BP&W weighting

[krispykritter]

I'am switching from a jacket style BCD to a back plate and wing setup. I dive a 7mm wetsuit with a hooded vest and an al80 tank and use 20 lbs of wieght. Will shedding the jacket bcd cause me to use less wieght?
When I where my harness and put the wieght belt on it makes it very clutterd around my mid-section. Is that the way it supposed to be? Do You stagger the buckles?

 

[fisheater]

Steel or aluminum backplate?

With steel, you'll likely need 8-10 pounds less lead. Depends upon how buoyant your old BCD was.

If you position your weights over your hips, it shouldn't interfere with your BP/W.

And yes, your buckles should be staggered.


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[Insta-Gator]

Most jacket BCDs are positively buoyant. Your BP/W will be negatively buoyant. Do you have SS or AL plate?

If the buckles interfere, try moving the harness buckle to the right some so the two buckles are not on top of each other. You may want to consider putting some pockets or weight pockets on your harness rather than using a weight belt.

 

[buddhasummer]

I wear a 7mm 2 piece FJ with hood when diving local. When I dove a BCD with Ali tank I wore 26lbs of lead, possibly over weighted as I was also a new diver. When I switched to a SS backplate with Ali tank I wore 15lbs of lead and when I switched to steel tank I wear 11lbs of lead. As others have said BCs have varying amounts of inherent buoyancy due to padding and the difference between an Ali and steel can be around 4lbs or greater depending on type/size of steel tank. I stagger my belts with backplate belt orientated to the right hand side with weight belt centred.

 

[Fishpie]

I go for the weight belt high on the torso....just under the ribs, when kitting up anyway, then there's no interference between belts.
I can then adjust it down, if i want, once I'm horizontal.
Harness buckle over kidney.

How much less weight.....7-9lbs steel, 3-5lbs al.

 

[krispykritter]

It is a dive-rite stainless back plate. I had a tusa liberator bcd before. 8 to 10 pounds wow!

 

[fisheater]

I lost ten, switching from a Zeagle back-inflate to a DSS steel backplate. And both pre- and post-BP/W weighting was checked at 15 feet with 500 psi in the same tank.


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[g1138]

In total you'll should be wearing roughly the same amount of weighting. With a St plate you can take 6lbs of lead off your belt, Al: 2lbs off your belt etc etc.

Switching from a back-inflate to a Bp/W I was able to drop 2lbs. So as an example, instead of wearing a total of 16 weighted lbs, I now wear 14 weighted lbs all together.
In this sense my back-inflate's materials was 2lbs +buoyant.

I'd recommend diving with your usual total weight setup. Subtract the lead weight that equals your backplate and then dive it.
After a dive subtract or add more lead as you see fit.

 

[waterpirate]

Depending on how you feel about "ditchable weight" you may be able to attach wieght directly to your plate. DSS has ss plates that atach to the plate for singles diving. If you move to doubles you can add a v weight in the middle of your plate. I have also seen weights attached at the butt d ring and on the cam band of the tank itself. It is all about how you dive and how you trim out. With a plate you are not limited to your waist.
Eric

 

[Bob DBF]

I wear my BP/W release "backward" from my weight belt release, this insures that when I go to drop the belt in a hurry I don't have to try twice. Let your dive buddy know you are unconventional as it might be important later.

If you use a weight belt using pockets you can adjust your weight at the end of the dive at your safety stop, put you excess weight on the botton, in a bag attached to your dive float, or hand them to your buddy as the situation determines.



Bob
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I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.