The new Freedom Contour - The Rolex of backplates.

[Eric Sedletzky]

I know they are a little different and you may have already said, but do the camband slots line up on the older model FP contour and the VDH wing?

Lisa,
I just looked at the original pattern of the small plate you have and there is plenty of slot length up and down to accomodate a VDH wing.

 

[uncfnp]

Thanks Eric. I’m in Mexico right now but plan to pull the trigger when I get back home next week.

Lisa

 

[stuartv]

I have the same setup as Stuart - Freedom Plate + Hog 23 wing. My setup is almost identical, but I did swap out the corrugated hose on the wing for a shorter 13" one. I did mount the wing using the middle holes, and I removed the plastic tank stabilizer tubes on the wing via a small incision at the top using pliers and my utility knife with a new blade. It was very clean and easy. I'll keep the tubes in case I ever need them in the future.

I absolutely love the strap Stuart recommended. I ran it around the middle of the bracket crossbar like Stuart did and under the crossbar for the top screw to hold it in place. The small amount of additional material necessitated a longer stainless steel carriage bolt. I initially tried a 3/4" but that was too short. 7/8" would be perfect, but I could only find 1/4" increments, so I bought 2 x 1" and ground them down with a hand grinder using two nuts on each carriage bolt to mark the exposed length for grinding. 1" worked perfect for the bottom of the bracket, and I used stainless steel nylon locking nuts on both top and bottom carriage bolts. With the rubber tubing on the rails, my tank is clear of the nut on top and doesn't scrape. Also, I absolutely love the DGX scubapro-style cam bands to which I added some Halcyon weight pockets, and in conjunction with the tank strap, it's a piece of cake to set up and swap tanks.

It'll be Monday or Tuesday evening before I get a chance to get in the pool with my new rig. I'll be diving with my Faber HP 100 to check out the setup. As of now, I am planning on diving without a crotch strap. The way the backplate conforms to my upper back and sits above my hips, the belt is above my navel and below my ribs, so I think, as was mentioned in a previous thread by Akimbo, that it may not be necessary. I hope this is the case. I do have one though that I'll configure and take with me if end up needing it.

Here are a couple of photos:

Nice rig. Looks kinda familiar! LOL

Interestingly, I see that your wing has the corrugated hose set towards the left side of the wing. My HOG 23 has the corrugated hose coming right out of the center of the top. I guess they DID makes some changes between the Red/Black version and the All Black version...

I used 1" bolts, top and bottom. With the stabilizer bars still in the wing and just crushed by the STA, the 1" bolts are perfect. I also used nylon locking nuts

I am really happy with that tank hanger strap. I had mine in the pool on Sat and Sun. I played with tank position on the rig and 1" of movement, up or down, made a very noticeable difference in my trim and how much sculling I had to do to stay horizontal, if any. I was also experimenting with 2 pairs of fins - 1 pair that is 1# negative and another pair that is neutral. Using the strap so that I get the tank height EXACTLY the same every time will be really nice. Especially since the tank straps have a little up/down play in the slots, so I can't rely on the position of the tank strap relative to the tank crown.

I normally use steel tanks. In my 5/4 wetsuit, I don't need any extra weight beyond just the plate itself, so I took my trim weight pouches off my tank straps. At least, in fresh water. If I ever get to dive in the ocean again, I'll probably need to put them back on.

 

[stuartv]

The one thing about your s/s plate, the top cam band will go through the wing and plate since they line up perfect, but the lower cam band you'll have to run under the rail bar. I didn't have a VDH wing handy when I designed the slot pattern on the first run that went out, and the lower slots on the stainless plates need to be 1" higher (or elongated up 1") to allow both cam bands to go through the plate.

That was my one main criticism of the VDH wing when I first saw it. The cam band slots on the VDH wing should be longer, so that it can mate up to the slots on a lot of different plates. The way the slots are done makes it not work with as many back plates as it could. From how the slots look in the pictures on the VDH website, it appears that that wing requires the BP to have cam band slots with a very specific distance, center to center. Which also means you can't slide the wing itself up or down very much on the BP to position it for optimal trim.

 

[stuartv]

@Satrekker

Is that 1" strap it is hanging from used for any other purpose?

It's 3/4" and available here:

McMaster-Carr

A 4' one is $3.55. Trim to length to suit. A 3' is probably plenty, but they're cheap and I wanted to be SURE it was long enough.

Having the strap to use to hang my rig on a tank while I'm doing up the tank straps is a LOT more convenient than trying to keep the BP positioned exactly right with one hand while buckling a tank strap with the other.

 

[stuartv]

I am anxiously awaiting the next run of Freedom Plates. Hopefully, I am high enough on the list to get one. It's hard not to go ahead and start collecting all the parts necessary to build a complete rig; but, I think that I will wait until the plate actually gets here. The comments already posted will certainly influence my purchasing decisions.

Although my kids and grandkids are welcome to help themselves to my gear whenever they need it, I am afraid that this new rig may be more popular that anything I own today and as such may be in such demand that I will need to replace the plates in the other rigs as well.

@Eric Sedletzky and I have been discussing whether a medium or a large plate would be best for me. I am 6'-0" tall with a 30" inseam - a medium plate seems right for me; however, all my kids and grandkids are 6'-3" to 6'-7" which would call for a large. Because all of my equipment will be passed down to them in the next few years anyway, I was thinking about just going ahead with the large plate. For those of you who already have your plates, can you comment on this decision?

I am 6' 1" with a 34" inseam. It sounds like you might have a little bit longer torso than I do. I got a Large. I would not want mine to be any smaller and I don't think I would mind at all if mine were 1" longer.

If I just position the plate on my back into the spot where it feels like it fully nestles into the curve of my spine the best, it positions the slots for the waist belt a bit above where my normal pants belt goes. I like my BCD waist belt to fit around me in the same spot where my normal pants belt goes, so the FP waist belt comes around my sides just a little bit higher than I might describe as perfect.

It is really great. But, like I said, I would not want it to be smaller.

 

[Bryan@Vintage Double Hose]

That was my one main criticism of the VDH wing when I first saw it. The cam band slots on the VDH wing should be longer, so that it can mate up to the slots on a lot of different plates. The way the slots are done makes it not work with as many back plates as it could. From how the slots look in the pictures on the VDH website, it appears that that wing requires the BP to have cam band slots with a very specific distance, center to center. Which also means you can't slide the wing itself up or down very much on the BP to position it for optimal trim.

The Argonaut wing was designed to work with the Argonaut plate.....Which it does perfectly. The fact that it works with the majority of the plates on the market is simply an added bonus. I was never trying to make an one size fits all nor am I going to modify the current design. The fact that Ed is going to make a slight alteration in the layout of his plate to work with the Argonaut wing speaks volume for it.

 

[rhwestfall]

As said before, the Argonaut Dive wing works with VDH Plate and OxyCheq "dogbone". I'm more than satisfied!

 

[rhwestfall]

BTW - these too provide an option:

YMMV

 

[Charles2]

I am 6' 1" with a 34" inseam. It sounds like you might have a little bit longer torso than I do. I got a Large. I would not want mine to be any smaller and I don't think I would mind at all if mine were 1" longer.

If I just position the plate on my back into the spot where it feels like it fully nestles into the curve of my spine the best, it positions the slots for the waist belt a bit above where my normal pants belt goes. I like my BCD waist belt to fit around me in the same spot where my normal pants belt goes, so the FP waist belt comes around my sides just a little bit higher than I might describe as perfect.

It is really great. But, like I said, I would not want it to be smaller.

Thanks, Stuart. That's exactly the type of fitting information that I was seeking.