Adjusting the backplate/harness by GUE Instructor Cody Gardner (inactive) and Peter Steinhoff

It's important to have the harness properly adjusted. It doesn't have to be super tight but it shouldn't be sloppy either. This is a guideline that will help you get it right. If you are tall like me, (6'5", 1.95m) you may need to wear the backplate slightly lower than in the pictures.

When you do the adjustments try to wear something of similar thickness to your underwear or wetsuit.
Adjustment checklist:

• Make sure the harness is properly weaved.
• Adjust the length of the shoulder straps.
• Adjust the height of the shoulder D-rings.
• Check that it's evenly adjusted.
• Adjust the waist strap.
• Adjust the left D-ring.
• Adjust the length of the crotch strap.
• Adjust the back D-ring.

1. Is the harness properly weaved? Before we start, make sure you have the harness properly weaved. It should be a one-piece harness and it must be weaved like this to work.

2. The length of the shoulder straps. Adjust the harness so that you can easily reach back and touch the upper part of the plate. The top of the plate should be an inch or so below your prominent vertebra (the one that sticks out). Don't put on the crotch strap or waist belt just yet.

3. Placement of the shoulder D-rings. Extend your arms and close your eyes. Make sure your thumbs touch the D-rings when you bring your arms in. Make sure the D-rings aren't too low - they will restrict your range of motion otherwise.

		4. Make sure that the right and left side are the same. Double-check that you got the same shoulder strap length on both sides and that the D-rings are placed in the same spot. Adjust if necessary.

5. Adjust the waist strap. The waist strap shouldn't be too tight and it should never restrict your breathing. Make sure the buckle is on your right side. You can place it all the way back to hold the canister light in place but most people use a second buckle for that. Weave the buckle like this:

		6. Adjust the left D-ring. Align it with the center of your body.

7. Adjust the crotch strap. The crotch strap should be fairly loose. Pull on it and make it an inch (25mm) longer than what it takes to reach the waist strap.

		8. Adjust the back D-ring. Sometimes you need to clip things to your back D-ring. Put it as high as possible but not under your tanks.

Tips and tricks If you intend to scooter I recommend fixating your crotch strap with bolts or by sewing when you are satisfied with the adjustments. Several people have had the crotch strap come undone on serious dives.

The Swedish Dumpvalve Modification

Make the lower pulldump easier to use by replacing the original
slippery string with a piece of thick caveline.
If you have a ball attached to line - cut it off.
It's not necessary and it can get stuck between stages
making it impossible to inflate the wings.

This is nice even if you don't use gloves!



1. Unscrew the dumpvalve located on the lower left side of your wings.



2. Cut of the string and remove the rubber seal (it's glued on).



3. Take a piece of caveline 2.8mm / #36
Force it through the hole in the small plate (you may have to drill it).
Make a knot and burn it so that it fits inside.
It's important that it doesn't stick up.
It may take a couple of tries to get it right...



4. Remove the original glue with alcohol and
glue it back with drysuit glue or Aquaseal.



5. Use a drill to make the hole bigger in the dumpvalve (3.8mm).
It's important that the line can't get stuck.



6. Use a permanent marker to color the string black.
Assemble the whole thing and make a knot on the line.
The line should stick out approximately 50mm (2 inches).



7. Make sure that it works and that it dumps on overpressure.
Your done!

Happy Diving!!!


Peter Steinhoff 2002

Backup regulator

Why a backup reg? Normally we breath from our primary regulator, our longhose. During decompression we use one of our deco bottles and when diving stage bottles we breath from them. When the longhose is not used it is always clipped of with an attached boltsnap to our right chest D-ring. If we have a problem we donate the only regulator we KNOW is working - the one we are breathing. That way we also know that we give away something that is safe to breath at that depth - important when you use multiple gases. After donating our regulator we need something else to breath - our backup regulator. Since our backup is what we are going to use in an emergency we need to find it fast and we need to be sure that it is going to be there. Let's see how we can do that. Rigging The backup second stage hangs around our neck like a necklace. The necklace is made of elastic bungee, aka shock cord or surgical tubing. Surgical tubing is smoother but will deteriorate and dry rot after a couple of years. Bungee however will hold for many years and can be found in most hardware stores or marine stores. If you want it in black you may have to lock around though. Make the loop the length that you can just reach the regulator with your mouth while wearing it. That way it's going hang quite close to you but not so close that you can't look down while diving. The cord or surgical tubing is put under the same tie wrap as the mouthpiece on the second stage. If you use bungee then make a knot when you have adjusted it so it can't be pulled through. With surgical tubing that is not necessary. Getting caught Let's say you get something wrapped around your backup regulator and you keep swimming without noticing. If your backup reg was not securly attached it would be pulled out and if you needed it it would not hang around your neck anymore. Some people use a loop that is put around the mouthpiece. As you can understand from above that is not a good idea. I actually used to have it rigged like that when I started tech diving because that was how I was taught. After having had the backup coming undone twice so that I could not find it when I needed it I stopped using the loop. With the bungee secured under the tie wrap the bungee will stretch it is impossible to swim hard enough to pull it off. If you have any doubt I suggest you try and pull it off on land so you realize how much force is needed. Picking a suitable second stage Since the backup will hang upside down it will be prone to freeflow. Actually most second stages are suppose to be adjusted when serviced so that they freeflow in this position. To solve that problem you have three options: Have your second stage detuned when you service it Use an unbalanced "low performance" second stage like Scubapro R190. Use an high performance second stage with cracking pressure adjustment Option number three is what I prefer. Now I can detune the second stage underwater and if I need to breath it for an extended amount of time I can tune it up again. In the pictures above the cracking pressure adjustment is the metal knob to the left (Apeks TX50). The following second stages currently in production (2006) have this adjustment; Apeks TX50/100/200, Apeks ATX50/100/200, Apeks XTX50/100/200, Scubapro G250, Scubapro S600. Finer points Look here for details about proper hose length and how to route the hose. Apeks and some other manufacturers put hose protectors near the second stage. Cut them off as they will only stop the hose from doing a nice soft bend. When you decide on the proper length for the bungee don't forget that wearing a hood will make it shorter. If you like something fun to do, you can practice getting the backup reg in your mouth without using your hands :) Summary With this setup we know where our backup is and we are going to be 100% sure that it is going to be there when we need it. What more can we possible ask for? Happy diving!

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(C) 2002-2006 DIR-diver.com Peter Steinhoff

Reg configuration doubles

How? This is how we configure our regs on a set of doubles: Right post (as you wear them): Longhose Wing inflator Left post (as you wear them): Pressure gauge (far right in pic) Backup reg (next to pressure gauge) Optionally drysuit (shallow diving) Why? The one thing that decides where the rest must go is the longhose. When we share gas we donate our longhose. The hose is a longhose because we have to be able to share gas with the reciever swimming in front and the donator behind him. If we do this for instance in a cave or other tight spot we have the possibility of rolling our valves against the roof of the cave. In this case the left post will roll off and the gas will be shut off but the right post will only roll on so it will stay on. Because the right post can't roll off and create more problems in a serious situation we have the long hose on our right post. Since the long hose is on the right post we need to have our backup reg, which hangs in a bungee cord around our neck on the left post. Otherwise we would not have any redundancy which is the purpose of two regs and a double tank in the first place. Read more about when to use doubles and single tanks here . The wing goes on the right post because of similar reasons why we put the longhose there. If we pass a tight spot and roll off the post with the wing inflator we don't want to find this out by sinking into the silt unable to inflate. This should however not really happen since standard procedure is to always check your valves when there is a possibility that the valves have touched the ceiling. Another reason, which is my favorite, is when you dive in cold water and your inflator mechanism freezes in the open position you can just dump your gas with your left hand while shutting down the post with your right. It's very effective and I've seen this done for real on several occations. Since we have our wing on the right post we put our drysuit on the left, unless we are using a separate drysuit bottle. Actually using a separate bottle is neccessary when having a helium based breathing gas in your doubles and personally I prefer to use a drysuit bottle all the time. Then I can also use argon which is better due to it's lower thermal conductivity. The last thing is the pressure gauge which we put on the left post. The reason for that is simply because it's easier to have it there as it wont be in the way of the longhose when we have to donate that. Another reason is when you are scootering you are using your right hand to scooter so you can unlip your pressure gauge and look at it without stopping or slowing down. Finer points As you can see in the pictures I use Apeks DS4 first stages which are good reliable regs. Apeks together with Scubapro is probably what you see most tech DIR guys use. I angle the DS4s to take the strain off the HP hose going to your pressure gauge and the longhose. How much angle needed depends on your tanks and valves. In the pictures they are rigged on a set of double 12 liter tanks which are small doubles compared to a set of double 18s or PST 104s. Also notice on the right post that I use the back LP port to run the longhose. That gives the longhose a natural tendency to stay behind the wing. On some wings, like the circular Evolve from Halcyon, you might have to route the longhose OVER the wing instead of behind it - if you do use the other port. The reason one might have to go over the wing instead of behind it is because the longhose won't stay behind the wing which actually depends on how far your light canister extends down. I always run it behind the wing and never had a problem. On the left post the drysuit hose sticks out a bit. It's not a problem in real life but I still prefer to use that port for drysuit hoses and other stuff (like the blow gun I attach when I teach) and keep the backup reg on the other LP port. On the picture above notice how the backup reg is run under the inflator hose. And also that I tuck the wing in under the HP hose because when I wear the rig everything will be pressed up against the cylinders. Now those hoses can lay nice and have smooth bends. Hose lengths As short as possible but with no decrease in functionality! OK, how much did that help you? :) The long hose needs to be 7ft, 2.10m. For taller people like myself (195cm/6'5") you may need to add a few inches to that. Shorter people may want to have a shorter longhose but should be very careful with this as they may need to share gas with a longer person swimming in front of them. The backup reg needs to long enough so you can look to your left in the water. That is usually around 24" but depends on what first stages you have and how big/small your are. A custom hose length may be neccessary. If the hose is too long it will drop down over you right arm and usually be in the way of your right chest d-ring. The wing inflator hose needs to go from the right post straight to the corrugated hose and run on the side closest to you. A 24" hose here is also usually fine. The drysuit hose is run from the first stage down, under your left armpit, under the harness and to the inlet valve. Too short is a pain in the ass. The hose that comes with the drysuit is usually fine. Think it is a 36" hose but try with the one you have and see if it fits. If you use an argon bottle you need a shorter hose. The HP hose for the pressure gauge needs to be long enough so you can operate it easily. Usually 24" is perfect but sometimes you may need slightly longer or shorter. Many people have tendency to use a too short hose here in their excitment to make everything is slick as possible so be aware of that. I use a 25" hose. When measuring hoses most people don't know how to do that. Staying consistant with what is used in the hydraulic and pneumatic industry means that you measure from sealing surface to sealing surface on the assembled hose. So the threads are not measured on the barb and the length of the hose is longer than what the manufacturer cuts the hose itself when they assemble it. But this doesn't matter much as the hoses from different sources have different lengths even if they are supposedly the same. Also length differences between different batches from the same manufacturer can occur. If you mail order make sure you can return the hose if it's really wrong. I usually buy mine in the dive shop so I can try it myself. Same thing with boltsnaps. Some are good and some are really bad but if you can try them first you can just get the good ones and leave the rest to everybody else. Summary This how we configure our regs on the doubles. Everybody is expected to have it the same way and with the proper hose lengths. Most common mistakes for those preparing to take tech or cave training is using a too long hose for the backup and a too long HP hose unless they know it suppose to be shorter. Have fun!

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(C) 2002-2006 DIR-diver.com Peter Steinhoff

Reg configuration stages & decobottles

I use Apeks and in the examples below you'll see DS4 and DST first stages with Tx50 seconds. Fully rigged deco bottle Here we have a DS4 first stage with a Tx50 second stage rigged on an 40 cuft deco bottle. Notice that the 40" hose is routed to the left of the handle. That makes it easy to deploy and stow the reg on the bottle. The 21 on the side is the maximum depth (MOD) for the bottle, 21 meter. So there is probably 50% nitrox or 50/25 trimix in there. There is also another 21 on the other side of the bottle so you can see the depth no matter how you hold the bottle. As you can see I also have the second stage placed high. If you carry many bottles it's usually better to have it lower on the bottle since it has a tendency to be quite busy around your left d-ring otherwise. DS4 first stage If we look closer at the reg we can see how the SPG is bent back on a short HP hose. It's held in place with some cave line. On a DS4 it is best to put the SPG on the left so it is protected by the valve and the first stage. You can also get a glimpse of the analysis tape on the right side. That is where you want to put it so you can view under water if you like to double check. The large MOD is what we use as our primary identification of the bottle. DST first stage This is a picture of a DST first stage an a small aluminum 30 bottle (perfect for oxygen in the ocean). Here we have to put the SPG on the right because it is a swivel reg. Anyway it is still protected since this first stage is larger than the DS4. With the swivel first stage you should use a regular 36" octopus length hose. You don't have to of course but with a 40" hose you don't need the swivel and could have used a DS4. The DS4 first stage is by the way what I recommend. Pressure gauges Normally on our doubles we use heavy duty brass gauges with mineral glass. On stages and deco bottles your looking for something small and light instead. I have used Suunto SM26 without problems but I know Scubapro makes a small one that is good as well as Agir and others. Summary This how we configure our regs on the stages. If you use another first stage you have to be creative. Try to run the hose on the left side though. Have fun!

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(C) 2002-2006 DIR-diver.com Peter Steinhoff

How to rig your stage/deco bottles.

Hardware needed:

• 2m (6.5 ft) of 5mm (3/16") braided polyester line (same as caveline only thicker)
• 2 stainless steel boltsnaps (3" long, 1" eye)
• 1 feet of rubber fuel hose (8-10mm inner diameter) 5/16-3/8"
• 1 big stainless steel hose clamp
• 1 piece of racebike innertube.
• 2 pieces of car innertube. (not in the picture above)

1. Pull the line through the hose. Fold the polyester line so that one end is approx. 22-23cm (9") longer. Attach a piece of cave line (60cm, 2ft) and use it to pull the thick line through the hose. Pull about 20cm (8") of line through so you have enough room to attach the upper boltsnap.

2. Attaching the upper boltsnap. Attach the upper bolt snap inside an overhand knot. Make sure it's even and nice looking. Place the knot so that the boltsnap is positioned above the break of the tank. If it's too low the bottle will cause a lot of drag.

3. Make an overhand knot. Make an overhand knot just below the hose. Pull on it and make sure it's nice and tight.

4. Attach the lower boltsnap. You want 75-100mm (3-4") of slack on the lower boltsnap, so the bottle can ride in the slipstream. When you are swimming or if you want it closer you can wrap the boltsnap under the handle. BTW, the yellow color is for clarity only! You can attach the boltsnap so it's either removable or permanent.

5. Make a fishermans knot to hold everything together. A fishermans knot is nothing more than two overhand knots. Make the first knot and place it as high as possible. Pull on it real hard. Then make the second knot and put it together with the first one. Try to make them "fit" together and be as tight as possible. When you are satisfied cut of the excess line and burn the ends with a lighter.

6. We are done! The stage handle is now complete but we still need to mount it on a bottle.

7. Put on the hoseclamp Slide on the small innertube and put it over the screw to the hose clamp. If you have unpainted bottles you may want to put something (maybe paint) under the hose clamp (or some protection over the clamp) to avoid dissimilar metal corrosion.

8.Wrapped or not? For swimming or when using only one bottle you might want to wrap the boltsnap under the handle to shorten it.

9. Ready! Finally, put on the car inner tube sections over the handle to makes it easier to grip if you use gloves. Otherwise you put it under. Well, doesn't that look like a sexy bottle??? And remember that the handle is for underwater use only! Always carry your bottles by the valve. If you don't, the handle is going to get longer and become sloppy! Happy diving!!!

(C) Peter Steinhoff 2002-2003