Why does DIR reject quick disconnects?

[archman]

wow, someone else dives an x-tek! and all this time I thought something was wrong with me...

 

[jagfish]

Good points Dr. Bill...

JAG

 

[Boogie711]

Hmmm... I find this interesting given the number of people I know or have heard from who have had their webbing rub raw from poorly finished backplates. To me that sounds like a failure point. I wear an X-Tek backpack with such releases and have NEVER (yet!) had a problem with them over many hundreds of dives. In fact I've never had a problem with any of my BCD's in 42 years of diving (well, actually only started using a BCD in 1989... before that it was the basic hard backpack).

Dr. Bill

Dr Bill - with all due respect, that's a red herring of an argument.

Just as it's not DIR to dive with quick releases because they're an unnecessary failure point, it's also not DIR to dive with a backplate that will slice your webbing. It's an easily fixed problem involving some emery paper or a metal file, which is then solved for the life of the plate.

FURTHERMORE, frayed webbing doesn't catastrophically shatter into pieces. You have lots of warning time that you've got a problem with your plate, and weeks of time to fix it.

Not even close to being the same argument, sir.

 

[archman]

I must say I'd never witnessed or even heard whispers about quick release buckles shattering until I joined this message board. Good lord, what are you people DOING to your gear?! :11:

Very few divers I've seen even USE these buckles, 'cept during rescue class. Most folks slip into their harness just like they would in a hogarthian rig; the only "buckling" occurring would be for that silly sternum clip. I should just cut mine off.

I can see buckles being more susceptible to cold water (brittle), and UV if left in the sun for a couple years. Is there some particular actions/environments that are especially harsh on plastic?

I can't argue that if the things break, you're dive is off. But what are the true odds of this happening? If it really was such a big deal why aren't there metal buckles?

I feel a better argument for DIR being opposed to quick releases is that they preclude normal webbing mods to that area. That sounds more rational and statistically supportable. You won't get any smack from me in that regard.

 

[OneBrightGator]

I'm not very hard on gear, I baby it as much as possible, so the chances of a QR breaking on me is close to nil, however, the chances of a not-QR breaking are zero.

It's not how frequently QRs break, it's the simple fact that they can that precludes them from DIR.

Ben

 

[SeaJay]

In the one DIR video I've seen, George Irvine simply picked up a rig and flipped it up over his head. It just fell onto him.

I've done this ever since.

Me too.

It's kind of funny watching the jacket diver's reactions when they see me do that.

I get that all the time, too. My regular buddies are getting used to it, though... At first they seemed a bit terrified - like I was going to drop it or something. Now that they've loosened up enough to ask me about it, they seem to think it's cool.

Some even do it without a BP/wing now... The method works better than anything else I've seen.

I've got a clip of the video right here: http://www.DeepSouthDivers.org/homeDIR3.html

Look at the 6 minute point in Chapter 3 to see him don a full rig. There's also some great demonstrations in Chapter 13, where GI3 gets more into fitment of the harness and the "whys" of the system.

What nobody's mentioned is the way that a BP/wing fits the diver - it's different than a "regular" BC.

On a "regular" BC, the shoulder straps are comparably parallel - that is, they are close to the same distance from each other over the shoulders and connected to the waistband. On a correctly fitted DIR-style harness, the shoulder straps are much closer to each other near the shoulders than they are at the waist - in fact, they don't even hit the waist. They go straight back and hit the backplate.

As such, a DIR-style harness is situated in such a fashion that when you release the waist band and crotch strap, you can literally slip right out underneath of it. This usually can't be done as easily with a "regular" BC.

Thus, no need for quick releases, adjustments, velcro, or anything else - which is nice, 'cause it makes the whole rig a lot more simple, clean, streamlined and sturdy.

 

[OneBrightGator]

Dude, I just slaughtered your bandwidth thanks to that link

Ben

 

[Atticus]

With respect to webbing getting torn on backplates, my Halcyon backplate seems to go through webbing moderately quickly. I've gotten about 50 dives off the current set of webbing and it's toast. What's the norm?

I'll re-inspect and file per the previous suggestion. Last time I checked things out there weren't any *sharp* edges, but they weren't radius'd or anything either.

 

[SeaJay]

Dude, I just slaughtered your bandwidth thanks to that link

Ben

Heh. That's what it's there for. Good thing I own the ISP, eh?

Slaughter-away.

...And while you're at it, check out some of the other links... Hint: "Listen."

 

[OneBrightGator]

Your server reset... I don't think it likes me

I have the audio already, can't wait to see the vids though.

Ben