Tank strap technology

[Luis H]

We're still running the run of the mill plasic buckle with out incident, knock on wood. A pair on my BC and a single on my wife's. I did watch a buddies blastic buckle disintegrate as she cammed it over last last winter in cold weather. I don't know if it had suffered a prior impact or not. Just fuel for the fire.

From a functional standpoint the SP or DR straps make a lot more sense.

Pete

Hi Pete

I know you personally have never had any problems with your cam bands, but I can think of at least two more of our friends that have. Jeff has lost his tank in the water at least twice were I was able to help him and I am fairly sure Bob has had problems too.

 

[spectrum]

Hi Pete

I know you personally have never had any problems with your cam bands, but I can think of at least two more of our friends that have. Jeff has lost his tank in the water at least twice were I was able to help him and I am fairly sure Bob has had problems too.

I know, it must be the hot dipped galvanized finish on my cylinders.

I have seen it happen to several others as well. I consider it fair to say that the SP & DR designs are less technique dependent.

Pete

 

[Hoosier]

Simple.....

Anything comes with "H" or "S" is all expensive.

 

[Walter]

The Scubapro strap is great if you always use the same diameter tank, other wise the old "Cam" design is easier to adjust.

CB

Nope. I find the Scubapro straps much easier to adjust. It's merely a matter of moving velcro. The plastic nightmares are extremely difficult to adjust.

The cam strap tension pads do a few things; reduce the closing force, reduce the peak load on the buckle, and maintain the tension in the camband as it stretches.

Great idea! Instead of fixing the design flaw, sell another product to compensate for the flaw.

My guess is that you are referring to the earlier Scubapro tank bands (I don't know when they changed them). In those you had to remove it from the tank to adjust the diameter because the Velcro strap wrapped into the buckle towards the tank (the Dive Rite is like this).

The newer ones the Velcro wraps on the buckle away from the tank, making it extremely easy to adjust to any tank size (wile it is on the tank). With the newer band I feel it is much easier to change tank sizes than with the cam buckle.

I prefer the older version.

 

[orange_diver]

It doesn't actually touch the tank. There's a section of webbing that goes under the buckle. It's a great strap.

I can't imagine why everybody isn't using it. Once you here the "thunk" it makes when closing the buckle, there's no question about the tank going anywhere.

Terry

perfect. thx!

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Great idea! Instead of fixing the design flaw, sell another product to compensate for the flaw.

.

I think that I'm using the best of both worlds. I use the SP tank strap, but with an aluminum backplate I felt that there was nothing to compress and it did not hold the tank as tightly as it could. It seemed that with a normal plastic BC pack there was some give (compression) in the plastic that helped to keep the tank stap tight.


My solution was to add a 3" X 3" (1/2" thick) piece of solid rubber under the a portion of the SP strap. This seems to have worked great by providing just enough compressibility to keep the tension high after closure.

It still amazes me that BC manufactures can list a BC at over $600 and then use piece of crap plastic cam bands. How much more could it cost to use steel ones, or the Scuba Pro type ones?

I personally have seen tanks slide out of BC's at least 20 times. To me this represents a potential hazard that is very easily avoided by using the correct cam band. I have also broken two of the cheap plastic ones before I saw the light. The DIR people worry about a (fastex)a plastic shoulder 2-piece quick release snap failing suddenly. They use a one-piece harness to avoid a potential hazard, which seems miniscule to me. Does DIR "dictate" the type of tank strap you can use for a single tank?

And while I'm complaining, has everyone noticed that the Oceanic BC's use a PARTICULARLY bad cam band because it is thinner than all the others, and therefore the cam action is less and the strap is held even less securely than the generic plastic cam bands.

 

[cool_hardware52]

I think that I'm using the best of both worlds. I use the SP tank strap, but with an aluminum backplate I felt that there was nothing to compress and it did not hold the tank as tightly as it could. It seemed that with a normal plastic BC pack there was some give (compression) in the plastic that helped to keep the tank stap tight.

My solution was to add a 3" X 3" (1/2" thick) piece of solid rubber under the a portion of the SP strap. This seems to have worked great by providing just enough compressibility to keep the tension high after closure.

Anything like this?

It still amazes me that BC manufactures can list a BC at over $600 and then use piece of crap plastic cam bands. How much more could it cost to use steel ones, or the Scuba Pro type ones?

I personally have seen tanks slide out of BC's at least 20 times. To me this represents a potential hazard that is very easily avoided by using the correct cam band. I have also broken two of the cheap plastic ones before I saw the light. The DIR people worry about a (fastex)a plastic shoulder 2-piece quick release snap failing suddenly. They use a one-piece harness to avoid a potential hazard, which seems miniscule to me. Does DIR "dictate" the type of tank strap you can use for a single tank?

That's exactly why we include our "wedge blocks" Look here http://www.deepseasupply.com/page12.html
(scroll down the bottom of the page)
Our wedge blocks provide a compressible element. They are laced on to the cambands on diver's side of the back plate. This reduces the closing force required, maintains the band tension, and prevents overloading the buckle.

Plastic buckles are fine, as long as you don't over load them. Plastic buckles don't mar tanks. The only buckle we have ever had that failed was on rig where the user removed the wedge blocks in an effort to use a camband based pony bottle mount (shudder)


Tobin

 

[FishDiver]

Anything like this?

That's exactly why we include our "wedge blocks" Look here http://www.deepseasupply.com/page12.html
(scroll down the bottom of the page)
Our wedge blocks provide a compressible element. They are laced on to the cambands on diver's side of the back plate. This reduces the closing force required, maintains the band tension, and prevents overloading the buckle.


Tobin

Recycled car tire tubes are free, not to mention the environmental advantages. A knife or scissors transforms them into flexible, durable bands.

Does your band-aid product offer any advantage over placing a recycled rubber band under the tank strap?

 

[cool_hardware52]

Recycled car tire tubes are free, not to mention the environmental advantages. A knife or scissors transforms them into flexible, durable bands.

Does your band-aid product offer any advantage over placing a recycled rubber band under the tank strap?

So lets see here, my cam pads are "band-aid" that's a also a danger to the environment?

Apparently you have no understanding of how our cam pads work, none. In order to be compressed, the cam pads have to be short and thick. That creates a "point load" .

Contrast that with your solution, pieces of thin inner tube. Your inner tube pieces cannot compress, at best they might increase the friction between the strap and the tank, but probably not much once everything is wet.

The key is really having a compressible element. Only if you have something compliant can you store and return the preloaded tension to the strap.

Why don't you ask a round a little, we have lots of happy users, maybe they can respond to your question.


Tobin

 

[stillhope]

What part of an innertube is incompressible? The stem, maybe, but I don't think he's using that.

I've used old innertubes for a large variety of jobs, and they are elegant, easy to work with, and "reusing" them helps me "reduce" my purchases of new things -- a big, big plus in my book!

--reduce, reuse, and recycle