Small Backplate

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Thanks for that. I was really hoping for a non-four-dollar-sign alternative, especially since it’s just a metal plate. If no one else pipes up with an alternative, I’ll have to bite the bullet for the Halcyon.
Sounds like a good opportunity for someone to fill a niche market at a reasonable price.
 
Sounds like a good opportunity for someone to fill a niche market at a reasonable price.

I’m told Dive Rite used to make a short plate, but discontinued it however long ago.
 
Thanks for that. I was really hoping for a non-four-dollar-sign alternative, especially since it’s just a metal plate. If no one else pipes up with an alternative, I’ll have to bite the bullet for the Halcyon.

I also use Halcyon small plates, both SS and AL. Try look for used or at eBay. I bought mine there for a fraction of retail cost.

Depends on your reason for small plate, some simple mod can be done too. In my case, I need the tank to sit lower. I can match small plate by drilling holes lower on regular size plate. It is much easier with AL than with SS tho.
 
I just spotted another thread while looking for recommendations on what tank straps to get. Turns out the Halcyon small plate doesn’t have slots for cam straps so I have to use an STA. I personally use a freedom plate and prefer that the tank sits close to my back. I’m wondering if the STA moves the tank significantly away from the plate?
 
I just spotted another thread while looking for recommendations on what tank straps to get. Turns out the Halcyon small plate doesn’t have slots for cam straps so I have to use an STA. I personally use a freedom plate and prefer that the tank sits close to my back. I’m wondering if the STA moves the tank significantly away from the plate?

I’ve always used a STA as Halcyon wings don’t have slots for cam bands. Doesn’t seem like a problem, plus having the STA means you can use the weighted insert. I’m very floaty and dive dry in cold(er) water.
 
Sounds like a good opportunity for someone to fill a niche market at a reasonable price.

a lot of it is a yield problem from the sheet steel which is why the backplates are their current length. Tobin used to make them, several other manufacturers used to make them, but the quantity of divers under 5'4" that are using backplates is quite small. @Eric Sedletzky makes a small plate, though it is rather expensive. Totally worth it as I have one long one for me and a short one for my wife, but not "cheap"
 
I just spotted another thread while looking for recommendations on what tank straps to get. Turns out the Halcyon small plate doesn’t have slots for cam straps so I have to use an STA. I personally use a freedom plate and prefer that the tank sits close to my back. I’m wondering if the STA moves the tank significantly away from the plate?
I hesitated to recommend the small Freedom Plate since it isn’t standard issue but if you dive one it would seem the logical choice. I dive the small at 5’ 3 but I am short waisted so likely would fit her very similarly.
 
a lot of it is a yield problem from the sheet steel which is why the backplates are their current length. Tobin used to make them, several other manufacturers used to make them, but the quantity of divers under 5'4" that are using backplates is quite small. @Eric Sedletzky makes a small plate, though it is rather expensive. Totally worth it as I have one long one for me and a short one for my wife, but not "cheap"
I don't understand. Are you saying a smaller backplate needs more steel plate than a standard plate?
I can understand how a semi-custom backplate made in someone's garage will have a higher cost per unit, but why should a standard configuration short BP be so expensive? Perhaps those 5"4" divers would buy more backplates if they were not so cost prohibitive.
I just wonder why a machine cut and bent piece of steel or aluminum plate should cost twice as much or more than a comparable item. Seems like a well equipped high school shop class could make them.
 
@scrane it is possible that a smaller backplate consumes more steel than a standard or even a long backplate.
Steel can usually be bought in 4/5/6/7/8ft wide by 8/10/12/20ft long. So we'll use a 4x8 sheet of steel for shits and giggles. If a backplate is 1ft by 2ft, then you can get 16 backplates out of the sheet of steel *4 rows of 4*. If however the backplate is only 1ft by 1.8ft if it was a "short backplate" then you still get 16 backplates out of the sheet, but you have almost a foot of steel that you had to buy and scrap so functionally each plate still "consumes" the same amount of material, the smaller ones just have waste
Now a real backplate is something like 11x15" when flat, and is contoured so there is waste in between the plates and blah blah blah, but when you make a short backplate that is a couple of inches shorter, it is not short enough to allow you to fit an extra row of backplates in there to maximize material consumption.

When DSS was in business, his backplates were all essentially the same price *I think like a $10 per size difference or something pretty negligible*, and Halcyon's short backplates are also the same price as the standard length ones, so it's not like there is any egregious price increase if any at all. The demand for them must not be there if the companies that import their plates from overseas are not producing them. There are MOQ's to contend with, and carrying costs of holding inventory so your cash is tied up, and if there was a significant demand for them, someone like a DGX would be importing them with as large as they are. The fact that they aren't, and Halcyon is one of the only manufacturers that has a short backplate would indicate that the demand is simply not there.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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