Back plates for small people

[kevindwhite]

I am a small, 5'3", diver. I have an aluminum Hollis back plate which I like. I am looking to add a steel plate for cold weather diving. My only complaint with the Hollis aluminum plate is the size. As a diver of small stature the aluminum plate is really about 3 inches too long for me. The top of the plate sits right on the bottom of my shoulder blades even when the bottom of the plate is just below my waist. This position causes the plate to constantly bang and rub my shoulder blades. The sensation is not unlike that with a heavily loaded backpack riding too high on a downhill hike except that I can't do anything about it. This arrangement causes excessive role due to the gap created when I bring my shoulder blades in toward my body. I already have the harness cinched as tight as is comfortable. Any tighter and I would start to lose mobility or blood flow. The sensation is bearable on short, single tank, dives but not when I am diving multiple times in a day.

My question is, who makes a good quality small steel plate? I have seen that both Deep Sea Supply and Halcyon do make small plates but I have never had one of their plates to examine. Also, Halcyon wants crazy money for their plates. From the basic design, I suspect Hollis and Halcyon actually use the same supplier as well. The DSS plate is cheaper but doesn't strike me as of the same quality. The inclusion of the plastic protection around harness slots leads me to question of the quality of the cutting and milling on the DSS plate. I am headed to the channel islands in a couple of weeks on a 5-day live aboard and would love to have a new steel plate to play with.

 

[ligersandtions]

DSS makes a great small plate! I love mine....I especially love it for single tank diving (which is what I assume you will be doing given the number of logged dives).

I dive a short DSS plate with the bolt on weight plates, for about 10 pounds in just my plate. For drysuit diving, I add four pounds to a belt, so nothing excessive.

I rave about DSS single plates....for doubles, I think either H or DSS makes a fine plate.

 

[kevindwhite]

Definitely diving singles. I am strictly recreational. Thanks for your positive review of DSS. I wish any of the LDS in my area carried their stuff. It looks like Oxycheq makes a small steel as well. Dive Rite, which I love, makes a small aluminum but not a steel. I would kill and eat a manatee for a small steel Dive Rite plate.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

I have a DSS small-sized steel backplate. When I was looking at the photos on their website, I wasn't sure if the steel would be nicely finished (I had heard they were, but for some reason the photos didn't look that nice to me). I did go ahead and buy a DSS rig, and I can say that the steel is very nice, and nicely finished as well. I don't think the photos do them justice.

I have also used a Halcyon plate. Their small is slightly larger than the DSS small (14" vs. 13"). I'm 5'5", but short-waisted, and the DSS plate fits me well. I would not want it to be any smaller though for my size. The Halcyon also seemed to fit well too, but I did not dive it. I rented a "regular" sized Halcyon plate and found - as you did - that it was a bit tall for me. The shop had an aluminum small-sized plate for sale and that's the one I tried on (but only in the store). I would probably have bought it then, so that I could have used it during that trip, but I wanted a stainless plate.

The DSS plate has a slightly less deep center groove and the Halcyon a deeper one. The Halcyon plate has the flipped up bottom corners whereas the DSS one has more rounded corners.

 

[garyd54220]

My wife is 5'1" or so. Regular plate was very uncomfortable for her digging into her hip bones, especially when out of the water. Got her a DSS small and it fits much better. Well worth the added expense. You know how that goes....if momma ain't happy, nooobody's happy!


Gary

 

[kevindwhite]

I have also used a Halcyon plate. Their small is slightly larger than the DSS small (14" vs. 13").

Thank you for this valuable info. I did not check the size differences.

 

[TSandM]

Kevin, I read your description of what the plate is doing, and I'm confused. If the plate is too long, it shouldn't be sitting on the BOTTOM of your shoulder blades. It should be up too high on the back of your neck.

A properly adjusted plate rides about two finger-breadths below the big bony protrustion at the bottom of the neck (C7 spinous process). If you set the top of the plate there, where does the bottom end up? If it's below your waist, you need a shorter plate. If not, it's an adjustment issue.

If you could post some photographs of you in your plate alone, I think we could be of more assistance.

 

[kevindwhite]

Kevin, I read your description of what the plate is doing, and I'm confused. If the plate is too long, it shouldn't be sitting on the BOTTOM of your shoulder blades. It should be up too high on the back of your neck.

I understand your point. I just put the plate & harness back on in my normal configuration. The plate does extend almost to the bottom of my neck, at least without a tank yanking it around. The discomfort is coming from the fact that when I move my arms, my shoulder blades pop out from behind the plate and then have to pop back under. After a few days of diving my shoulder blades get sore from that popping in & out. Considering my arms arms are at my sides or hugging my chest for most dives that's not a lot of rubbing and it still hurts.

Maybe I need a pad or a wider plate? My chest is only 34" though. Hard to believe I need a wider plate.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

I wondered about that too, Lynne, but I was thinking that maybe by "shoulder blades" Kevin meant "imaginary line level with tops of shoulders" vs. what I think of as shoulder blades being the "wings" that are a bit below that and move when you move your arms forward and back (and really, I'm not sure those are the blades either!).

It seems like a lot depends on torso length, which isn't totally addressed if the sizes go by diver height.

(Oops, Kevin, I was typing my reply when you posted your last response. I guess I still can't totally visualize what you are saying. For example, my problem with a too-tall plate was that with the waist strap around my waist, the top of the plate was up higher than the tops of my shoulders, and that meant the shoulder straps were going down to my shoulders, and the resulting slack allowed the top of the plate to shift side to side quite a bit. Now with the small plate the top of the plate is below the tops of my shoulders and the shoulder straps actually go up and over my shoulders from the plate like they should.)

PS: I'm not sure how the widths of the DSS plates vary by size, but the Halcyon small is slightly narrower than their regular.

 

[TSandM]

Wow -- you've either got a very narrow plate, or you have a HUGE distance between your scapulae!

I still think photographs would help a lot.