Webbing type for Harness

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Bretagus

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Location
Bloomington, IN
# of dives
100 - 199
I'm in my third season with my current harness webbing, and its starting to look a little threadbare. Plus, its a snug fit ever since I switched over to diving dry (and gained a few lbs, hehe). Eitherway, I'd like to replace it. My current webbing is weight belt style... ie stiff and impossible to fine-tune keeper placement for D-rings. A buddy of mine dives with Halcyon webbing, and it seemed quite flexible (and crazy simple to adjust a keeper). I also noticed diverite sells stiff, soft and mil-spec.

What type of webbing do you use, and why? I'm definitely looking to go softer... but is there a tradeoff?

And as a side question, I was thinking of putting bike tubing at the bends of the plate... maybe it would reduce the chafe against the webbing and help it last longer?
-Brett
 
I thought softer sounded nice, I was recently building a pool only rig for myself in AL plate. I thought I might have only a bathing suit sometimes and the softer webbing might be easier on my silken shoulders.

...but for me the reality was that getting in a bit more difficult as the webbing flops around more. Stiffer webbing holds itself open for you better for entry.
 
Although it always irks me to like anything Halcyon, I love their webbing. It's just a little softer and more flexible than the standard stuff, but I find it plenty stiff enough to hold D-rings. I haven't found anything else that's comparable; everything else seems to be the stuff stuff or way too pliable.
 
I like the Halcyon webbing(along with most of the other stuff in their catalog).
 
I just switched to soft webbing and tried it out 2 days ago. I was thinking it would have all the same advantages you thought it would, but it was horrible. It was tough to put the harness on because of the floppiness, the d-rings slipped, and the webbing bunched up in the slits in the backplate. This weekend I will re-rig with new stiffer stuff.
 
I have one rig with the stiff webbing, one with the "soft" webbing from diverite and I have purchased "heavy-duty" 2" webbing from ebay for another project. The stiff webbing is easier to don & doff. The diverite soft webbing seems to be just a little thicker than the stiff webbing so it still holds adjustment well but does flop around a bit more. And it is a bit easier making adjustments. The ebay webbing is relatively thin and will not hold adjustments well as it slips quite easily.
 
I've got some webbing that is so thick that it won't fit double through the belt buckle. I want to use it (nice and stiff) but I'd have to file or dremel each belt buckle a millimeter or two....
 
I've got some webbing that is so thick that it won't fit double through the belt buckle. I want to use it (nice and stiff) but I'd have to file or dremel each belt buckle a millimeter or two....

That sounds just like my webbing.

What I did was melt about a quarter inch of the corner of the webbing and pound it flat.

Then i soaked it in water.

Once it was soaked and pliable that flattened part fit through the buckle and if needed I could clamp onto it with a pair of vice grips to pull it through the rest of the way.

Once it was actually through and dry, I could adjust it how I needed because I had enough to grip onto. But I tried to do most of the adjustment while it was wet.

Then I trimmed off the flat spot and cleaned up the end once I was all set up and adjusted right...after about 20 dives.

Hope that helps, good luck either way!
 
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