BC to BP/W conversion

[iceaxe]

Just now realizing that I probably should have gone this route in the first place... but I have a Zeagle brigade and I want to convert to a BP/W setup so I can get at least 50 or so dives on it before I take my diving to the next level. I have two main questions:

Should I take the wing off of my BC and throw it on a Zeagle backplate and keep my BC around for travel? The other question is whether or not I should get steel or aluminum. I wear 8 lbs. of lead with a 4mm wetsuit in salt water with al80 cylinder. I will be diving in the great lakes next summer though.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cool_hardware52]

I wear 8 lbs. of lead with a 4mm wetsuit in salt water with al80 cylinder. I will be diving in the great lakes next summer though.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

A few Points:

One of the key benefits of a BP&W is a streamlined, low drag configuration.

To achieve first determine how much wing lift you need. If your current wing is appropriate in terms of capacity and shape, then you may want to investigate how to adapt it to a plate. If not you may be better of with a different wing and or plate.

If you currently use 8 lbs of lead with a BC and AL80 then you could very well find that a SS plate is all the ballast you need. A typical SS plate and harness is about -6 lbs.

For warm water diving with 3mm suits and AL80's you can typically use very small wings, 17-20 lbs is common.

Your Great Lakes diving will require a different approach. Cold water means thick, buoyant exposure suits, and that will require more ballast and larger lift wings.

You can use a SS plate for either warm water with Al80's and Cold water, but the optimum wing for each circumstance will be different.

Tobin

 

[iceaxe]

My brigade has a 35 lb. lift horse shoe bladder. How much heavier is a ss BP/w setup on average compared to a BC like the Zeagle Brigade/Ranger. Traveling weight is a big concern for me because whenever I go to the tropics I always bring Kite boarding equipment with me too. Ideally I would like to have 1 plate that I could attach different wings as needed.

 

[cool_hardware52]

My brigade has a 35 lb. lift horse shoe bladder. How much heavier is a ss BP/w setup on average compared to a BC like the Zeagle Brigade/Ranger. Traveling weight is a big concern for me because whenever I go to the tropics I always bring Kite boarding equipment with me too. Ideally I would like to have 1 plate that I could attach different wings as needed.

Weight your BC, as I stated above a medium SS plate and harness is about 5.5-6 lbs.

Tobin