New tropical BC or new plate?

[DevonDiver]

Steel plate will be great for the diving, but may ultimately be decided by airline baggage restrictions. An Ali plate with your existing rig is a nice compromise - it will certainly be more hard wearing than a travel BCD... and has the benefit of keeping you in a familiar rig.

 

[fire_diver]

Anyone ever use one of these? Do they actually have a noticeable amount of padding? Worth 20 or 40 bucks?

Amazon.com: OMS Back Pad for Backplates: Sports & Outdoors

HOG Back Plate Pad discounts on sale HOG

Plates don't need padding.

 

[Elvistheking]

Plates don't need padding.

I've never used one with just a t-shirt (or even nothing) is there no rubbing issues (above water at least?)

 

[cool_hardware52]

Hello, I just found out that I am going to have the opportunity to live in Kosrae, Micronesia for a year and am excited about all the diving. I am from Oregon, so when I bought my set up I bought a DSS 30ish lb wing with a SS backplate and a OMS comfort harness. I have used it both in the San Juans and on a few trips to tropical places and enjoyed it.

My question now is whether I should buy a new travel/tropical oriented BC or just get a new backplate? Would I notice the difference going from SS to Al enough to justify spending 100 bucks? I was looking at the Oxy travel plate that is just fabric but I don't think that it will work with my DSS wing? Is there anything else similar to that, a nice soft light backplate that I wouldn't mind diving with in a thin exposure suit?

Thanks for any thoughts

Take what you have, see how it works.

Many, many DSS customers dive in cold water at home and travel to warm water. My advice is the same for them. Most report no problems.

You can always get a smaller wing for warm water in the future.

Keep in mind that the dry travel weight difference between a SS plate and a light weight plate is a bit over 3 lbs., not a huge weight savings.

Can you use a bare SS plate in a Tshirt or Dive skin? Sure. I've done it many times.

Tobin

 

[DevonDiver]

From my experience, the pads offer nothing, except more bulk and buoyancy to offset. I dive with a 'bare' backplate even in a rash guard.. it's perfectly comfortable.