Proposed bp/w set up - comments please

[Goingforsound]

View attachment 546052 Stainless plate here too

Why get a ss plate with so many cutouts? Are you not loosing the weight advantage?

 

[Diver below 83]

Why get a ss plate with so many cutouts? Are you not loosing the weight advantage?

honestly I got it locally from a fellow diver new for $70. For a dive rite that price was too good to pass up. Since I do pretty much exclusively warm water diving I can get away with that plate.

 

[llyamah]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I've been away so I am playing catch up.

 

[Fastmarc]

B. I am wondering whether, instead of all of this effort, I should just go down the xdeep ghost route. It would be a lot lighter. Thoughts welcome on that!

You've got a lot of suggestions which I'm sure will help point you in the right direction. I have the Ghost and would recommend it based on my experience with it so far. I'm very pleased with it. Very light. Very comfortable. I dive tropical, got the intergrated weight pouch and use 2 lbs in each.

 

[jball]

OK - resurrecting this as I didn't see any responses to the OP's question about using Apeks Grip Lock Cam Bands. I'm in the process of making the switch from jacket to bp/w and like the functionality of the Apeks Grip Lock Cam Bands, but am not sure if they are a good fit for a bp/w setup. It seems bp/w setups assume two tank bands to hold everything together. Is that necessary, or would a single Apeks Grip Lock Cam Band be sufficient?

 

[Zef]

OK - resurrecting this as I didn't see any responses to the OP's question about using Apeks Grip Lock Cam Bands. I'm in the process of making the switch from jacket to bp/w and like the functionality of the Apeks Grip Lock Cam Bands, but am not sure if they are a good fit for a bp/w setup. It seems bp/w setups assume two tank bands to hold everything together. Is that necessary, or would a single Apeks Grip Lock Cam Band be sufficient?

With any single tank setup a single tank strap be it a conventional cam strap or a grip lock strap would be sufficient....if correctly utilized.

The double cam strap is recommended as it adds security. There was a post a while back that discussed some tests that wre conducted that found/confirmed that even with both straps loose, the use of 2 straps makes it highly unlikely the tanks will slip away from the plate/BC.

I recently purchased a pair of grip lock straps, new in packaging, I already had a different type of quick release/quick connect type bands and did not like them on my rig....I only got the grip lock ones because of the price, 15 euros each, that was less than I could buy conventional tank cam straps for.

The griplock straps sell for about 50 euros retail where I live...they cost more in the states from my understanding. I would avoid the expense and just get a pair of normal cam straps...if you are hell bent on having griplock straps then my recommendation would be to get only one and mount it on the lower slots of your plate, and put a conventional cam strap on the upper slots.

-Z

 

[Vitesse2l]

I have griplocks on my bp/w setup.

I like them but got them second hand. Full price is scary.

 

[jball]

Thanks - so it does sound like I'll need two straps. Not just for safety, but because a bp/w is designed in a way that you need two straps to secure the setup due to the location of the slots in the plate. My jacket bcd only has a single strap, but it's located in the vertical center, so holds the tank fine. I agree the full price of the Grip Locks is steep ($45 each in the US) compared to the cost of conventional straps, but in the grand scheme of what I spend on diving, it's a blip.