8th - April - 2003
I have a good idea of what I want and how I'm going to configure the wing.
- I will use a continues loop of webbing as the harness as it will have less week points but this will make adjusting the shoulder straps almost imposable. Making it harder to get in and out of.
- I will need at least one D-ring on and under each shoulder as well as a couple round the waste strap.
- A standard weight belt release buckle should be OK to fasten the waste strap.
- Ill put a crotch strap in but as I have never had one before I have no idea how much benefit it will add.
- I will use a UK REC SCUBA back plate as they look very configurable.
- I will use a Dive-rite bladder but as yet I have no idea what size I will need.
- At the moment I dive with twin 10L with a under the arm mounted 7 or 3L. To future proof the wing I will build around the assumption I will use twin 12S and a 7L.
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14th - April - 2003
I cant buy anything till payday on the 25th.
After a bit of surfing I have details of the backplate and how to place the webbing.
The Back Plate boys... ComBro
Some info on UK REC SCUBA on how to thread the webbing.
I can not find any on-line shops that sell D-rings or webbing from there web sites. This is probably because they are small items.
Never mind, I cant do bugger all until pay day anyway.
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27th - April - 2003
WWiipppyyyy! pay day.
Tomorrow at work I will order the back plate and have a chat with my local dive shop (Amphibian water sports) to get the price on 10 D-rings, some webbing and the belt buckle.
And would you believe it... as I was just surfing on Amphibians web site I found the AP Valves spare part pages. so here is what I'm going to need...
BK31 (the plastic bit that's holds a D-ring in place) £2.50.
BK27 (the D-ring) £2:64
so for 8 D-rings I'm looking at... £41.12 bloody hell!!! I hope that includes VAT.
BK7 1m of webbing at £1.40 5m should do me.
BK5 belt buckle at £2.44
BK10 Quick release buckle at £1.87
and that lot will cost... £51.43. bloody hell... a cheaper option would be to ring in sick tomorrow and stay in bed.
I'm not to sure about the D-ring holders. they will rigidly hold the D-ring pointing away from the strap. This could course an entanglement hazed.
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28th - April - 2003
Bloody hell, they have given me some work to do!!
Ordered the back plate from a very cheerful chap at Combro, didn’t get round to ringing Amphibian.
found some more info on the harness setup.
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29th - April - 2003
The backplate has arrived... very posh.
finely got round to ringing Amphibian, I ordered webbing, D-rings, weight belt retainers/buckle and a couple of other bit and bobs. They will ring me with a price when its all in.
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3rd - May - 2003
I'm of to turkey for a week. Ill be broke until payday now so project on hold.
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20th - May - 2003
Got the webbing in a dive shop wile I was getting my tanks filled.
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30th - May - 2003
its not long after pay day and I'm broke again. but what the hell, time to get this project moving.
After a lot of fruitless surfing I remembered underwater explorers in Portland do all the DIRy stuff so I gave them a ring.
I ordered a Diverite classic wing for £219 as it has a large lift capacity and I like the look of it. They also have one in stock which was a bonus.
I also ordered 9 weight retainers (stainless steel, serrated ones (no one else seems to stock these little buggers)) a couple of d-rings and a weight belt buckle (I have a buckle some were but can I find it??!!)
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1st - June - 2003
Bladder and bits arrive from underwater explorers, spend a couple of hours playing with bits and getting D-rings in the right places.
also ring Portland Oceaneering and order the longer screws to attach the twin set to the backplate.
Building the harness
In my rush to "play with my new toy" I put it all together before taking any pictures. anyway here is how it was put together and why.
1. I started on the harness by putting the middle part of the webbing through the top of the backplate. this will become the top of the shoulder straps.
See opposite for a front and back view. |
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2. Next the webbing is threaded through the bottom holes in the backplate to complete the shoulder straps and end in the waste strap. Notice the way the shoulder straps look on these pictures. if there is to much twist in the webbing then the straps will fall off or dig in to your shoulders. After a bit of farting around I found the set up photographed the most comfortable. The most comfortable set up I found was to have the inside on the top part of the shoulder strap going to the bottom of the of the waste hole.
See opposite (ignore the D-rings on it for now) |
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| 3. Now we know what holes (and what way round) the webbing goes in, start pulling the webbing through all the holes until you have only enough left for the waste strap and to apply the belt buckle. How much you need will vary for how big you are and where you want to place the buckle. Add the buckle (or read the next bit to make life a little more easy for your self) |
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| 4. to add the D-ring behind the buckle you must un-thred the whole harness so its a good idea to add any D-rings before the belt buckle (hindsight is a wonderful thing) wile your at it add the weight retainer behind the rear side of the backplate to secure the bottom of the shoulder strap. |
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5. Adding the buckle was a pig. here is a pic showing how I did it.
Note the extra long webbing for the chest strap. I intend to add a shoulder buckle to make getting in and out of the harness a little more easy. I have no idea how I am going to do that yet so I am leaving a lot of extra webbing to keep my options open. |
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3th - June - 2003
screws arrive from portland oceaneering, spend most of the morning putting the tanks on and readjusting the length of the screws then go in to work.
Back from work.
I put the whole lot together and come up with this... |
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The harness looks very DIRy but not for long. I intend to add a buckle on the left shoulder and a pouch on the belt. Maybe also some Neoprene on the shoulders. |
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7th - June - 2003
Me, my buddy Neil, a stinking hangover and the harness go for a splash in wraysbury.
very impressed, the shoulder straps are a bit lose so I have tightened them, next test waymouth.
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Some time in July - 2003 (more like 2004)
I'm very impressed with the harness and have logged a good 60 dives in it. I have now added/modified the following...
A custom diver remote shut down lead.
A bit of neoprene on the shoulder straps (no point, Ill be removing them at some point as they move around to much)
A strobe on the right shoulder strap.
Some "sticky outy" (45 degrees) D-rings on the right shoulder (camera) and the left wast (SMB) they move around a bit so not that happy with these.
I replaced the large pouch as I could not do up the strap (shouldn’t be a problem in the near future) with a smaller pouch, in it I keep a backup, backup torch, a detachable SMB line, a yellow emergency CO2 SMB and a CD.
I never bothered with the crotch strap.
I would publish a pic of the "finished" harness but its behind my girlfriends sofa.
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