New From VDH (Universal back plate with vintage spirit)

[SurfLung]

Here is how the cow eats the cabbage......Patrick at Oxycheq answered every little pissy technical question I had when I got into blending NITROX. Since I was doing it for customers I had A LOT of questions about analyzers. Since that time he has shipped stuff to me same day of ordering, soldered a board for me that I screwed up at no charge and has answered a hell of a lot of questions about getting into the BCD manufacturing business....
If you guys buy BCD's from OxyCheq and the customer service is not what it should be then please let me know in an E-mail and we will take it from there.

- I have the OxyCheq 18lb Signature BC. Somebody said OxyCheq is the "Cadillac" of BC's and I agree. It works great, looks great, and is the sleekest, non-flappy wing I've ever seen. You can see some real clear video of this wing underwater on our fortune pond video at http://youtu.be/DR8MhHqLPO0. This was using the OxyCheq Ultralight travel plate and a harness I made from white cotton webbing. When I mount the wing to the VDH plate, I'm going to make a similar harness only this time out of the original black USD nylon webbing with the yellow pin stripes and double D-Ring shoulder quick releases... Should be VERY COOL.
- I can't comment on OxyCheq Customer Service... Product didn't need it!

[luis]

OK, this is probably a total nancy-boy question, but how do you vintage people get 2 layers of webbing through the slider? I can put them on a regular weight belt just fine, but I'm killing myself trying to get the second run to go through. I even cut a nice trianglur shape into my webbing and tried needle nose pliers.

You peope must work out way more often than I do......

The sliders on the back of the plate (in four places) as shown in the top picture are the standard sliders that Bryan carries. The webbing goes through the sliders only once.

The webbing goes from the front through the slot, then through the sliders, and back to the front through the same slot.

Look at the slider near the regulator. It is pulled flat against the plate. It secures the webbing, but it is very easy to adjust. The ones on the shoulders do not need adjusting, but the ones on the waist are the ones I use to adjust the shoulder straps.






The sliders on the shoulders are bigger sliders specifically design for two sets of webbing. It is very easy to run two sets of webbing through these sliders. See the picture below.





I bought those sliders from the link below, but they are available from several sources.
http://www.piranhadivemfg.com/item/Wide ... Slide-2897






In this picture you can see how I crossed the shoulder straps. I intentionally alternated the straps where they cross so that they would capture each other. Take a look at the picture… I am having a hard time explaining it.






I only use sliders on the back of the plate to control the load on the webbing. The sliders on the top of the shoulders are only there to hold the two sets of webbing together (as shown on the second picture). This holds the webbing out perfectly so that all I have to do is slide my arms through it.

Keep in mind that I dive with a stiff dry-suit or a heavy 7mm wet suit a lot. I like to make it easy for me to put on my tank without any need for help from others. I felt that ease of donning was a fairly important design requirement.

[Bryan]

Sorry Gang.....I did not realize he was using the larger size slider on the top straps. I just ordered some from Trident and I'll have them in stock next week. New store should be open next week and it will allow me to ship small items first class mail.

[luis]

My bad, I forgot to tell you.
I am just working on too many projects at once.

[luis]

Here are some more pictures showing how I ran the webbing.

Notice that the large sliders on the front are not necessary. They are just there for the convenience of holding the straps crossed. I thought of a lot of other hardware, but another requirement was that no metal buckles would touch the regulator cans.

At one time I thought about just stitching the two straps together where they cross. That would work, but you have to get it right since it is not adjustable.

















On the left is the modified pack that I used for years. It works with a double hose, but it is not ideal.





I hope this helps.

[sitkadiver]

Thanks Luis and Bryan,

I studied the pictures luis and gj1963 posted and just couldn't figure out how they did it....

I'll take my plate to the Canvas shop and have Leslie sew my harness on. I was thinking of doing that anyway.

I will order some big slider also, just to clean up the loose ends on my weight harness and plate buckle end.

Dave

[gj1963]

I threaded mine as best as I could from looking at Luis' pictures. I was able to get the webbing doubled through the sliders at the top by wetting the webbing and then pulling the webbing though and leaving it in a big loop so there was a lot of slack as I threaded the second one though inside the big loop. Now that I see the bigger slider that makes sense and I will swap them out too - and get some stainless buckle tank bands as well.

-Geoff

[luis]

I notice you ran the tail end of the shoulder straps under the strap. I just ran it over to make it easier. It should be visible in several of my pictures.

Running the end of the strap over the top of the shoulder strap also makes it easier to adjust it. Either way it works.


I see the end of the strap on this picture (to the left of his hand).



I was hoping that the pictures were clearer, but it is difficult to get clear pictures of straps, especially black straps.

[gj1963]

Thanks again for the clarification... I re-looped the webbing so one side runs through the other. That makes a big difference in keeping the straps aligned. Here is how I tried to explain looping through the smaller sliders. Lots of slack so there are not tight turns around the slider when trying to thread it through.

[sitkadiver]

Over the past few years the local canvas shop has done some work for me. They repaired a weight harness and a Miller pac and both times the results were smashingly grand.

As I was fiddling with the sliders, two things kept coming up: Where to put the sliders so they don't ding my reg and how to adjust them.

Turns out, all the adjusting can be done at the waist with a slider used as above. And second, eliminating the top slider, eliminates all chance af scratching the cans.

Here's how it turned out:



The lady at Skookum canvas want to know how much weight the bp would be holding. I told her around 50 pounds, but that I may use doubles, so figure for a 100 pound load. That's why the longer folded portion.



Also, I used the stiffer type of webbing since it's a little more resilient. Time will tell if that was a good decision.

[macado]

sitkadiver that came out great! Nice idea. I might look into doing that on mine now.

I'm pretty happy with the way I have mine adjusted. The sliders don't hit the cans but I think your version is ideal.

I'm hoping to do a dive with it on Saturday so I'll take some pictures then.

[Bryan]

Take a look and give me some feedback. They are going out for trials very soon but I think I have a low cost solution that I like. Right now there is no way , no day I could build a BCD of this quality for the price.


http://www.vintagedoublehose.com/index. ... ct=9500234

[antique diver]

That is a nice package at an excellent price!

[Bryan]

That is a nice package at an excellent price!

Thank you. I have you down for 6

[antique diver]

That is a nice package at an excellent price!

Thank you. I have you down for 6

Well, I will be ordering a plate and probably bands, but I already have 8 back mount bladders of various types

I would like to know if forum members find the new metal buckle bands to be easier to adjust and use than the Scubapro model. Suggestions welcomed!