Thinking about going to backplate & wing config for travel, what do I need to know?

[wKkaY]

I travel with a Oxycheq 30# wing, AL BP, and two metal cambands.

When I see rental jacket BCs around Southeast Asia my impression is that they can pack smaller and lighter than what I have, although they seem less sturdy as well.

 

[ScubaDoo83]

Thanks for all of the great info guys, I've been Google searching these brands like crazy. Which makes me wonder, is there something I should be looking for in an "all purpose" setup? By "all purpose" I mean a BP&W I can use wet or dry, single or double. I'd like to put a system together that will grow with me as I continue my education.


You guys with the Kydex plates..... what wings do you use? Also, might be a dumb question but how do you size a plate? How can you tell what wings are compatible with what plates?

 

[Aquavelvet]

Warm water diving with a single Alu 80, I can use the DSS Torus 17 lb wing with my Kydex plate. It's the lightest rig for simple tropical diving without extra gear. I still carry a small can light and at least one backup light, but use a 5' hose for my primary instead of a 7' hose.

There's no such thing as a truly "all purpose" setup. However a stainless plate may be used with either a singles or doubles wing, depending on the tanks being carried. A 35 lb singles wing works well for a drysuit and a range of steel tanks. You'll need a doubles wing for double tanks, 45 lbs works up to hp 100s w/ a single deco bottle, 50 lbs or more for the heavier twinsets, w/ stage or deco bottles, etc.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cool_hardware52]

Thanks for all of the great info guys, I've been Google searching these brands like crazy. Which makes me wonder, is there something I should be looking for in an "all purpose" setup? By "all purpose" I mean a BP&W I can use wet or dry, single or double. I'd like to put a system together that will grow with me as I continue my education.


You guys with the Kydex plates..... what wings do you use? Also, might be a dumb question but how do you size a plate? How can you tell what wings are compatible with what plates?

Keep in mind that a BP&W is a modular BC. That allows one to select the appropriate plate material, Stainless vs Lightweight (Kydex or aluminum) based on required ballast and match wing capacity to the application. The short answer is required wing lift is mostly a function of exposure suit buoyancy.

While some compromise is possible an "all purpose" BP&W is likely to less than ideal for some applications. Be realistic about your range of applications and you will need fewer compromises.


Regarding compatibility; much like buying your first PC, getting a complete setup from a single source is a good idea.

If you'd like a specific recommendation based on your application give me a call. 626-799-5074.


Tobin

 

[TSandM]

No one setup will work for warm and cold water, and single and double tanks.

You can buy a steel plate, and it will generally work well in warm water with light exposure protection (3 mil). And it will be about 4 pounds more in your luggage than a lighter plate. A lighter plate can be weighted with cambands pouches, as I said above, and it is lighter to pack, but in cold water, you might very well want all the ballast of a steel plate AND what you can put on the cambands, so the light plate won't be ideal at all.

Wings need to be sized appropriately to the application. Small wings will work in the tropics; wings which serve for single tank use in cold water can also be used safely and comfortably in warm water. But a single tank wing won't work for doubles, and a doubles wing will be very problematic for single tanks. The reason for this is not just the amount of lift, but the width of the center panel. That is too wide for single tanks, causing the air-filled pontoons to "taco" up around the tank, and be difficult to vent.

Buy gear which is optimal for the diving you are currently doing. The nice thing about backplate setups is that you don't have to replace the entire thing, but just the components you want to improve, if you change diving environments. (Says Lynne, looking at the 3 plate and wing setups hanging in the basement.)

 

[RJP]

No one setup will work for warm and cold water, and single and double tanks.

No one SINGLE WING will work for everything. But it's quite easy to have a single plate & harness setup plus two wings that will accommodate warm/cold, singles/doubles, in sickness/health, for richer, for poorer...

 

[drbill]

I travel with the same rig I use at home... an ancient Scubapro X-Tek harness and a wing (size dependent on water temperature of destination). This is the equivalent of the original Transpac. I prefer it to my backplate (which sits in my dive locker unused most of the time) because it is more comfortable and conforms to my dive travel bag. Your mileage may vary.

I have three of these set-ups ad travel with the oldest one... a well tattered and torn unit that divemasters and other divers shake their heads at. But if somehow it gets lost on the trip, no worries.

 

[kathydee]

+1 for traveling with an Al wing and weight pockets on the cam bands . It packs smaller and dries a whole lot faster than traditional BCD's.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Keep in mind that the density of stainless steel vs kydex or aluminum results in a ~ 3 lbs difference in *dry travel* weight between the typical SS plate and light weight plate. The *in water* ballast impact are a bit different, the SS plate and harness will be close to -6 lbs and the Light weight plate and harness a bit under 2 lbs.

There are of course situations where saving 3 lbs of travel weight matters, but that needs to be balanced against the in water performance of having ballast up over your buoyant lungs and close to the the divers center of mass.

Of course most divers who dive at home do so in moderate to cold water which makes a SS plate the obvious choice.

The perception is that SS plates weigh a zillion pounds and light weight plates will load themselves onto the airplane, simply not true, the difference is ~3 lbs (depends a bit on the size of the back plate)

The reality is a BP&W, even with a SS plate is often no heavier than a "full featured" jacket style bc.

That often makes a SS plate a good choice for those who are trying to cover a range of applications with a single plate.

Tobin

 

[ScubaDoo83]

Many awesome responses, thanks guys. I've been Googling for something like a walkthrough of the BP&W system like maybe a description of all of the components and the role they play but all I am finding is advertisements and they seem to be really selling one aspect or another of the product. Is there a non biased, education based place I can learn more about this type or hardware? I feel that if I gain more knowledge about the BP&W hardware and the role each piece plays I will have a better idea of what I am looking for.

And yes, I certainly plan to take lots of specialty courses to improve my skills and knowledge in different areas but I'd like a bit of a head start on the equipment learning.