Time to convert - BP/W

[LavaSurfer]

Are you looking for a rig that can be used in a lot of different circumstances... sort of a one rig for all... or are you interested in dialing in a rig that is especially sweet for one particular type of diving? Do you dive different environments frequently or is most of your diving under similar conditions?

I would like something versatile. I would guess that 70-80% of my time would be spent with a single AL80 doing reef dives or wall dives with the wife. The time on these dives would be the NDL for the dives or until I run out of gas. She always lasts longer than I.

Cave diving or Cavern diving would be probably done without my wife and would be the other 20-30% of my time. More technical, duals with lots of gadgets i.e lights, reels etc…

Then there is the time that I want to spend on a wreck or wall and use doubles and potentially get into situations where I have to deal with DECO. Those are not in the near future (18 Months) but I want to move in that direction. Basically these dives would be in the ranges of AIR or EAN and not stepping into the world of trimix at all. Not yet anyway.

Where does a budget fit within your priorities? What is more important...the gear or the price tag?

Both!
I will confess that I got a little cheap on my first go round so I don’t want to short myself this time. I do not want to get soaked for a name brand that is not any better than some lesser name. Of course there are the considerations of maintenance and when it comes to Regs and such I want a common brand. I am happy with my regs I have currently.

BC’s on the other hand are not rocket science and BP/W seems to be even less complicated. I would rather get good equipment I can maintain and know my self rather than something complicated that I have to send off for repairs.

I am however willing to pay for what I get. I just want to make sure its worth the money.

Are you the kinda guy that likes to tinker and tweak with gear or would you prefer not to have to mess with stuff?

I love to tinker and mess with stuff. I have repair manuals coming for my regs. I know that might get some responses

Do you get a kick out of putting together something special or unique?

Yep, Big Time

From some of your previous posts it seems you mostly dive the western Caribbean...Coz, Roatan, etc... and that you use something like a polartec skin and 4 to 6 pounds of weight. Is that right?

Pretty much right on.
Polertec if any and I need 4 pounds if the tank is at 500 lbs.
That’s not to say I won’t need a 3-5 mil in some situations.
Diving in Kona or Keys in the winter, I might use a 3 mil over my polartec

What do you have in mind?

 

[LavaSurfer]

Take a look at the Deep Sea Supply setup. I got mine a couple of weeks ago and I love it.

Thats the direction I am leaning right now.

 

[PerroneFord]

Alright,

I highly recommend Tobin's stuff. So here's how I see it.

1. Alum. Backplate
2. Set of d-rings, bungee, etc with 2" harness (Hog rig)
3. Single Tank adapter
4. One 30# lift single wing
5. One 40-45# doubles wing

This setup will let you change from singles to doubles and back in about 3 minutes. It won't be too heavy, and will be dead simple to maintain. BP/W itens are commodities. The name on them means nearly nothing (edit: there are some diferences in the plates and Tobin's is one of the best). The only significant difference are in the wings which come in a few different styles. Hard to know what you'll like without diving them first. I was around a number of wings before I bought mine but that didn't help until I dove them. Doubles are the same. I've tried a few designs but you can really feel the differences.

You'll probably be able to shed your weightbelt even with singles...

 

[pants!]

Look,

I don't know why people make this out to be such a huge deal. A BP/W is just three pieces.

1. A plate
2. Some webbing and rings
3. A bladder.

DIY is pretty easy, but there is no big mystery to it. You need weight, get the steel plate. Don't need it, get the alum. Webbing, get 2" in whatever color you like. Bladder just count up how much lift you want and get a wing.

When you start throwing twin 95s or 104s around, then start worrying about all this other esoteric stuff. The BP/W is simplicity in itself. Damn hard to go too far wrong.

Single tank wing, 27-30 if you dive wet or warm water, 36 otherwise
Double tank wing, 40 if you dive wet or AL80s, 55-60 otherwise.

That'll put you solidly in the game. More experience guys feel free to chime in. This is what I've seen from my rather limited experieince.

1 backplate.
12' of webbing.
Crotch strap.
5 steel D-rings.
7 steel triglides.
1 wing.
1 STA.
2 cam straps.
2 bolts.
2 washers.
2 wing nuts.

That's not "three pieces." I admit it's not something very complicated, but there's more to it than 3 pieces and a "traditional" BC comes in just 1 piece.

Other BC's go something like "Buy the Avid." BP/wings go something like "Buy the Pioneer wing, in the 27lb size, or maybe you want the 30lb Eclipse. You can get away with the steel plate, the best place to get one is DSS. Then you can get the STA from Oxycheq. The steel hardware is at Reef Scuba, and you can get the bolts and so forth at Lowe's.. by the way, the size you want is 5/16" with a 1" or 1.5" bolt" if you want to do the DIY thing.

There is a lot of stuff out there to consider unless you want to buy a ready-made kit. It is complicated, particularly so for someone who has never even seen one in person before.

 

[dirthead]

I recently purchased a DSS single tank system with SS backplate and 30# wing and love it. In warm freshwater, wearing up to a 3mil fullsuit, I can dive carrying 2 lbs of additional weight. In cold freshwater wearing a 7mil suit, hood, booties, gloves, I carry 12 lbs. Like Tobin said, the thick neoprene suit will compress enough at 15 foot to allow an easy safety stop, even if you feel a little underweighted on the initial descent. I never would have believed it, but since I have experienced it, I can say it's true.

I have an aluminum plate, but can't seem to get trimmed nearly as well with it as I can with the SS plate. I seem to be a little foot heavy with the AL plate and can't get the weight distribution correct. The SS plate trims out very nicely and takes about 3 lbs off the weight requirements.

The DSS gear is very nice and well thought out. I really like the rubber inserts in the backplate to eliminate wear on the webbing. The DSS wing is very nice and rugged. I haven't used any other brands so can't really compare DSS and Everyone Else. I also can't imagine, if properly weighted, you needing more than a 30# wing for diving singles.

 

[Daylonious]

1 x Deepoutdoors Matrix Freedom BP/W (comes put together)
1 x single tank adapter
1 x single tank wing 35#
1 x doubles wing 55#

DONE!

deepoutdoors.com

D.

 

[Derek S]

For what it's worth, this is what I've got:

Halcyon Pioneer 45lb single tank wing
Weighted Halcyon single tank adapter
Halcyon Explorer 40lb double tank wing (AL80s)
Halcyon SS plate/harness
Halcyon 11lb V-weight

Very easy to switch between single tank and double tank and vice-versa. Just a few twists of some wingnuts and voila!

And I just picked up a Halcyon 40lb Evolve doubles setup w/ SS BP. Hope to get it wet this weekend.:14:

 

[Captain CaveMan]

If Im diving dry with an single al 80 and use 26 pounds of lead any recommondations on wing? Im looking at the halcyon pioneer. I am still a new diver and expect my weight requirements to go down a bit as I learn better buoyancy.

I dive dry with al80 or steel and i carry about 26lbs too.with a wet 7mm famer jon i carry aobut 22lbs. i had a diverite venture wing and at times with all of my gear the wing didnt have enough lift. i maxed it out realy qiuckly. so now im running a halcyon pionner wing with 45lbs and i love it.



as far as the harness goes the one pice is realy easy to don on and off.
i have a AL bp from OMS and its a great bp.
halcyon 45lbs wing
diverite intergrated weight pockets that I riged my self.( done realy nicely)
soon making a weight to bolt to my bp like tobins.

verysoon a double wing (halcyon or OMS's BWOD:11: )

 

[PerroneFord]

There is a lot of stuff out there to consider unless you want to buy a ready-made kit. It is complicated, particularly so for someone who has never even seen one in person before.

Note, this is why I suggested he PURCHASE ONE, for the first buy to see how it all fit together. Guess you missed that.

 

[radinator]

1 backplate.
12' of webbing.
Crotch strap.
5 steel D-rings.
7 steel triglides.
1 wing.
1 STA.
2 cam straps.
2 bolts.
2 washers.
2 wing nuts.

That's not "three pieces." I admit it's not something very complicated, but there's more to it than 3 pieces and a "traditional" BC comes in just 1 piece.

A lot of this list isn't necessary. I got the DSS single tank rig, and there is no STA, no wing nuts or washers, only a couple triglides (which hold the D-rings in place). It really is a nice system and I'm very happy with it.