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Lawrence Nice to hear from you again. This is what I have done, maybe someone has done better or can contribute to the approach. (Sorry for the verbosity.) Firstly, my wrecking kit mentioned here is a crowbar of about 0.6 m (24"), a lump hammer of 4 lb. (I don't bother with toffee picks), and a bolster of 2" width. The 2" bolster is ideal as it is easy to position on an object without slipping off but not too large to create clutter in the pocket. I have carried other kit for specific tasks but this is the basic. I keep the bolster in my suit pocket but am working on an alternative location to keep the pocket clear. (A Winter project.) Always keep the bolster sharp. Firstly, the lump hammer. The lump hammer is kept in a home made "pouch" on the harness webbing, currently on the RHS where the canister torch would go. It sits head up, handle down. As I am buying a Gavin light, I shall probably move the pouch to the LHS, behind the waist D-Ring (I have not yet tried this). The important thing is that it sits far back, near the backplate and out of the way. The pouch has a loop through which the waist harness belt goes and it is currently kept in place by a buckle just like the canister torch would be. I have made this sort-of-builders-pouch from 2" harness webbing this took 2 hours but now I have a hand sowing machine so my next model should be quick to make. Here is how to build it (I hate to say sew :)). Form a loop of webbing large enough for the handle to go through but not the head. Stitch Velcro to the section that will face the outside. The next bit is hard to describe but the idea is that you have a length of webbing that acts as a flap from the rear (close to your waist belt), goes over the top of the hammer head and then Velcros to the front loop made earlier. Clearly flap has Velcro stitched on as well. Make sure there is plenty of Velcro to ensure easy, and firm closure. Also, make sure the flap protrudes below the outside bottom of the loop so that it can easily be lifted with gloved hands. Stitch this flap so that it also acts as a second loop for the harness waist belt to pass through. The idea is to have the hammer head level with the waist belt webbing as the centre of gravity is high otherwise it will flap around and be annoying. Next the crowbar. The crowbar is easy: get a section of waste water piping (1.5 inch, I think) cut to slightly longer than the length of the crowbar, this acts as a sheath - just like a sword. Fix two dog clips (AKA bolt snaps, piston clips) to the piping and carry the arrangement as a stage on the LHS. Put this on before your stages so it sits close to the body, allowing the stages to find their own attitude as they streamline themselves. The crowbar must be selected to fit by friction *alone* into the piping. Not all do this - most are too tight. Shop around and you should find one that is fine and buy several. The handle of the crowbar (the bit for getting nails out) does protrude and is a point where nagging can happen. So make sure it is close in to your body and is slotted right into the pipe as far as possible. The "handle" is easily accessible and visible so snagging is not really a problem. Make sure there are no rough or sharp points on this end of the crowbar as you may cut yourself or more importantly your suit :). And finally the ancillary kit. Lift bags (up to four) and goodie bags (1) sit on the back gas cylinders. They are folded into long tubes slightly longer than the gap between the bands. Strops and clips are pre-connected but wrapped up inside so they do not snag. Each bag is kept tidy using the same sized inner tube as used to retain the Barry Miller backup lights to the harness. These are cut thinner (e.g. 10 mm) so that they can be easily removed underwater. On each back gas cylinder I have two truck inner tube strips about 1" wide. The top sits under but near the top cylinder band, the lower under or over (but near) the lower band. Pre-packed lift bags sit under these truck inner tubes. The method of deployment is to pull the lower part of the pre-packed lift bag outwards from under the lower tube and then pull down to get it out of the top tube. This is real easy. Try to have the bags as close to your body as possible as this will minimise drag and allow the wings to wrap around better. The bags sit well on the cylinders, do not come off and are out of the drag as the wings wrap around them. The arrangement is clean. I only have one large and tough (90 Kg) bag, the rest are 35 Kg Bowstones. The only problem I have had with this arrangement, common to stuffing the long hose, is that once removed, the lift bags cannot be re-stowed to their proper place. However, they can be stuffed under the waist belt to the rear since they are thin tubes. But then who is going to get a bag out and not lift their prize? As with all things only take what you need on a dive and this kit is not taken on all my dives, only when "I'm on a mission". David Shimell Project Manager, Sequent Computer Systems Ltd, Weybridge, UK Email: shimell@se*.co* ---------- From: Orchard Lawrence[SMTP:Lawrence.L.D.Orchard@vl*.ma*.go*.uk*] Sent: 18 December 1997 16:05 To: 'David Shimell (shimell)' Cc: 'TechDiver List' Subject: Talking of wrecking tools... Hi David "Putting wrecking kit aside for a moment..." How do you accommodate your wrecking tools, i.e. lump hammer etc, into the hogarth rig? I've left them off to date as I can't find a satisfactory method to date. Anyone else care to comment? TIA Lawrence D. Orchard Analyst/Programmer - ITU Veterinary Laboratories Agency Tel: +44 (0)1932 357644 Fax: +44 (0)1932 349983 Email: Lawrence.L.D.Orchard@VL*.MA*.GO*.UK* -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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