Oxycheq Ultra Lite Plate and Speed Harness

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TN Traveler

Contributor
Messages
1,553
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Location
Knoxville, TN; St Croix, USVI
# of dives
500 - 999
UPS showed up yesterday afternoon and dropped off a new Ultra Lite Plate and Speed Harness. First thing that impressed me was the box weighed more than the Plate and Harness. Needless to say, I could not wait to start assembling the system.

I have a Mach V Extreme wing, with camband slots but no roll control - so I was wondering how this would work. With two sets of holes on the plate plus two sets of grommets on the wing, you can adjust the wing up or down a total of about 3 inches to get the bouyancy where you want it (I'm leg heavy, so I adjusted it as low as possible). I attached the wing to the plate using a couple of "sex bolts" - first problem, how to tighten these things - although I have a wide assortment of screw drivers, none were really big enough - finally figured out that with a big screw driver and a quarter - they tighten up just fine. Looking at what I have I'm impressed already by how everything fits, the plate and wing are like one piece.

Next, assembling the harness. The webbing runs through a series of keepers and fabric loops. The keepers at the top are serrated and hold the webbing tight - the keepers on the bottom, at the waist, are attached to loops on the plate and the webbing goes through only one side and then into a fabric loop, so the webbing can slide when there is no tension on it, making it easy to get a perfect fit.

I added 3 d-rings and weight pockets to the belt and then fitted the cam bands. I did one thing different than suggested, in that I ran the upper camband around the plate, instead of just through the wing feeling like it would provide more support. I put the plate on a tank and slipped into it. It fit perfectly - hugged my back and felt more secure than my regular plates. Absolutely no sign of any tank wobble.

Tonight I will try and take some pictures and weigh it and my AL plate and STA, just to find out how much travel weight I'll be saving - but I figure it will be 4-6 lbs. Now all I need to do is take it diving - which will be in a couple of weeks.
 
TN Traveler... I thought this plate was still in beta test stage. Did Patrick approve "forum" posting and discussion?

Thanks!
 
OK - here are a couple of pictures. You can see how the plate just becomes part of the wing. I had to use my wife's tank, since I was setting it up for travel with an AL tank and all I have are Steel LP 95's.

The fully setup plate, harness and wing (Mach V Extreme), as pictured, weighs 5.2 lbs - this is 4.8 lbs lighter than my similar setup using an AL plate and lightweight STA and a Mach V Extreme w/o camband slots . It is about a pound lighter than my wife's SeaQuest Diva QD (size small).
 

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I did one thing different than suggested, in that I ran the upper camband around the plate, instead of just through the wing feeling like it would provide more support.

This is the part I don't understand. You threaded the lower cam band just through the wing? That doesn't sound very secure. Maybe the plate and harness have some way of dealing with it? I wasn't able to see too much from that part of the picture.
 
TN Traveler... I thought this plate was still in beta test stage. Did Patrick approve "forum" posting and discussion?

Thanks!

I am testing the plate, but Patrick now has them posted for sale on the Oxycheq website. I checked with Dwain before I posted and got approval. I did the same thing with the Mach V Extreme a year and a half ago.

Patrick knows I call them as I see them - and being an engineer I give everything a thorough going over - and will comment on the good, the bad and the ugly.

I'll be happy to answer any questions and pass on my observations from a "user" standpoint.

In many ways the plate reminds we of the old plastic back pac that we used for diving in the 70's - they were very comfortable and easy to fit. Back then we did not have wings that attached to the pac - we wore horse collars (like a snorkel vest), that were mouth inflatable, but really only used for emergency ascents (using a CO2 cartridge) or for surface floatation. Having the tank tight against the back is a great feeling. By the way, I still dive a 1959 Double Hose (with Phoenix Nozzle) and can't wait to use this rig with it.
 
This is the part I don't understand. You threaded the lower cam band just through the wing? That doesn't sound very secure. Maybe the plate and harness have some way of dealing with it? I wasn't able to see too much from that part of the picture.

The lower camband goes through the wing slots and the slots in the plate - it is totally secure. Patrick recommends just running the upper camband through the wing slots, which is securely fastened to the plate with the sex bolts - I found that I could thread the cambands through the wing slots AND around the back of the plate (it is narrower at the top) and still have it reach around the tank. I felt this made it even more secure.
Believe me - there is no way this is coming apart and there is absolutely zero tank wobble.

If you look at the 4th picture you can see the bottom camband going through the plate while the upper one is going around the top.
 
Glad to see these are finally available. I've been waiting for these to come out for about two months since I first heard about them, so now I can get a couple before my next dive vacation at the end of this month!

Will give a full dive report the second week in June, if not before.

Thanks guys!
 
That BC has a lot of inflatable wing that is located behind your neck. I would be very interested to hear how, when the BC is fully inflated at depth and you are in a horizontal position, the rig allows you to lift your head and look forward.

My venture wing seems to have less wing behind my neck and it caused me big problems until I bungied a U-shaped constriction behind my head. otherwise I could not look forward when horizontal.
 

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