Setting up Harness and Backplate

[ukdivver]

Hi all,

I have just been reading a article on Clare Gledhills website regarding the setting up of your harness and back plate.

The article states that you should set up / adjust your back plate so that with just your harness and plat on your back you should just be able to touch the top of the backplate by reaching over your head.

my question is how do you adjust the height at which this sits on your back?

I guess to an extent you can adjust this by how tight or loose your straps are set, but this would then be a comprimise on how snug your harness is on you.

Is it just a case of getting the correct balance?

many thanks in advance,

[Clare Gledhill]

Hi. It is a combination of the length of the shoulder straps and the length of the crotchstrap. Making the shoulder straps looser lets the plate move down your back. The crotch strap is then prevents the plate riding up towards your head.

The harness doesn't need to be very tight - just snug. You should find that with the backplate in the correct position on your back that the shoulder straps aren't loose but you should be able to get out of it reasonably easily with practice.

I'll re-read the article and see if I can make it a bit more clear but to be honest harness fitting gets you to a general starting point which you should then be able to tweak to suit you and your body.

Hope this helps.

Clare

[ukdivver]

Many thanks for clarifying that clare,

I think that also one of my issues is at the moment i am wearing an extra layer under my suit, which in turn affects the fit of my harness and the mobility in my suit.

I can manage shutdowns, but am keen to work towards improving the speed and ease that i can do them in,

Looks like i have an afternoon appointment with my backplate and harness in the garage!

[Fiona]

Originally Posted by ukdivver

Looks like i have an afternoon appointment with my backplate and harness in the garage!

Garage hell it's cold in there.

Do it watching the rugby in the warm

[ukdivver]

Originally Posted by Fiona

Garage hell it's cold in there.

Do it watching the rugby in the warm

Point taken, I have a lot to learn ref doing it right!

[nigelH]

Bill Main's original design placed the bottom of the plate so it rested on the big bones of your pelvis. This is why the bottom slots route the waist belt 'up' on most plates of that period.

Then the harness held the plate in place without ever being tight but when you let the crotch strap go the rig moved up and the shoulder loops were huge. If you got out of the water the plate rested flat against bone and could never 'dig in'.

The tendency now is to wear them higher, I suspect because we now have shorter cylinders. Whether this is a good move I don't know.

[Al_Star]

Originally Posted by nigelH

Bill Main's original design placed the bottom of the plate so it rested on the big bones of your pelvis. This is why the bottom slots route the waist belt 'up' on most plates of that period.

Then the harness held the plate in place without ever being tight but when you let the crotch strap go the rig moved up and the shoulder loops were huge. If you got out of the water the plate rested flat against bone and could never 'dig in'.

The tendency now is to wear them higher, I suspect because we now have shorter cylinders. Whether this is a good move I don't know.

The main purpose of fitting the backplate where it is now is to provide a stable base for your kit. It also makes sure the cylinders are in the right place for shutdowns. Never had the plate dig into me irrespective of whether it's a drysuit and twins or a wetsuit and single so it seems to work for me.

Cheers
Al

[Janos]

Do not believe anyone who tells you it takes 30 mins to rig a backplate. Maybe if you rig them a lot and have the measurements written out [1], but once you've factored in the time it takes to adjust it because it's not quite right, and then you realise that you've put a bent d-ring on upside down, and then you realise that you forgot a crucial bit of inner tube etc etc etc. it's a couple of hours and several pints. Although perhaps the two might be correlated.

Janos

[1] - I now do. I'm that sad. But I did know that I was going to rerig my backplates three times so I thought it would be quicker.

[Fiona]

Originally Posted by Janos

Do not believe anyone who tells you it takes 30 mins to rig a backplate.......... and then you realise that you've put a bent d-ring on upside down, and then you realise that you forgot a crucial bit of inner tube etc etc etc. it's a couple of hours and several pints. Although perhaps the two might be correlated.

Janos

[.

But then again if you buy one and don't DIY, all you have to do is move a few bits around saves a couple of hours and you can have your beer in peace

[ukdivver]

Thanks for all the replies.

I have had a play and the plate was set little to low. I have taken a bit of slack out of the straps and the plate now sits a tad higher where i can touch it with both my left and right hand.

By taking out the slack it also has made the straps and therefore the d rings sit much better. The straps now vanish under my arm pits where as before they used to come down my chest a bit (almost ala bcd!)

Have to arrange to get in the water now to test,

Thanks again for your comments,