Wife wants quick release on harness

[The Chairman]

The SS belt buckle sounds over the top to me... a plastic fastek buckle would do fine. I have limited mobility in my right shoulder and arm and find my BP to be a bit tough to get in and out of on the surface even.

Will is the first person that I have heard from that has experienced a problem with a QR. 1 out of 20,000 users ain't so bad. I am rethinking the entire harness system though. I can sew leather fairly adequately, and webbing is that much easier.

Now that you mention climbing... a single piece sling is used as a last resort. Almost all of the harnesses (which are designed for greater Gs then we would ever need) are thinner, softer and sewn together. Maybe we are just being paranoid here.

 

[hantzu701]

Hory,
I am a little confused of why you have gone the bp/wing route with your wife. I'm going to assume that you want to keep with a bp/harness/wing rather than a BCD and integrated weight system.

With respect to modifying the rig:

The goal seems to be one or both of the below:
1) ability to get easily in and out of the rig while on the surface.
2) ability to get easily in and out of the rig while underwater.

It doesn't sound as if safety is the primary reason for the modification, but the convenience of the diver. In this case, I guess goal 1 is the objective.

One solution might be to add a loop medical tubing to the webbing by the shoulder D-rings - that is, run the tubing through the loop of webbing that the D-ring goes through. To get out of the harness, you simply put your thumbs through the loop and chickwing your arms out of the harness. The medical tubing gives you a little "give" and holds the harness away as you wriggle out of the harness.

 

[-hh]

A bunch of us got into this after a dive one evening, and the "failure point" argument came up....(deleted story)...Some people may rant against QRs, but if you want the added convenience, go for it.

In a discussion of this subject SeaJay awhile back, I was curious about this as well, so I ran a simple Reliability Analysis using my own gear's history as a reference source to make an MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) estimate for the reliability of a Quick Disconnect (QD).

I found that even after applying a 75% Statistical Confidence Interval, the MTBF still exceeded 1000 hours.


I also recall seeing someone on SB who posted something on an analytical study of the same basic question. IIRC, their point estimate was that the failure frequency rate was roughly ~0.1 failures per 10,000 dive-hours.

The simple statistics translation for the average Rec diver is that you're unlikely to ever experience the failure for all the years that you'll dive.


Personally, I found them much more helpful than I expected for shucking out of my gear while doing drift dive recoveries onto small chase boats.

-hh

 

[FredT]

If so, any suggestions/recommendations? If I can have a quick release mounted, where should I have it positioned? Left or right harness? Where along the harness?

I have a SST buckle on my left shoulder strap. Partially this is to enable a quick dump of the entire rig in case of entanglement under an oil rig while tied to a large AJ or cobia. Partially this to ease doff and don on a crowded deck. Also this is because when I learned to dive that is where the QR buckle was located and I'm used to having one there so it's incorporated into muscle memory after a few thousand dives with one. The buckle is retained closed by an inner tube section so it's a two step process to doff or don using it. First pull down the tube ring, then lift the buckle closure in a direction not normally exposed to snagging when diving in open water.

Cavers and wreckers have a good reason for a smooth harness. OTOH If you find me in an overhead environment where the way out is not a straight visual line from the way in call the sheriff, 'cause somebody dumped my body there. :54:

FT

 

[Hory]

Hory,
I am a little confused of why you have gone the bp/wing route with your wife. I'm going to assume that you want to keep with a bp/harness/wing rather than a BCD and integrated weight system.

With respect to modifying the rig:

The goal seems to be one or both of the below:
1) ability to get easily in and out of the rig while on the surface.
2) ability to get easily in and out of the rig while underwater.

It doesn't sound as if safety is the primary reason for the modification, but the convenience of the diver. In this case, I guess goal 1 is the objective.

One solution might be to add a loop medical tubing to the webbing by the shoulder D-rings - that is, run the tubing through the loop of webbing that the D-ring goes through. To get out of the harness, you simply put your thumbs through the loop and chickwing your arms out of the harness. The medical tubing gives you a little "give" and holds the harness away as you wriggle out of the harness.

Yes. I find the BP/harness/Wing significantly better than a regular BCD. My wife also shares this view but finds it difficult to get in and out of it whether in the surface or in the water during return to the boat. From all the posts I've read on the subject, the chance of a QR failing seems to be remote plus the fact that we don't do caves or wrecks reduces the failure odds further.

The use of the medical tubing could work but wouldn't that be another source of entanglement?

 

[neophytediver]

Check out http://www.ukrecscuba.org.uk/ukdiver/harness/index.html. I've been nearly obsessive in my research into putting together my own BP/wing set up. It's an interesting approach to a "pseudo" quick release system. May do it myself since I don't give a rats booty about DIR diving and like the idea of being able to easily get in and out of it.

 

[mempilot]

a plastic fastek buckle would do fine.

Use Delrin, not plastic. There is a huge difference. Go to Dupont's web site and read about the difference between Delrin nylon and standard plastic. The plastic is why quick release buckles get a bad name. They break. I beat the crap out of a Delrin clip and can't hurt it.

In short, Delrin is a complex nylon polymer used in making very strong components including pulley systems that can support drastic temperatures and stresses.

 

[The Chairman]

Actually, I think the Fastek buckles are made out of Delrin. Good point.

 

[hantzu701]

Yes. I find the BP/harness/Wing significantly better than a regular BCD. My wife also shares this view but finds it difficult to get in and out of it whether in the surface or in the water during return to the boat. From all the posts I've read on the subject, the chance of a QR failing seems to be remote plus the fact that we don't do caves or wrecks reduces the failure odds further.

The use of the medical tubing could work but wouldn't that be another source of entanglement?

I don't think so. We're not talking about a 10" loop of medical tubing. We're talking about a wrist-sized loop - just large enough to slip your thumb through. As you know, surgical tubing is very stretchy! You can tuck the knot under the webbing next to the straight part of the D-ring and the SS weight keeper.

Seriously, try it. Part of the problem of getting into and out of the harness is chicken winging your way into and out of the harness. When you hook the surgical tubing with your thumbs, it forces the harness up and away.

In any case, this modification is easy to get rid of if she doesn't like it. Just cut the tubing off.

If you put in QR (fastek or ss buckle), you're going to have to cut the harness. If you don't like what you get, you're going to have to go through that long process of installing and refitting a new harness.

 

[roakey]

This might all be solved by adjusting the harness... One of the best site's currently for how to adjust a BP harness is BAUE:

http://www.baue.org/images/galleries/view_album.php?set_albumName=equipment

If you've got any questions about the images, ask away...

Roak