[Mark Chase]

When Kevin Gurr put together a group to dive the Britannic they carried out training as a group before the trip. Part of the training was surface rescue of divers.

Some of the divers were using single piece harnesses. During the training one such diver was nearly drowned in the attempt to remove the harness. As a result they were not used on the expedition as it was felt they represented a safety risk for surface rescue.

Clip failure on a harness happens on the boat not in the water. When I stand up wearing 150lb of equipment all the weight is on the clips. Once in the water my kit has no weight and the clips are not under any strain.

Following a debate on the potential problems of clip failure I decided to see what would happen if a clip failed. During a dive i detached a shoulder clip. Nothing happened. The waste belt and other shoulder strap kept everything in place without any issue.

However I wasn't scootering and dragging two spare scooters and five deco tanks.

On my rig I could use a double ender bolt snap to replace a clip should it break. I also carry cable ties on every dive.

So in truth there is no reason not to have a break in the harness. The reasons put forward in JJs comments above may be relevent for siad scooter towing 6 tank push dive but not for the diving i do. The Inspiration CCR has a shed load of plastic clips on it and thats done more deep dives carrying more cylinders that just about any OC rig out there.

HOWEVER

Clips do get broken on the boat. Tanks land on them people tread on them and most common of all you put your own rig on them. This could mean the end of diving for the day/week. I use threaded clips (not stitched in ones) and i carry a spare. A one piece harness would just avoid this problem.

Its also much cheaper and looks great.

I would have carried on using my one piece but I couldn't get the balance right with it. Loos enough to get it on I found the equipment flopped about on my back and i hate that. I went back to my old harness because its adjustable in use. I still prefer the clean lines of the one piece but it just didn't work for me.

ATB

Mark