DIR- Generic Carbon plates and Al plates and trim

[LanceRiley]

Hi i dive wetsuit 3mil with stainless plate. Al80 doubles. With 4 lbs tail weight in tropical.

Sea


This setup is my most stable. And best trim. Made tech1 in 6d of class.

My bladder is pretty much inflated.


If i dive in an aluminum plate or carbon plate…. Will the tail weight also need to change? Considering i would lose 3 lbs in the backplate (al is 2lbs vs 5lbs stainless . All halcyon plate)?
3 lbs less for the whole rig would be a lot less stress on my knee

 

[inquis]

My bladder is pretty much inflated.

Depends on whether this is with nearly empty tanks or not.

 

[ginti]

My bladder is pretty much inflated.

Single bladder wing, right? Is it inflated during the whole dive - even at the end of your deco?

 

[LanceRiley]

Single bladder wing, right? Is it inflated during the whole dive - even at the end of your deco?

Not exactly fully inflated at the end. But i believe i could make it less inflated?

 

[ginti]

Not exactly fully inflated at the end. But i believe i could make it less inflated?

With all your tanks (almost) empty at 3m (and, if diving dry, with your dry-suit having only the gas needed for thermal comfort), your wing should be completely empty and you should be stable.

If there is gas inside your wing - you are carrying too much weight. Maybe you can use an alu plate without extra weight (or even a carbon).

What's your back-up for a wing catastrophic failure?

 

[rongoodman]

You’re going to be finishing the dive with your minimum gas in addition to whatever reserve deco gas you might have, so if your wing is completely empty upon surfacing you would be underweighted.

 

[Matan]

We always check weighting quantity and placement with near empty tanks - no point in guessing just check.

Since you're still using a tail weight I would recommend not buying another plate - but rather reduce that weight (also cheaper).

Matan.

 

[LanceRiley]

With all your tanks (almost) empty at 3m (and, if diving dry, with your dry-suit having only the gas needed for thermal comfort), your wing should be completely empty and you should be stable.

If there is gas inside your wing - you are carrying too much weight. Maybe you can use an alu plate without extra weight (or even a carbon).

What's your back-up for a wing catastrophic failure?

The tail weight is there for trim. Otherwise i flip over. My body is different i guess.

That was what i was thhinking. Use alum with trim weights… i make myself lighter .

Backup is smb or lift bag. Although… i just ordered my first drysuit… maybe arriving march end?

 

[LanceRiley]

Thats

We always check weighting quantity and placement with near empty tanks - no point in guessing just check.

Since you're still using a tail weight I would recommend not buying another plate - but rather reduce that weight (also cheaper).

Matan.

Thats just it. The tail weight is there for trim… not about sinking.

 

[DANDM]

It does sound like you are overweight. If you change from steel to Ali/carb plate, you will help reduce that excess weight. But your trim will also change a bit. Last year I changed from a steel to Ali plate because my trim was impacted by being very head heavy. The ali plate with a light tail weight helped me achieve a better trim.

You will simply have to reevaluate your trim and any weight placement again, but it shouldn't be hard!

There was a nice post not long ago about achieving neutral trim: Fixing diver trim and weight placement