Weight distribution on soft Backplate wing

[xslim]

Hi guys,
I hope I am posting this question in the right forum.

I have a lot of experience diving in normal BCD jacket and some experience with Side mount diving and Tec-sidemount diving (4 cylinders), but I have very limited experience with BP/Wing BCD.

For my travels, I am buying a soft backplate with 10kg (22 lbs) wing for single cylinder diving.
I want to be able to do dives in both wet suit (warm waters) and dry suit (trilaminate, in warm and cold waters).

Could you please recommend ideas how to attach weight to my set-up? Here are some ideas I have:
- weight pockets on cam-bands around single cylinder
- weight pockets on my shoulder webbing (below D-rings?)
- weight belt

My personal details: Weight - 65 kg (145 lbs), height: 172 cm (5 feet and 8 inches)

For 3 mil full wet suit and jacket BCD I use 2-3 kg (6 lbs) lead
For neoprene dry suit in cold water I used 8 kg (17 lbs)

 

[RyanT]

For travel I use a SS backplate that weighs about 2.5 kg. With an aluminum 80 and a 3 mil suit, I only need 1 more kg or less of weight. I just put that in a pocket on my belt or on a cam band pocket. It works great.

 

[tbone1004]

i'd just get a steel plate. won't be that much heavier than the full size fabric rigs, and you won't need any lead when travel. For at home with the 12lbs you'll need, I'd just stick it on a belt. You're in a drysuit so you can counter trim with gas in your feet

 

[xslim]

I try to travel very light and also with soft back plate I can easier do sidemount - just use side mount wing, but thet is another discussion.

 

[tbone1004]

I try to travel very light and also with soft back plate I can easier do sidemount - just use side mount wing, but thet is another discussion.

I try to commit to one or the other prior to travelling. My single tank sidemount rig is obviously much easier to pack than my single tank backplate, but I tend to want to commit and would usually go single tank backmount

 

[Kharon]

I use a soft backpack and harness. I've tried several ways to attach weight and the best for me is to use two weight pockets on the harness at the shoulder and two weight pockets at the waist. That makes all of the weight ditchable and I can gear up and put the lead in at the last minute.

More important, it allows me to get my trim perfect. I'm finding that if I put an extra pound in the shoulder pouches it trims me out perfectly with no wetsuit (two 3# at shoulder and two 2# at waist). With enough neoprene for cold water, more weight goes in the waist pockets than at the shoulder.

 

[xslim]

I use a soft backpack and harness. I've tried several ways to attach weight and the best for me is to use two weight pockets on the harness at the shoulder and two weight pockets at the waist..

What kind of pockets are you using? I found there are a lot of options there.
Some look quite big and I don't know how would they attach on harness near shoulder.

Maybe you know the model / maker of the pockets or you have a photo how it looks like?

Thx!

 

[dmaziuk]

These are on your side of the pond: Techduikshop.nl but they don't show how they mount. I have the DGX ones: DGX Gears Trim Weight Pocket (each) bungeed to d-ring keepers on my shoulders.

 

[decompression]

Not sure if you picked your plate or not but this one I’ve been using for awhile now. It’s super light, comfortable, can use tank bands or STA. Best part is on the back it has webbing to add pockets which places the weight where a backplate would have it. I use it for back and Sidemount, cold and warm water.

UTD Soft Back Plate- Camo - New 2018 · UTD Scuba Diving

UTD 6lbs/3kg Quick Ditchable/Non Ditchable Weighting Pouch · UTD Scuba Diving

 

[MichaelMc]

+1 on DGX Gears trim weight pockets. They are nice and small. Good for small shoulder weight pockets. I have them just above the plate on my steel or aluminum back plate. If you wanted, you could partially replicate the Halcyon travel plate by sewing a few pockets to your soft plate between it and the wing.