waist vs weight belt buckle

[AbyssalPlains]

Hi all,

I just threaded and adjusted my first BP/W with Hogarthian harness, so please be patient if I'm asking something obvious.

The instructions called for threading the waist buckle on the left hip waist strap, but wear it on the right side of the body. So far, so good. Now, I noticed that when I add the weight belt, I am left with two buckles facing the same way (they both release with the right hand). Wouldn't it make more sense to attach the harness buckle on the right waist strap? From what I can tell, this would offer two advantages: I could release it with the left hand, reaching across with my left arm. This would allow much better leverage than crunching up my right arm and fumbling for the buckle, especially with a thick wetsuit. Second, there would be no way of accidently releasing the wrong buckle. All one would have to remember is "weight belt - right hand", waist belt - left hand."

Am I the only one who feels this way?

 

[Thalassamania]

Get rid of that crappy thread through buckle on the weight belt. It's not reliable anyway. Use a wire buckle or a SeaQuest style buckle, and then you'll never confuse them regardless of the handedness.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

Get rid of that crappy thread through buckle on the weight belt. It's not reliable anyway. Use a wire buckle or a SeaQuest style buckle, and then you'll never confuse them regardless of the handedness.

What does a SeaQuest style buckle look like?

 

[cmburch]

I have the buckle on my Rig left waist strap. It is situated higher than my weight belt and is centered over my left leg not right. The crotch strap is centered. The buckle is not threaded through the crotch strap. If the buckle was located on the right leg, it would thread through the crotch strap.

My weight belt is lower with buckle centered on waist. Both buckles face the same direction.

If I was left handed, I would reverse.

 

[TSandM]

In general, the Hog view is that there are very, very few occasions where you might need to drop your weight belt. And if your rescuer accidentally releases your waist belt, your plate won't come off; it's not a big problem.

 

[Thalassamania]

What does a SeaQuest style buckle look like?

It's a magnificent design. If you pull the round end piece (on the right) away from your body the belt releases, but if you pull back on the belt it smoothly tightens. Designed by Mark Olson of Deep Sea Power and Light fame, back when he was a grad student at Scripps.

 

[matt t.]

When I wear a weight belt (rarely anymore) I wear it "backwards" so it needs a left handed release. Can't be accidentally released when tightening my harness waist strap underwater. YMMV>

 

[rongoodman]

If you have the harness buckle on the right strap, you won't be able to ditch the can light in an emergency. Probably not an issue with the new smaller lithium ion batteries, but having to unthread the buckle each time you wanted to remove your light might still be a nuisance.