bp/w question...

[Mverick]

Just wondering, Who else dives Backplate and wings on the board?

I use a couple different ones... But on singles its a Customized FredT Stainless. No STA. And a Halcyon Pioneer 27lb.

Dry or wetsuit...

Drysuit I use Faber HP100's with 4lb weight. Or Faber 108's with a 8lb weight. Or with the Faber LP121's I use around 14lbs of weight.

In 3mm wetsuit I usually use a AL80 and a 4lb weight. With same stainless plate.

Duals, OMS 55lb or Oxy 70lb. With Stainless plate on Dual 108's. Dual HP100's no weight and a FredT AL plate...

Just wondering. I was bored and nothing to read new on here...

[Captain Caveman]

i do.
OMS al/bp with Diverite Venture Wing with STD.

Henderson 7mm farmer john wet suite

Al/80 with 23lbs of weight

Apex ATX 50-legend octo with longhose


-----------------------------------
Soon

OMS 60lbs wind w/bands

OMS steel 130 doubles

Another ATX 50 for doubles

DUI Dry suit w/argon bottle

OMS light cannon

[nitroxbabe]

Captain Caveman needs a drysuit! 23 lbs! Yikes. That sounds like what I had when I first started out - a 7 mm farmer john. Man, did I grow to hate that thing. I felt like a stuffed sausage in it, got overheated really quickly, needed tons of weight, and the damn thing lost buoyancy massively when I went below 50'!!! I remember almost having an uncontrolled descent in Gilboa when I was a newbie, diving in that thing.

Basically, it sucked a lot.

Now I dive a BP/W - I actually started out with a Deep Outdoors harness system, but didn't like it much. So I cannibalized it for the BP, clips & buckles, bought some webbing, and now have just what I wanted.

What I've been diving lately is dual LP 85's. Works just groovy with my drysuit & thermals...only need a few extra lbs.

Caveman, buy a drysuit - it's worth every penny.

[Captain Caveman]

yep i hate the thing so thats why im getting my dry cet this month.
it take tomuch weight to get down and once your down you sink like a rock when it compersses.

[theskull]

For doubles -- DiveRite SS BP and Halcyon Wing, no additional weight. Drysuit, of course. Same setup for all tanks, Faber LP 95s, PST LP 104s, Faber LP 108s, PST LP 120s.

For single w/ drysuit -- DiveRite SS BP and DiveRite Rec Wing, 6 lb. weighted STA, and 6 lbs. in weight belt. Same for all tanks, Faber LP 95 or 108, PST LP 131.

For single w/ wetsuit (when it's just too darn warm for a drysuit) -- Seaquest Balance BC (rear inflate). No weight with steel tank; 4 lbs. in trim pockets with aluminum tank.

theskull

[reefraff]

For light singles, a monster FredT backplate and STA with a Halcyon Pioneer wing. I dive this dry and usually need a few extra pounds, mostly to trim things out.

For heavy singles or light doubles, a Halcyon SS backplate and Halcyon Explorer wing. I dive this dry and need a couple of pounds on the butt of the channel to trim out.

For heavy doubles, an OMS aluminum backplate and Halcyon Explorer wing. I dive this dry without any extra weight, though I have to be careful with the position of the bands on the tanks and the tanks on the backplate in order to trim out properly.

For the pool or on vacation, a ScubaPro X-Tek soft back and one of their Rec Wings. I usually dive this wet (or, in the pool, with just a suit and shirt) and need some weight for ballast.

[Captain Caveman]

o ya steve i got my weight pouches on. and i didnt hook them up the way diverite wants you to by the waist belt. when i did that it realy made it uncomfortable becaus eit was pulling mywaist belt out word and it would dig into my side.
so i put brass gromets in the weight pouches and sex-bolted them to the bp/ were i could trim it out. it makes carrying the 23-25lbs alot nicer till i get my steel doubles---realy soon--- cant wait. it will be after i get my dry suit
im going to get all OMS

[reefraff]

o ya steve i got my weight pouches on. and i didnt hook them up the way diverite wants you to by the waist belt. when i did that it realy made it uncomfortable becaus eit was pulling mywaist belt out word and it would dig into my side.
so i put brass gromets in the weight pouches and sex-bolted them to the bp/ were i could trim it out. it makes carrying the 23-25lbs alot nicer till i get my steel doubles---realy soon--- cant wait. it will be after i get my dry suit
im going to get all OMSWhen you're weighting, one of the things to consider is that you want both the rig and yourself to be as close to neutral as possible. Bolting weights (or weight pouches) to the backplate seems like a good idea until you have to lift that rig or, worse yet, until you have to separate yourself from your rig underwater. Sometimes this means you can't put much weight on the rig and have to carry it yourself. Weightbelts can be problematic (:D) and some folks have found that harness systems (http://www.dui-online.com/bc_wt.htm) are not only more secure but also easier on the hips and waist.

I'm not a fan of the OMS tanks - except as reserve bottles for argon and such. They're too heavy, balanced wrong and painted instead of galvanized which means they tend to rust. About all they have going for them is price and availability. Better to stick with PST or wait and see how people react to the new Worthington galvanized tanks.

Don't get married to any of the manufacturers. Most manufacturers do a decent job with their gear but I haven't found one that is always better - and that includes Halcyon. OMS is a decent company but their BWOD design is just plain silly, if not downright dangerous in some situations. In the long run you'll have fewer entries on your Wall of Shame(TM) if you study all the manufacturers and compare their offerings item by item.

[steve2281]

I'm not a fan of the OMS tanks -

Aren't they Faber's with a different paint job???

[reefraff]

Aren't they Faber's with a different paint job???Same tank, same paint job, same problems.

[theskull]

Same tank, same paint job, same problems.

My oldest and most beat-up set of doubles are the painted Fabers. No problems to date. They just keep going and going and going. Just passed yet another hydro. Bought them very used from my tech instructor, who used them all over the country and often loaned them out to students. Have survived many beatings and hundreds of overfills.

Also have some PST galvanized, and they're nice, too, but not worth a premium price difference.

theskull

[DeepDiverBob]

I have had my Faber 112's for almost 2 years now, no problems to date. (If I have something go wrong with them this weekend, I am going to be mad.) Seems like Faber is hard to find these days, so my 108's I dive in my double set up are Worthingtons.

I only dive a back plate with my doubles. All Custom Divers for me.

[reefraff]

You guys don't have problems with the Faber tanks being so negative, especially at the top, that you have problems with forward pitch? Especially on stops, when you aren't moving forward? Man, if I could have licked that problem, I'd own a bunch of those cylinders.

I doubled a set of their HP100's a few years ago and I tried, hard, to get trimmed out with them because they are definitely less expensive than the PST tanks. I fiddled with the bands, I fiddled with the bolt holes, I tried keel weights on the butt-end of the tanks and I just couldn't overcome the problem. Several other divers reported the same problem and I eventually gave up and scavenged them.

As traveling bank tanks, they've been great. I don't overfill them - much (heck, they're rated to 3500psi) and so far the paint hasn't cracked on them. I use them for argon refills and O2 top-offs, so there isn't a lot of expansion/contraction going on, either. Aside from some light rust stains under the boot and where the bands used to be, I haven't had any critical corrosion issues, but they don't get wet anymore and have never seen salt-water.

[DeepDiverBob]

If that was a problem for me, I learned to overcome it early in my diving. I have dove them since right after my OW class, so I dont have anything else to really compare them to. I dont think that is a problem for me though, because I have had to add 4 pounds trim weight to my BC anyway.(Although I am thinking about ditching that for a while just to see how I do.)

[theskull]

Trim has never been a problem for me. I do feel myself make small adjustments for different size and brand tanks in how I hold my body in terms of posture. But basically, the tanks are where the weight is and the wing is wrapped around the tanks. If you let this be slightly negatively buoyant and put just enough air in your drysuit for your body to be slightly positively buoyant, then you just float up against the tanks and guide them in the direction you want to go.

theskull

[StSomewhere]

I have a DSS single tank setup with steel plate, DSS's LCD 30 wing, STA-less. I've only ever used rental DR transplates so I don't have much to compare it against (backplate-wise), but I'm very happy with the DSS. Tobin has been a great help.

I got their custom 5 lb weight plates that attach to the outside of the plate, strictly for diving AL80s. Matches pretty close to diving HP100's or LP85's without the weight plates, which I like. Takes the adjustment factor out, and I like where it puts the weight.

Still struggling with the weightbelt thing, my old weightbelt was a zippered four compartment soft weight version, which honestly was a good transition from my weight integrated BC but has sucked for BP/W use since it puts the weight where I don't need it. I bought a pair of the XS-Scuba tankband pockets to use on the harness with the softweights but I'd grade those as a "C" at best. I have a set of the DR 16 weight pockets on the way from an SB member, I liked them with the Transplate rig, we'll see how they work with the hog harness...

[Mverick]

I'm not a fan of the OMS tanks - except as reserve bottles for argon and such. They're too heavy, balanced wrong and painted instead of galvanized which means they tend to rust. About all they have going for them is price and availability. Better to stick with PST or wait and see how people react to the new Worthington galvanized tanks.


I'm not sure, but I think the new OMS tanks are PST or Worthingtons... But not positive....

And, the OMS and Fabers are painted different also. OMS had another coating on it..

And, I've had my first 108's for around 8 years. No rust. Ever.. Never even had to touch them up. Used them for singles and duals... Never had to touch up any of my tanks finish and never had rust.

I had one set of Duals come with a little rust at the band mark. But, They were used. And they were PST galvanized... Inside was spotless... And it was just a little surface rust.... And it was on the galvinizing between the bands and the tank...

Faber hp100's. I can trim them out. I drop them WAY in the bands. They are also HEAVY... So, Some people have problems... Some people can't get them right for them. But, I like them. Only reason I'm using 108's now is I can STUFF them...

But, I also dive mostly Freshwater....

[Captain Caveman]

reefraf,, if you got any steel tanks laying around that you would like to sell let me. know i would happly buy one from you. just 1) for now because i would use the steel to take off some weights on my harness. i know carrying a steel tank isnt bad but im 23 and in good shape. a steel tank wouldnt be the problem.

[reefraff]

reefraf,, if you got any steel tanks laying around that you would like to sell let me. know i would happly buy one from you. just 1) for now because i would use the steel to take off some weights on my harness. i know carrying a steel tank isnt bad but im 23 and in good shape. a steel tank wouldnt be the problem.Paula would be ecstatic if I cleared some space but I don't have any that I'm looking to unload - even the Fabers are being put to good use.

[Captain Caveman]

no problem, when your ready let me know.

[CaptnDale]

Just wondering, Who else dives Backplate and wings on the board?..

I have several sets, but the kit I use most often is an OMS plate with a Dive Rite Classic wing. For relatively shallow dives I usually use double 72's with an 8# or 10# (depending on the thickness of my undergarment) V-weight. With low pressure Faber 95's I use the same weight. With low pressure PST 95's I don't need the V-weight.