Setting up a BP/W for child

[Gjoyce3]

Anyone have experience setting up a BP/W for a child? I am wondering of the advisability of switching to a DR transplate harness for increased comfort and for ease of on the spot adjustment.

My youngest son (13) is going through his OW rec class and just completed the pool sessions. I have him in a BP/W with a hogarthian harness. We went this route mostly from a not wanting to buy a series of BCs as he grows, and also to match my setup (keeping things simple). We needed to adjust the harness to tighten up the should straps as he was falling out of the harness in some of his drills. At the pool side it was a rather easy adjustment. If we had been in open water, not so much.

Thanks in advance for any and all advise.
J

 

[tbone1004]

don't bother switching to the transplate. Since you have him in a one piece harness now it is the same as fitting for an adult, but I would leave some extra room on the straps vs. cutting them off so he can grow into it. Basically every 6-12mos or whenever it feels tight on him, open the straps up a bit and just try to get a confined water session every 6-12mos so you can adjust it accordingly. You can get it pretty darned close on land though if you follow the normal harness adjustment protocol

 

[Gjoyce3]

Thanks for the reply! I will stay the course and see how it goes.

J