BPW issues

[Tortuga68]

anyone know a rule of thumb when it comes to calculating weight for the back plate

Bathroom/kitchen/fish scales... Usually around 6# for SS. Put an extra 2 in your pocket

 

[TigerDiver8]

i dropped 6 lbs with my backplate. if you need a grommet in the webbing, find a banner shop. most will pop a brass grommet in for free. you wont even have to put the hole in because most of their grommet presses will do that as the grommet is being pressed in.

I melted a hole through the webbing, I am going to see if i can find a grommet at home depot or something that will press over what i have already made.

 

[Tortuga68]

There really shouldn't be any load on that point so if you've melted or otherwise sealed it, job done. Add a grommet if it makes you feel better

 

[TigerDiver8]

Thanks for the input everyone, and no i dont have a pool to use.

 

[tracydr]

I used no weight with my short steel plate and 5 mm wet suit. AL 63 tank. Went down to 400 PSI and was able to get perfectly neutral.
This is with the DSS 20lb wing and short steel BP. Fresh water.

 

[alan_lee]

I think losing 6-8lbs to start with is reasonable, but you'd want to err on the heavier side because you'd want to be able to hold your safety stop comfortably. And that's what I tell my students: you'd know that you have the right amount of weight if you don't have to keep finning downwards when your BC is empty to hold your depth, nor do you need to put in much air into your BC. Of course, the best time to do that is when you're left with about 700PSI or 50bar of air in your tank, when it's most floaty.

Hope this helps, and enjoy your BP/W! Everyone that I know who have migrated to BP/W love how easy it is to manage their buoyancy with more precision.

 

[fjpatrum]

I melted a hole through the webbing, I am going to see if i can find a grommet at home depot or something that will press over what i have already made.

I've been using mine for two years with no grommet. I used a wood burning iron to put the hole in and it works perfectly fine. Unless you're loosening the screw after every dive there shouldn't even be enough movement to allow any fraying at the edges of the hole. A grommet will of course protect better, but it's far from necessary.

To the weight question: Do a quick weight check at the start of your dive, it only takes a couple of minutes. I went from 16 pounds down to about 10, personally. I don't have the HOG plate, though. Generally 5 or 6 pounds for a plate and maybe another 2 for an STA is what I've seen thrown around.

 

[g1138]

No grommet is necessary, just melt and clean up the hole a bit. You can use the shaft of a Q-tip to press the melted area smooth and clean if your'e picky (cut off the cotton swab part first though).

For weighting it really depends on what you're changing from. All I needed to drop was 2 lbs. I went from a Sherwood Axis back inflate to a Halcyon. Other friends of mine had to drop 4-6lbs. They were using Mares Vector jackets and ScubaPro back inflates.
I would drop 2 lbs for starters and see where that sets you after your first dive.

 

[fisheater]

I dropped 10 pounds from a Zeagle Ranger to a DSS steel BP.

 

[ams511]

There are 2 things to consider when switching. First is the weight of the plate and the harness, usually 5-6 lbs. The second is the inherent buoyancy of your old BC. If you do not have a pool you can try to sink your old BC in the tube to see what weight sinks it. If you cannot do this I would guess 2 lbs and go from there. So I vote for 8 lbs too.