Freedom backplate and wings

[9fingers]

A few questions to those who dive them.

I read on an older Freedom plate post that the waist belt slid fairly easily through the plate, is this still the case? I'm interested in being able to adjust the shoulder and waist straps to fit well with different layers, something like Halcyon's new quick-adjust Cinch system, but for a diver on a budget

Someone also suggested using a more flexible webbing than that which is typically used for backplates. Any recommendations?

I'm very interested in these plates. They seem like a good solution for a plate dedicated to single tank diving.

FYI, Freedom plates are available from Scuba Toys

Cheers!

 

[Peter_C]

I use tri-glides to keep my webbing in place, but it seems some people let it slide. Maybe someone else can chime in on that point. When changing from a drysuit to a wetsuit or bare skin, I take a few minutes and mark the webbing, then adjust the straps in, including the crotch strap. At the same time I have to switch my DIN regs back to yoke and remove my drysuit hose.

Mine is setup with pretty soft webbing compared to my doubles plate. Much more comfortable against bare skin in the tropics. No idea where to get it though, as I bought a complete rig years ago.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Yes the webbing will slide in the waist band slots. I've rounded over the slots enough that it works fairly well. I've experimented with this style of setup for quite a few dives, but I have noticed that with suit compression (I dive wet) that the waist strap loosens and by continously tightening it, it tends to keep drawing more webbing through the slots and making the shoulder straps tighter and tighter. To prevents this incremental and eventual over tightening I concluded that either using a crotch strap to keep the waist strap down and from continually climbing or placing a keeper on the upper side of the waist slot webbing so the webbing can only be cinched so far to a pre set position is the solution.
Personally, after trying all sorts of combos with the adjustable cinch method I went back to a preset position with the webbing and the use of the crotch strap to keep everything down and to keep the rig from climbing up.
I practice more of a freestyle of diving where I decend head first like old school methods and or like a freediver, and the crotch strap keeps everything in place as I'm inverted.

The softer webbing would more than likely be the stuff you would get at any LDS that sells length for weight belts. They probably get it from Trident in rolls and that's the softer stuff we've been talking about. That's where I used to get it was from Trident. It's not super soft but it is noticably softer than what you would get in an Oxycheq kit for instance.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

 

[halocline]

I bought the softer webbing at scubatoys; just ask them for it. It works great. With that webbing the harness will slide easily in the slots; you might like that at first, but I bet pretty soon you'll want to change it. The keepers can be very easily moved so accommodate different exposure suits.

 

[9fingers]

Thanks for the input all of ya! I'm looking forward to making a plate up as funds permit in the months ahead. Bubbles-up, 9f

 

[JCR]

Hello Eric,
In the quote below where you describe placement of the keeper, do you mean that it is best placed on what I would term the "body side" of the plate, that is the side with the number of the plate and USA? Or is it best placed on "seaside" of the plate where the wing is?
Thanks
JR

Yes the webbing will slide in the waist band slots. I've rounded over the slots enough that it works fairly well. I've experimented with this style of setup for quite a few dives, but I have noticed that with suit compression (I dive wet) that the waist strap loosens and by continously tightening it, it tends to keep drawing more webbing through the slots and making the shoulder straps tighter and tighter. To prevents this incremental and eventual over tightening I concluded that either using a crotch strap to keep the waist strap down and from continually climbing or placing a keeper on the upper side of the waist slot webbing so the webbing can only be cinched so far to a pre set position is the solution.
Personally, after trying all sorts of combos with the adjustable cinch method I went back to a preset position with the webbing and the use of the crotch strap to keep everything down and to keep the rig from climbing up.
I practice more of a freestyle of diving where I decend head first like old school methods and or like a freediver, and the crotch strap keeps everything in place as I'm inverted.

The softer webbing would more than likely be the stuff you would get at any LDS that sells length for weight belts. They probably get it from Trident in rolls and that's the softer stuff we've been talking about. That's where I used to get it was from Trident. It's not super soft but it is noticably softer than what you would get in an Oxycheq kit for instance.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hello Eric,
In the quote below where you describe placement of the keeper, do you mean that it is best placed on what I would term the "body side" of the plate, that is the side with the number of the plate and USA? Or is it best placed on "seaside" of the plate where the wing is?
Thanks
JR

In most cases it would be placed on the wing side of the plate, not the side that rests against your back. If you have the webbing reversed so that to place a keeper between the two slots it would be on the inside (the outside method), then I would recommend placing the keeper on the waist strap in front of the exit slot. This would keep the webbing from backing up too far. It's also possible to place another keeper on the shoulder strap right above where it goes into the angled slot. This would keep the webbing from adjusting up too tight. The range for adjustment could be kept at 3 to 4 inches this way.
You just have to try both methods and see what you like best. Have some fun with it and try all the different methods.