My Wife's new BC!

[newton]

Well, I did it. I convinced my wife to buy a Halcyon BP/wings setup. To be honest, it wasn't that hard to do. We had taken a DIR-Fundamentals course late last Fall, and she tried a setup on. Unfortunately, the dive shop's gear didn't fit her very well, as they weren't willing to cut all the straps to fit her *very* small body (understandably so). Since my wife is 5'4" and 100# dripping wet, she's found it hard to get rental equipment that fits her very well.

However, during the class she did make the statement that the wing didn't constrict her breathing and (ahem) female parts like her current BC does. (FYI, her old BC was a special 'designed-for-women' BC which comes highly recommended by Rodales.) Until that class she was fairly happen with her BC, except that the quick release straps used for tightening it up tend to come untighened, which causes the BC to flop around alot. Its now headed for E-Bay to help pay for the new setup.

Until she and I tried BP/Wings setup, we assumed that both our setups were about as good as it gets. Boy we were happily suprised. I bought my Halcyon setup after I finished the class, and haven't regretted it.

My wife's setup came today (a week later than expected, but before our trip to Seattle on Thursday, thank goodness). After she got home from work, we spent about an hour or so putting it together (we're using the basic Halcyon 36# Pioneer setup with a FredT heavy STA). After cutting the straps to the right length, getting the crotch strap setup, installing my custom-made weight pockets, and generally doing a dry-run, it was ready to get wet.

Tonight we went to the pool and tried it out with our drysuits. She was *so* happy with it. She got a nice solid fit (neither the BC nor the tank move around like her old setup), and was even able to don/doff the entire unit in the water by herself, which suprised both of us.

Her response to me was that this BC fits her so much better than any BC she's ever tried on, let alone owned. The best part about it is that she now even more willing to go diving with me than before. Yippee!!!!



Nate

 

[Blargh]

How did you end up fixing the weight pouches then ?

 

[newton]

How did you end up fixing the weight pouches then ?

Interestingly enough, I copied the design from two different manufacturers.

First, I bought a pair of tank weight pockets from www.xsscuba.com that I got from a dive shop while on a business trip. These are the same pockets as used in their weightbelt, but can be removed from the tank straps. As far as tank weight pockets go, I highly recommend these. They cost me $10/pocket which seemed expensive at the time, but after searching around for months for anything similar and building my own set, they aren't as expensive as one might think.

They are a fairly simple (but effective) setup. However, in order to hold the weight in place, they use velcro on the flap. While this may be safe for a weight belt used in the upright position, I wanted something that could be more permanently mounted to the harness where the weight could be dropped and the pockets would be left (for simplicity).

Next, I bought a set of Halcyon tank/trim weights. They are similar to the XSScuba pockets, but instead of using velcro to hold the pocket closed, they used a strip of 2" webbing with a fastex buckle to keep it closed. This is a much better system, as it would allow me to mount the pocket upside down which would allow the weights to fall out when the buckle was released. Unfortunately, the Halcyon pockets are way too limber/loose. They are made out of soft webbing, and are tall enought that when you stick weight in them on a belt/harness, they actually *spin* on the belt and cut into your side.

So, what I did was go to my local hardware store, buy a bunch of webbing, and build my own pockets using the ideas from the above two products.

Without the two products in place it's hard to explain what I did, but basically instead of use the tall/limber webbing of the Halcyon, I used the nice-stiff webbing of the XSScuba pocket for the belt part, and the Halcyon design for the pocket (but scaled down so that it doesn't roll).

Unfortunately, sewing through 4-6 layers of webbing was too much for the sewing machine, so I ended up doing some of it by hand. It doesn't look nearly as nice as the commercial pockets since the machine tending to make a mess of the stitching, but it'll hold for our Seattle dive trip this weekend.

I'm hoping to get a local seamstress with a commercial machine to build me a better set in the near future, but the set we've built works, despite its looks. After trying out 4 different pocket designs already, I think I've got a version that would work well in many application, and is (in my opinion) superior to the Halcyon pockets. To be honest, the Halcyon design is by far the simplest, and only needs a few minor modifications to be workable. Basically, having the portion of the pocket that the weight belt/tank belt runs through be much stiffer would allow the pocket to be used as a ditchable weight pocket.

All in all it was a fun project to work on, and I realized that after all was said and done, building a pocket can be done fairly cheaply, but not nearly as cheaply as I had originally thought.


Nate

 

[Blargh]

thx, something to bear in mind... just in case the wife does get around to getting her cert done

 

[devjr]

Newt, anybody who does marine canvas could sew/fabricate the pockets out of heavy webbing fabric. You can specify kevlar thread if it suits you.