“Necessity is the Mother of Invention” Steve Bogaerts originally designed the Razor Harness for use on side-mount / no-mount exploration dives in very restricted cave where every piece of extra equipment can become a hindrance or hazard.
The system evolved over time as the exploration dives became more challenging and demanded more from both diver and equipment. The current system is the distillation of years of trial and error. That experience refined and streamlined equipment, skill sets and procedures.
Each of the components in the system is designed to fit together seamlessly and work as part of an integrated whole. The Razor Harness is at the heart of this system and is the foundation of all the “Bogarthian” Side-Mount procedures. To get the full benefit from your Razor Harness you need to understand and implement the entire Bogarthian Side-Mount Philosophy. This philosophy is holistic in approach and is designed from the inside out so that as additional layers of equipment are added there is no change in the core equipment, equipment placement, procedures or skill sets.
Get properly trained for Side-Mount diving. Training will distill into a few days’ years of experience and advance your side mount diving accordingly.
“Less is More” The Razor Harness is simplicity and elegance personified with only 2 continuous pieces of webbing and 1 closure point. It is simple, strong, rugged, reliable, low profile and extremely minimalist in design. It fits like a glove and is very comfortable to wear.
The Razor will fit anyone no matter what their physical size or shape and is quick and easy to set up and adjust so that each individual diver gets a custom fit using standardized hardware.
The Razor can be adjusted at several points to ensure the optimal fit for each individual.
Each of the shoulder straps / waist straps can be adjusted at the Mini Back Plate. The length of the Lumbar / Crotch Strap can be adjusted at the Delta Shoulder Plate. The height of the Waist / Hip strap can be adjusted at the Mini Back Plate. All the attachment points such as D rings on the Razor Harness can be adjusted quickly and easily to allow personalized positioning of equipment placement. Extra attachment points can be added easily if required.
Weight can be added to exactly where you need it on the Razor Harness to optimize trim.
As can be seen from this morphing picture of the Razor Harness it can easily be adjusted so that the lower attachment point for the Side-Mount tanks is either at the waist or lower at the hips.
The optimum positioning will depend on a number of factors including individual diver preference, the length of the diver’s torso, the length of the Side-Mount tanks being used and the overall weight distribution and trim of the diver and their total equipment load.
Standard Razor Harness Kit
You will receive the following parts with your Razor Side-Mount Harness:
Razor Harness Manual and rigging instructions
1 Delta Shoulder Plate (DSP)
1 Mini Back Plate (MBP)
14ft Harness Webbing
6ft Lumbar / Crotch Strap Webbing
2 Plate Bolts
2 Drop Attachment Points (DAPs)
3 Bent 2” D Rings
3 Straight 2” D Rings
5 Serrated Belt Slides
2 Straight Belt Slides
1 Waist Buckle
6ft Elastic Bungee Cord
2 Medium Swiveling Snap Bolts
The pictures of the Razor Harness above are
shown with the Low Profile D Ring Kit
Low Profile D Ring Kit A Low Profile D Ring Kit is available for the Razor Harness. The low profile D Rings are all 2” wide and fit on standard 2” harness webbing but are much smaller in vertical profile than normal D Rings. The Low profile D Rings come in 2 sizes for different locations on the Razor Harness. There are three 1” high D Rings (1 for each shoulder and 1 for the butt) and five ½“ high D Rings (2 for each side of the waist strap and 1 for the scooter ring on the front of the crotch strap). The small vertical profile of both shoulder D Rings and the butt D Ring helps to streamline the harness and the equipment attached to them by keeping everything close in to the body but they are still large enough to clip off several items to each D Ring comfortably.
The much smaller waist D Rings enhance swimming efficiency by minimizing the to and fro movement of the tanks (the pendulum effect). They also keep the tanks close in to the sides of the divers body which helps to streamline the diver and reduce drag and snag points and the potential for “A Framing”. In addition to these benefits the range of motion of the tank at the rear attachment point is reduced considerably enhancing control and stability of the side mount tanks in all orientations. The small size of the D Ring allows you to comfortably place 2 or more on each side of the waist strap to provide extra attachment points for both Side-Mount and Stage tanks. The low profile D Ring Kit is ideal for use with Aluminium 80cuft Side-Mount tanks which have a buoyancy shift from negative to positive as gas is breathed from them resulting in the rear end of the tanks starting to float and get out of horizontal trim. The set includes 2 extra D Rings and 2 serrated Triglides for the waist strap to clip the tanks forward as they become buoyant thus maintaining correct tank alignment eliminating the need to attach trim weights to the tanks.
Please note: The low profile D Ring Kit is ideal for warm water divers not wearing thick gloves who have greater manual dexterity but may be difficult to use with thick neoprene or dry gloves or with the large clips typically used for cold water diving.
