Wear & Tear Of Bp/w

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

rb9228

Registered
Messages
35
Reaction score
8
Location
Okinawa
# of dives
200 - 499
Greetings all,

So I got myself a bp/w at the beginning of the year and put 24 dives on it to date. Not sure if this is normal, but have anyone experience this in such a short time? Is this normal? Looking forward to everyone's responses. Thanks in advance.

Frayed on right shoulder d-ring


Close up on right shoulder d-ring


Left shoulder strap


Underside of left shoulder strap
 
little light work with a dremel can knock down the sharp edges on the plate and minimize the chaffing. I find it a little odd that the tri-glides would chafe the strapping that much. I've got more dives that that on both my plates, and neither is chaffing that bad on the tri-glides. Are there any sharp, raised edges on the sliders?
 
it could be the slides are not fitted correctly. My DiveRite BPW has over 200 dives and still looks like new.
 
The HOG red webbing (although very cool) is quite soft in comparison to other "standard" webbing....
 
Are there any sharp, raised edges on the sliders?

looks like the d-ring is not completely straight/flat where its captive against the tri-glide, causing a strain on the outer edge. ditto for the inner shoulder strap, looks to be strain failure and not an abrasive failure. +1 for replacing it with a bit stiffer / strong webbing.
 
24 dives, not normal at all. For shoulder, maybe need some deburring in the plate edge, and get longer tubular sleeve to cover the contact to the top plate edge??

For dring, there is much load there, very abnormal to see this kind of wear with 24 dives.

Yes get some better webbing. I have success with DGX webbing, 5 year+, a few hundred dives, half with double, doesn't seem to have significant wear.
 
I've owned 5 bp&w... where I've noted the damage (on mine and others):

- Corrosion on an aluminium backplate where in contact with metal triglides.
- Fraying around the seams (especially the upper shoulders of the wing)... quite common.
- Fraying on the webbing where triglides fit (normally takes a long time, but depends on the webbing)
- Horseshoe bladder separated (tore) from the nylon inner-plate along one side.
- Glue/weld of the inner bladder failure.

1 - 4 were all on Halcyon bp&w..... but these underwent 000's or 0000's of dives before becoming significantly damaged. The glue/weld failure issue was a cheaper wing with a nylon inner bag.
 
Sharp edges on backplates are common, had them on my Halcyon. Someone here recommended a circular file used for sharpening chainsaw teeth. Just a few minutes dressing the sharp edges with that file was all it took. Webbing usually fails by getting too stiff with age rather than abrading.
 
I've always preferred the webbing sold by Halcyon.
 
Try rounding over the edges with a file. You can also put a piece of bicycle inner tube over the webbing in chafe prone areas. Fat tire bicycle inner tube works.
Or you can reverse thread the webbing through the top of the plate so it comes out the slot and over your shoulder instead of having to go over the top of the plate edge.
There is also a way to just run the top straps through the top slot doubled up with a keeper on the backside which will keep the strap securely locked in place and it won't pull through, but then you'll have a tail you'll need to secure with another keeper on the shoulder strap. Your webbing becomes two pieces (separate pieces on each side) instead of one continuous piece, it's very simple and it works very well.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom