I wrote:

> >I'm sure you remember the old metal tank plates, web harness systems,
> >crotch straps

Kuty responded:

> I do.  I remember how much I hated the crotch strap.  I remember how
> grateful I was when the new vest-like BCD was introduced.

I did away with my crotch strap a long time before the jacket style BCs were
around.  Simply put, I've never needed one.  All of the tanks I've owned
have been neutral buoyant when empty, from the 72 cubic foot galvanized
tanks I started with, to my present compact 80s.  I skipped the standard 80s
most common in the U.S. completely.  Floating tanks have never been a
problem and, while a crotch strap does tend to keep everything in place when
buoyant and at the surface, a tightened waist belt does the same thing as
well as a cumberbund, particularly due to the somewhat larger stomach I've
carefully developed over the years.

My present plate still has the crotch strap, but only because I make
frequent use of the rear D ring mounted on it.  Something is almost always
fastened there.  Whatever I'm carrying in my back mounted pocket gets
clipped to it and, on occasion, things I feel more comfortable with than
without are there as well, like the safety sausage I take on most dives or
the larger DSMB I carry when the chances or consequences of becoming
separated from my boat ride are greater.

Lee