backplate specs...

[Rich Keller]

Okay, now I'm curious Could you give us a rough sketch of what you had in mind here?

One thought that comes to mind is that if you're going to practically attach the plate to your tanks to keep it steady, you might as well just make a set of bands and attach a harness to the bands old-school style - therefore no need for the plate! (of course this assumes that you won't be using a wing)

That is exactly what I would do if I could find the bands but I have had no luck so far. The backplate would just have to be cut where the tanks came to rest nothing too hard except the ridge running down the middle of the backplate may be too high or too wide to allow the tanks to come to rest against the flat part of the plate. I am also considering custom making a spacer between the tanks and just attaching the harness and tanks to that. The manifold pictured is what I want to use with two of the three tanks from the triple 30 cu/ft set pictured. The tanks are 4.87" in diameter. I will then sell the triple manifold on Ebay and the remaining 30 locally.

 

[Rich Keller]

RichKeller, the soft plate would be something along the lines of a piece of thin plastic sheet, maybe a couple mm thick, wrapped in some fabric a-la transpac style rig. I haven't done that at this point as I like the weight of my steel plate. No weight belt is a wonderful thing.[/QUOTE]

Is the "soft plate" you are talking about a somewhat ridged piece of plastic? I looked it up on line and can not tell from what I am seeing. What I am used to is a Miller commercial diving harness, pictured. The plate part is a multi layered piece of rubber with fiber layers in it, kind of like a tire would have but no where near as ridged.

 

[fjpatrum]

RichKeller, the soft plate would be something along the lines of a piece of thin plastic sheet, maybe a couple mm thick, wrapped in some fabric a-la transpac style rig. I haven't done that at this point as I like the weight of my steel plate. No weight belt is a wonderful thing.

Is the "soft plate" you are talking about a somewhat ridged piece of plastic? I looked it up on line and can not tell from what I am seeing. What I am used to is a Miller commercial diving harness, pictured. The plate part is a multi layered piece of rubber with fiber layers in it, kind of like a tire would have but no where near as ridged.[/QUOTE]

The couple I have seen are somewhat rigid, but not hard. Flexible, semi-rigid plastic (I think) surrounded by material. It would be similar to the miller harness you showed in the picture, but I don't know exactly how they would differ. I haven't seen a soft late made with rubber but I'm a newb.