Alum or Steel backplate?

[Ulfhedinn]

I am thinking of going with a 58lb wing for 119 doubles but Im not sure If I should purchase a alum or steel hog backplate. Recomendations?

[cool_hardware52]

I am thinking of going with a 58lb wing for 119 doubles but Im not sure If I should purchase a alum or steel hog backplate. Recomendations?

Your back plate is part of your ballast. Your total ballast requirements are a function of the buoyancy of your exposure suit.

Wing capacity and choice of cylinders says nothing about the buoyancy of your drysuit and undies.

Tobin

[oneshotshooter]

aluminum. you wont need the added weight with doubles. At least I didnt. Single tank steel...

[Ulfhedinn]

Your back plate is part of your ballast. Your total ballast requirements are a function of the buoyancy of your exposure suit.

Wing capacity and choice of cylinders says nothing about the buoyancy of your drysuit and undies.

Tobin

White's Fusion Bullet is what I'm looking at combined with Fourth Element Xerotherm and Arctic.

[cool_hardware52]

White's Fusion Bullet is what I'm looking at combined with Fourth Element Xerotherm and Arctic.

Required wing capacity is largely function of suit buoyancy.

Required ballast is a function of suit buoyancy.

That favors getting the suit first, testing it's buoyancy and then making the rest of your gear choices.

Tobin

[TSandM]

Tobin is right . . . but with double 119s, if you are going to weight yourself for empty tanks, you are almost certaintly going to need SOME ballast. (Tanks are -2 each empty; bands and manifold maybe another 5. I can't imagine anyone in a dry suit being less than 7 pounds positive.) The question is, where will you need that ballast to be? If you use an aluminum plate, you have four more pound to play with, in terms of moving weight. It may not be relevant. If you are using sufficiently thick undergarments, you may require enough ballast that, even with a stainless plate, you have plenty to play around with. If your required ballast is small, however, you may be very happy to have options as to where to move it.

I have never dived 119s, so I have no idea how they balance. But, for example, we have two sets of LP72s, which are hideously head-heavy. The ONLY way I can balance them is to hang a six pound weight off the bottom bolt. If I didn't have the option of moving six pounds around, I'd be stuck diving the things out of trim, or swimming constantly. (And, before you ask, I spent a whole morning working with Bob Sherwood, the guru of trim, to see if we could adjust harness, bands, etc. to balance the tanks. At the end of it, he looked at me and said, "You're right. You CAN'T trim these out!")

Anyway, that is something to think about when you are making your plate decisions. I went to aluminum in the beginning, because I couldn't balance my tanks. I changed tanks and it got much easier, and as I've gained facility with doubles, I can trim out more configurations. But physics is inexorable, and if your rig is sufficiently out of balance, you will not be able to sit still in the water in horizontal trim.

[cool_hardware52]

Tobin is right . . . but with double 119s, if you are going to weight yourself for empty tanks, you are almost certaintly going to need SOME ballast. (Tanks are -2 each empty; bands and manifold maybe another 5. I can't imagine anyone in a dry suit being less than 7 pounds positive.) The question is, where will you need that ballast to be? If you use an aluminum plate, you have four more pound to play with, in terms of moving weight. It may not be relevant. If you are using sufficiently thick undergarments, you may require enough ballast that, even with a stainless plate, you have plenty to play around with. If your required ballast is small, however, you may be very happy to have options as to where to move it.

I have never dived 119s, so I have no idea how they balance. But, for example, we have two sets of LP72s, which are hideously head-heavy. The ONLY way I can balance them is to hang a six pound weight off the bottom bolt. If I didn't have the option of moving six pounds around, I'd be stuck diving the things out of trim, or swimming constantly. (And, before you ask, I spent a whole morning working with Bob Sherwood, the guru of trim, to see if we could adjust harness, bands, etc. to balance the tanks. At the end of it, he looked at me and said, "You're right. You CAN'T trim these out!")

Anyway, that is something to think about when you are making your plate decisions. I went to aluminum in the beginning, because I couldn't balance my tanks. I changed tanks and it got much easier, and as I've gained facility with doubles, I can trim out more configurations. But physics is inexorable, and if your rig is sufficiently out of balance, you will not be able to sit still in the water in horizontal trim.

My point is really a bit broader.

Start with the exposure suit, as it will have an impact on many other gear choices.

Far to often I see new divers rush to buy tanks and wings and plates before they get their drysuit. I'll venture a guess this is because they think they can use the tanks and wings and plates with their wetsuit, and or the high cost of a drysuit and undies makes buying the other goodies first seem like a good idea.

The reality is this can lead to *odd* configurations and duplicate purchases.

Tobin

[ajduplessis]

Buy steel and be done with it!

[ron_cooper]

I can and have used three diiferent tank set-ups in the last two years, single , doubles and rebreather. I went with a steel and have the additional side plates that can be added to the plate. I use a crushed neoprene drysuit and thick underwaer for the cold water I have been in, both fresh and salt. Then have added any where from six to twelve pounds of lead in a harness to get the weighting correct.