Backplate Advice Needed ...

Purchasing a BP/W setup soon and need some advice ...

I'll be diving in the NE (NJ, NY, cold, salt water). For the time being, I'll be using a single HP120 with a slung AL40 pony. Exposure suit is a 7mm full suit with an 6mm vested hood (a lot of neoprene !!!), eventually switching to dry. My wing is an Oxycheq Mach V 40lb. I'm about 5'11'', weigh 170lb and am a sinker, not a floater.

Would I be better off with an aluminum or stainless steel backplate? Down the road, i may move to twin HP100s.

If it were me and I already have a stainless plate dedicated for singles which is a Freedom Plate, then a cheapo, well free to me, Dive Rite aluminum plate for doubles. I want the extra weight of stainless when diving singles, and am head heavy for doubles so less weight up high is best.

I too use a Mach V 40lb wing with an HP130.

scuba393:

I'll be diving in the NE (NJ, NY, cold, salt water). For the time being, I'll be using a single HP120 with a slung AL40 pony. Exposure suit is a 7mm full suit with an 6mm vested hood (a lot of neoprene !!!), eventually switching to dry. . . . I'm about 5'11'', weigh 170lb and am a sinker, not a floater. Would I be better off with an aluminum or stainless steel backplate?

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Stainless steel. Even if you are inherently negatively buoyant, when diving a 120 and a 40 with a 7mm suit in salt water, you will probably need (substantially) more than 6 lbs of weight, so the SS BP won't push you over the edge and leave you with no ditchable weight. You will probably still add weight even with a SS BP, if you move to double 100s, diving either a 7mm or a drysuit. The only time I use an AL plate is when I dive double steels in a 3mm wetsuit.

What ever best suits your needs and body type. Do your weighting, trim and buoyancy checks at different psi levels in your tanks and get dialed in. As you progress you may need more than one plate to best suit all of your diving needs, I have 6 right now. the biggest mistake folks make is trying to get 1 piece of gear meet multiple scenarios and this does not always work for the best. The Swiss Army knife is a nice idea, but the blade is not the best, the screwdriver sucks and I always lose the toothpick and tweezers.

I teach at KBW Scuba in Avondale, PA, dive NJ and occasionally get up to Dutch, let me know if I can help.

Jeff