halcyon harness came with a 2 crotch strap which I like much better. Layne had asked me for a dive plan. I was going to dive and he was just going to follow me around. I told him that max depth would be 60, max time 45min, and I didnt want to go down into the trees with this rig. I was so into the rig and loving the way it felt that I blew off the dive plan. On descending I immediately went into the trees (which is my favorite place at Travis) and swam around at 65. Several times my light cord tangled in branches, but it was pretty easy to back out. I was concentrating so much maintaining buoyancy and working on locating things like the rear dump and pressure gauge I never even noticed when Layne tried to give me an OK signal with his light. It was a much better dive than Saturday.
Layne walked out of the water and across the rocks like it was no big deal. I had to crawl out on my knees for at least 5. Thank god for knee pads. The rig was heavy but no major problems getting back to the top of the stairs. Nothing that motrin wont take care of.
I had my light head on my left hand, and Layne pointed out that my light cord was hanging down and gave me some ideas on how to wrap the cable around my arm to reduce entanglement. I had a ton of water in my wing which confirms I have my butt too low when trying to dump air and that instead of venting air with the rear dump I was just filling up my wing like a water balloon. I came up with 1500psi of air, so I didnt get a chance to check my weighting with empty tanks. I need to figure out my weighing, but this will take time. Ill stick with the weight pockets for now, but will consider a v-weight once I know what I really need.
I was a little nervous, so I talked my buddy Paulw to go out with me first on Saturday to try this out for the first time first. I spent countless hours researching harnesses, hog configurations, and dir configurations getting ready to transition my diving style.
I had some serious doubts how comfortable a hog harness would be for a woman. Since I do not have the ability to try before I buy, I bought a Halcyon hog rig and a DR Transplate to compare. Currently I have two Luxfer AL80s banded together and two Apex XTX200 regs. I have a Halcyon 55# wing and a Whites Fusion with LE skin on order.
Saturday I went out with my dive buddy Paul Werner to Windy Point public. I took the Transplate, 1 crotch strap, and AL backplate. I had already seen inherent problems with this rig for tech diving when I looked at this rig in my living room. The clips on the shoulder harness that I thought would making adjustments easier were in the way. When I tied down my backup lights the rubber tubing covered up the clips rendering them useless. The shoulder straps were comfortable, but tying down the inflator hose was cumbersome. There are also way too many d-rings. For the first dive I used DR weight pockets. Once I started gearing up I realized that I didnt have a buckle on the left side to hold the left weight pocket back. When I got in the water the left weight pocket kept sliding forward making the bp shift sideways. I kept trying to adjust my rig underwater and it must have been a sight, because my buddy said I looked like I was having convulsions! The Transplate also has a chest strap, and Im still not sure how I feel about it. It looked like a good concept but in retrospect its just one more thing I might forget to close. I was wearing a 5mm wetsuit, 5mm hood, and gloves. I started the dive with 5# of lead. I ascended to 20 with 2000 psi of air in my tanks and had problems staying down. Im pretty sure I had all the air out of my wing. I had problems dumping air from the rear and had massive amounts of water in the wing.
On the second dive I had to increase my lead to 12# to go down, and I switched to a weight belt. I found that I was having to add a lot of air to the wing as I descended. My trim felt pretty good the first 10 minutes, then I felt the bp tilting. When I reached down I could feel that my crotch strap was pulling sideways but could not figure out why I could not straighten it out. Once I surfaced I found that the crotch strap had caught on my weight belt. The weight belt had shifted and taken the crotch strap with it. With all the distractions I gave up trying to find the pressure gauge. I have always hated weight belts and now I have one more reason. I also had a problem staying down again at 20 at the end of the dive. I had breathed the tanks down to 1000 psi and was having to pick up large rocks to keep from shooting up. Im not 100% if I had trapped air. Lucky for me, Paul is a very experienced and patient dive buddy who let me take my time to figure out my issues. It was a good day.
Saturday I learned these things. If I slide my light canister all the way to the back of my harness, I cannot reach the on/off switch. I still do not like weight belts. The Transplate is fairly comfortable, but I do not feel that it is suitable for tech diving. Im still not sure how I feel about the chest strap. Im just going to say no to the Transplate.
On Sunday I switched to my Halcyon SS bp and hog harness. I spent Saturday night looking at pics on the BAUE website getting everything placed correctly on the webbing. I still had reservations on how comfortable this might be. Layne had also decided that picnic tables were essential for us, so we met at Windy Point Private. I was concerned that the webbing would cut into my shoulders on the hike down the stairs. When I met with Layne Sunday morning we spent some time looking at my gear and making adjustments. I brought an additional buckle with me to secure the left weight pocket. On the right side I pushed the weight pocket all the way to the back, then put the light canister in front of it. This evened out the left and right weight pocket, and I was then able to easily reach the on/off switch. I had also switched over to a SS bp to reduce the weight I needed to carry. I put 12# of lead in my pockets. My high pressure hose is several inches too long and loops out and away from my rig. It will need to be replaced with a shorter hose this week.
When I stood up the tanks felt very secure on my back. I had no issues walking the rig down the stairs and across the rocks. I sunk like a rock when I descended and had to add massive amounts of air to my wing. I started finding the pull cord on the rear dump easier but still had problems dumping air. Layne thinks I am not putting my butt up high enough. I was able to clip and unclip my SPG several times without too much fumbling. My rig was comfortable and secure under the water. The Halcyon harness came with a 2 crotch strap which I like much better. Layne had asked me for a dive plan. I was going to dive and he was just going to follow me around. I told him that max depth would be 60, max time 45min, and I didnt want to go down into the trees with this rig. I was so into the rig and loving the way it felt that I blew off the dive plan. On descending I immediately went into the trees (which is my favorite place at Travis) and swam around at 65. Several times my light cord tangled in branches, but it was pretty easy to back out. I was concentrating so much maintaining buoyancy and working on locating things like the rear dump and pressure gauge I never even noticed when Layne tried to give me an OK signal with his light. It was a much better dive than Saturday.
Layne walked out of the water and across the rocks like it was no big deal. I had to crawl out on my knees for at least 5. Thank god for knee pads. The rig was heavy but no major problems getting back to the top of the stairs. Nothing that motrin wont take care of.
I had my light head on my left hand, and Layne pointed out that my light cord was hanging down and gave me some ideas on how to wrap the cable around my arm to reduce entanglement. I had a ton of water in my wing which confirms I have my butt too low when trying to dump air and that instead of venting air with the rear dump I was just filling up my wing like a water balloon. I came up with 1500psi of air, so I didnt get a chance to check my weighting with empty tanks. I need to figure out my weighing, but this will take time. Ill stick with the weight pockets for now, but will consider a v-weight once I know what I really need.
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