BP/W for the "vertically challenged"

I'm considering going down the BP/W route, however, as I'm a tiny little woman (1.58m or 5'2"), I was wondering if anyone had some advice on a setup for me?

My main concerns are backplate length/width and whether a steel backplate would leave me with too little dumpable weight. With my previous gear (standard BC jacket), I'd wear around 6 - 7kg with a 7mm suit and 10l or 12l al tank. I'm also looking to get a drysuit in the near future (which I haven't had before), and realise that will change my weighting requirements as well, although at this stage, I'm not sure how much by.

I'm also thinking about the Dive-rite Transpac or Transplate + Harness. Oh, and I've only dived single tanks up till now, but will probably be doing some doubles diving from now on.

Any suggestions?

aMc10:

I'm considering going down the BP/W route, however, as I'm a tiny little woman (1.58m or 5'2"), I was wondering if anyone had some advice on a setup for me?

My main concerns are backplate length/width and whether a steel backplate would leave me with too little dumpable weight. With my previous gear (standard BC jacket), I'd wear around 6 - 7kg with a 7mm suit and 10l or 12l al tank. I'm also looking to get a drysuit in the near future (which I haven't had before), and realise that will change my weighting requirements as well, although at this stage, I'm not sure how much by.

I'm also thinking about the Dive-rite Transpac or Transplate + Harness. Oh, and I've only dived single tanks up till now, but will probably be doing some doubles diving from now on.

Any suggestions?

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We make small plates. https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=1

These are designed for divers under 5'3".

A small Stainless Plate and harness is only about 5 lbs., if you are now using ~15 lbs of ballast, 5 lb of plate and harness will not over weight you. You can configure the rest of your ballast in a ditchable belt if you want to.

Tobin

Tobin is the expert at this, so I'm just going to add my user experience.

I'm 5'8", and use the DSS medium SS backplate. It's a great fit.

I dive with wetsuit or drysuit, and mostly with big steel single tanks (130cf) or double steel lp80s (rarely).

When I started using the BP/W, I had two different weight belts:
For the 7mm wetsuit: 4lb weight belt (shallower dives, above 50feet),
For the Crushed neoprene drysuit: 9 lb wt belt.

I added the DSS custom weight plates (about 5lbs), and I like it even better.
7mm wetsuit: No weight belt. A 7mm suit is very buoyant at these shallow depths. I can swim my rig up even if my wing were to fail.
Crushed neoprene drysuit: 4 lb weight belt.

If I have to dive an aluminum 80 tank I add 5 pounds to the belt. Rare.

I love the tremendous stability of a BP/W.
My fabric BC always moved around.


There are several skilled women divers about your height who will likely chime in here.
TSandM should be emerging from a Floridian cave anytime now . After she chips the ice crystals off.....

~~~~
Claudette

Apart from saying some BP manufacturers make them in smaller sizes I'll leave any comments about their use to those that have some experience with them.

I'v dived a Transpack for years, it will do every thing you'll ever need in diving, singles, doubles, sidemount or rebreather & is available in your size. Many will tell you that a BP is more stable. Most of course have never used a Transpack & are only repeating what they've heard, the others were obviously doing it wrong . Recently however I'v been experimenting with a BPW.

With a 7mm semi wet diving the Transpack & single steel 12lt tank I used about 12lb of lead. When I switched to the BPW the lead I was carrying dropped not only the 6lb the BP weighed but another 3lb due to the inherent positive buoyancy in the Transpack. Your BCD will probably have between 2 & 4lbs of positive buoyancy as well. With the BP I no longer need a couple of pounds of lead on a cam band so my trim is easier & better. I'm far more comfortable in the water now with 6lb spread over my back & a little on my hip's instead of a lot on my hip's & a little localised on my back for trim. I'd have to say the Transpack is a bit more comfortable when it comes to lugging my rig around on land. However once in the water this turns around & the BP is a little more comfortable & this is after all about diving & not carry heavy weights about on land. Then again, maybe you do a lot of shore diving where it's necessary to walk miles & scale cliffs to get in the water.

As yet I don't have a dry suit so when I dive doubles, manifold 12lt, I dive wet. I am at the moment still using my Transpack. I carry 2lb of lead in this configuration & only in case of a complete catastrophic lose of back gas that would make me too buoyant to maintain deco stops. In the BP I would be over weighted in a wet suit. When I get a dry suit (soon) I'll need some more weight & will add the BPW into the mix.

Unless something very unexpected happens to change my mind about the BPW, I'm afraid the Transpacks future will be reduced to diving destinations that require air travel to reach. This has nothing to do with the stability of the Transpack, done rite, with singles or doubles, it's rock solid & everything to do with the better redistribution of weight with the BP.

I am slightly over 5'1", and I dive a DSS rig with the Small Stainless Steel plate, that and extra 4lbs were all I needed in the fresh water lake and 6lbs for salt with 7mm semi-dry suit and Al-80 cylinder! People are amused at my "tiny plate", it feels comfy as when it's on my back. I like it so much I bought a Kydex plate from DSS as well which also comes in the small size for tropical dives.

DSS is amongst the top in the market, and I'm just one of the thousands happy users.

You might need a small plate, but you might not. I was surprised to try my small plate on a tiny Asian woman (5' and about 90 pounds) and discover it was actually too short for her. It has to do with torso length -- If you are long-bodied and short legged, you might not need a small.

Kern:

I'v dived a Transpack for years, it will do every thing you'll ever need in diving, singles, doubles, sidemount or rebreather & is available in your size. Many will tell you that a BP is more stable. Most of course have never used a Transpack & are only repeating what they've heard, the others were obviously doing it wrong . Recently however I'v been experimenting with a BPW.

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I had a buddy that had a transpac. Maybe he was using it wrong, but it was anything but stable, and seemed to have plastic keeping the tank in place (maybe there is a more sturdy option he didn't have though).

cool_hardware52:

We make small plates. https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=1

These are designed for divers under 5'3".

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Looks good, Tobin. I'm in Australia - do you have a distributor down here?

TSandM:

You might need a small plate, but you might not. I was surprised to try my small plate on a tiny Asian woman (5' and about 90 pounds) and discover it was actually too short for her. It has to do with torso length -- If you are long-bodied and short legged, you might not need a small.

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That's a very good point, and that would certainly describe me. Are there any measurements that I could take to determine which size I would need?

Thanks for all the replies so far...

I got mine direct from Tobin. I was unable to find a distributor in OZ.

aMc10:

That's a very good point, and that would certainly describe me. Are there any measurements that I could take to determine which size I would need?

Thanks for all the replies so far...

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If in doubt about plate sizing I always err on the side of "too short" vs too long. If the plate is too long it land on the pelvis and be uncomfortable. It can also keep you from being able to arch your back. There's not much you can do with a plate that is too long in terms of harness adjustment.

If the plate is too short the risk is the waist strap will ride on your lower rib cage, and not just below your ribs. Here there is a bit of adjustment possible. You can lower the plate on your body by extending the shoulder straps and tightening the crotch strap a bit.

I'm always a bit concerned about requesting specific measurements, agreement as to where a point is on the human body can be problematic.

If you are of typical proportions you should consider the small plate.

If you are long waisted with shorter legs you can in all probability use a DSS "Medium" Our medium plates are a little shorter than the typical "one size fits most" plates available from other makers. Our medium plate is 15 inches overall vs 15 1/2 to 15 3/4 for other makes.

In addition the overall profile of our plates, large radius lower corners combined with a flatter overall bend in the plate allows it to fit a wider range of diver's height wise.

Tobin