Pterodactyl Improved!

Hello everyone...Gary A. Cresswell here. For some time it has been in the back of my head that a couple of "minor tweaks" to the Pterodactyl design might be a good idea. Well that's where those ideas have stayed without following-through and without really taking the ideas seriously. It seemed that there were more important things to focus on and, anyways, nobody ever commented about these two points...so who bother? The two ideas that I'm referring to are, specifically, punching the two lower tank band bolt holes in the plate as ovals (rather than as the present round holes) and also providing a two inch long crotch strap slot at the bottom center of the plate (in addition to the present one inch long slot). Obviously, the oval holes would allow for some missalignment and would allow the diver to attach the plate to his doubles even when the tank bands weren't exactly 11 inches apart. And, the longer crotch strap slot would give the diver the option of using a two inch wide strap and not be limited to the one inch size. Actually, a couple of weeks ago, Joel Silverstein (Vice President and COO of Tech Diving Limited) made the first suggestion to me while evaluating my product for possible inclussion into their product line. Then, a customer who had just purchased the Pterodactyl (Dave Reilly from Pennsylvania) made the same suggestion along with the one about the longer crotch strap slot. It was then that I realized that these two guys were right and that it was time to follow-through with these two ideas. Customers are a valuable resource...if you listen to them! Although I consider the Pterodactyl to be a "completed design", I'm always up for "tweaking the design" to improve it. Suggestions are always welcome! Joel also suggested offering the Pterodactyl with only the pair of 45 degree "D" rings on the harness (labeled as "B" in the web site picture) to reduce the price and let the customer upgrade by purchasing the other two pairs of "D" rings (labeled as "A" and "C" in the web site picture) separately. And certainly, this would allow the "evolving diver" who is diving doubles now but not yet carrying a stage bottle to cut the cost of purchasing this product but have the option of adding the other "D" rings later. As it is, I managed to catch the machine shop before they started work on the upcoming batch of plates and they were happy to accommodate my requests. Thank you Joel and Dave for lighting a fire under me!