Info Beginners Guide To BP/W

[swimlikethefish]

Intro to Backplates and Wings

This thread is to help beginners or those interested in backplates and wings (BP/W) understand the concept and design features. I will try to cover the majority of your questions in this guide. However, this guide is not fully inclusive and it is written to provide an entry level knowledge of their design and function.

There are four main components of a BP/W. They are the Plate, the Harness, the Wing, the Tank Attachment (STA or Bands). Below we will discuss each in detail. The BP/W is designed to be a modular unit. This means in most cases you may take any plate, attach the harness and wing of your choice, bolt it to a tank by whatever means you choose and go diving. In general you may source different parts of the system from different manufacturers to complete the unit. This is opposite of your standard BC that you would buy, which is sold as an entire unit, without the ability to modify parts of the system to your liking. In this guide I will attach photos, you will also see a few name brands mentioned. I am not affiliated with any manufacturer or facility. I will do my best to represent all designs equally and without bias.

The Backplate:

The backplate is the central component of the entire BP/W system. It is a formed piece of metal, plastic, or other material which has holes and slots placed equally around it. We will start with the holes/slots in the center of the plate. These holes are normally spaced 11” on center apart from each other. This facilitates the attachment of the tank which we will discuss later. Some plate designs have two equal distant holes, and some have a hole drilled at the top and a slot design at the bottom. Such as here:

Now the slots on the top center and bottom outside corners. These slots are designed so that the harness can be attached to the plate.

This slot which is sometimes narrower than those of the harness is for a Crotch Strap.

These slots are designed for the attachment of cambands.

The plate does not have to have all of these attachment points. You might find plates that do not have slots for cambands. That is okay. You might also find plates that have a bunch of holes drilled around the outside, these will be discussed later in this guide, they are more of a preference and serve no direct purpose to the original design.

 

[swimlikethefish]

Plate Material:

Plates can be made out of many different materials. Stainless Steel and Aluminum are the most prevalent. There are some made from kydex, carbon fiber, or plastic and cloth (soft plates). The material is up to you. It really comes down to weight. The SS plates are heavier than AL or Carbon Fiber. So if you are looking to carry less lead than a SS plate might be the way to go. The inverse is also possible, lets say you have a set of doubles and you want less weight, you might want a lighter plate such as AL or Carbon Fiber. If you travel a lot and want a plate that is lighter weight that can be rolled up and stuffed in your luggage you might go with a soft plate. The material, slot design, shape, and weight will be subjective to your needs as a diver.

Harness:

The harness is the next component in the system. Once you have picked which plate you would like, you need to somehow attach the plate to your body. This is where the harness comes in. Harnesses are generally made from 2“ webbing. Color is a matter of choice. There are companies that sell the webbing in many different colors. Most divers prefer to utilize one continuous piece of webbing. While others prefer to have multiple pieces that hook together with quick release fasteners, similar to the shoulder straps on a standard jacket style BC. There is no right or wrong choice, this is completely up to you.

On the harness most divers want some sort of attachment point to clip things. The standard method is to place D rings on to the harness. You can place as many or as few as you like. Some harnesses sold come with the D rings sewn on. If you choose a continuous piece of webbing you will have to attach them yourself. This is done with the use of “tri-glides or keepers”. These are rectangular pieces of metal with 2 slots cut out. They are threaded onto the harness and the D ring is placed between the tri-glide and webbing to prevent it from sliding. Tri-glides can also be used to prevent the webbing from moving through the plate. Such as where the arm webbing goes through the plate and becomes the waist strap. Guides are readily found with a quick youtube search on how to attach a harness to a plate.

The next part of the harness is the Crotch Strap. This is an integral part of the system. It prevents the plate from riding up over your head while diving. Although, not necessary (you can dive without one) it aides you in keeping proper trim and buoyancy while utilizing the BP/W system. Most crotch straps are made from a softer 1.5” webbing. It is attached to the backplate and goes between your legs, hooking on to the waist strap via loop in the other end. They are adjustable for varying heights and weights. You may also attach D rings to it for additional attachment options, or for use with an underwater scooter.

 

[swimlikethefish]

Wings:
The wing is the component which provides the lift necessary to maintain buoyancy. They come in ALL shapes and sizes. You first need to determine what size wing you need (i.e. how much lift). After you have determined the amount of lift you need you will want to determine the shape. They make single tank wings and double tank wings. Although they might have the same buoyancy they are drastically different designs. A single tank design is for use as stated, a Single Tank. While a double tank design is for, you guessed it double tanks. The wing may come in different shapes, such as a horseshoe or donut style. The horseshoe style does not allow air to migrate from one side to the other as easily as a donut design. This would be a problem if you were trying to utilize a pull dump on the left side of the wing and the air were trapped on the right side in a head down position. The donut wing will allow the air to migrate to the opposite side regardless of a head down or head up position.

Doubles wings are designed for use with twinset or double tanks. They are wider by design to allow the wing to inflate fully with dual tanks. They also can come with dual bladders on the inside. This would allow for redundancy in case you had an issue with the primary bladder. This feature is not prevalent on single tank wings.

STA:
The STA or SINGLE TANK ADAPTER allows you to attach a single tank to a plate that does not have built in cam band slots. It can also be used for “roll control” if you find your tank is not sufficiently stable when attached with just cam bands. There are single piece, dual piece, and weighted designs available from a multitude of manufacturers. They are bolted to the back of the plate through the 11” center mounting holes. Some have slots for cambands and others do not. Here are some examples:

Double Tanks:
The use of double tanks is also possible with a BP/W. The two tanks are held together with Stainless Steel Bands. These bands are clamped to the tank via threaded rod or bolt. They are spaced 11" on center apart from each other. This facilitates the use of a backplate and wing. It does not matter the size of the tank, as all bands are placed at an 11" center distance. The wing is then placed over the bolts and the backplate is then secured. All dual tank setups are able to utilize the same backplate. A STA is NOT utilized when dual tanks are bolted to a backplate.

 

[swimlikethefish]

Cam Bands:
Cam bands are used to attach the tank to the STA or backplate itself. There are two styles. The first is a large stainless or plastic buckle. The second is a ratchet style such as Scubapro uses. Both do the same thing. The ratchet style is easier to remove and replace a tank. Where the cam style must be slid over the top of the tank during attachment. They can be threaded through the plate and wing or just through a STA if utilized. Threading through the STA is most prevelent as you would not have to remove them when switching from single tank to doubles.

Accessories:

The great part about a BP/W system is the modularity. You can set it up any way you see fit using bits and pieces from one manufacturer or many different manufacturers. There are storage compartments and pouches that can me bolted to the plate via the additional holes on some plate designs. There are ditchable and non-ditchable weight pouches that can be placed where ever you see fit. There is padding for shoulder straps and the backplate. Some even have integrated storage for lift bags or SMB’s. The design is really limitless.

In Conclusion:

I hope this gave you a concise overview of the BP/W system. As you can see, it does not matter if you chose a backplate and wing from one of the big name dive manufacturers (Halcyon, Hollis, OMS) or from the small guys like (DSS, VDH, or the custom made Freedom Plate) they all work with the same basic concept. Buy the plate that works for you, pick your harness, choose your wing size, attach your tank and GO DIVING. You can find in depth tutorials on the web for how to attach individual components, I will leave an area here for editing in case people have feedback that can be added. I hope this thread is found useful by someone.

 

[swimlikethefish]

Edit: space

 

[MichaelMc]

The center portion of the backplate is designed for the standard 11" separation used for the bands holding doubles cylinders together, even small AL40s such as these.

Attachment bolts on the bands are used to hold a buoyancy compensating wing.

The plate has sets of holes 11" apart, or holes and a slot. Threaded into the plate is the webbing harness, to which needed gear is attached .

When diving a single tank, the plate's 11" holes can be used to attach a singles wing and a single tank adaptor instead of the doubles. Or slots in the plate allow cam bands to pass through a singles wing and attach a tank directly.

 

[swimlikethefish]

The center portion of the backplate is designed for the standard 11" separation used for the bands holding doubles cylinders together, even small AL40s such as these.

View attachment 508692

Attachment bolts on the bands are used to hold a buoyancy compensating wing.
View attachment 508694
The plate has sets of holes 11" apart, or holes and a slot. Threaded into the plate is the webbing harness, to which needed gear is attached .
View attachment 508696

When diving a single tank, the plate's 11" holes can be used to attach a singles wing and a single tank adaptor.

Feel free to incorporate this post into the above ones if desired, and then delete, or use better pictures.

Added. I was trying to keep it as basic as possible. But I do feel it helps with understanding the modularity. I can not remove posts. You would have to do that.

 

[In2theabyss]

Great info as this is my next move in equiptment. Thank you for sharing!

 

[divad]

Try to start with the least expensive, most minimal configuration you can..................
If you don't like it, you can always Funk-It-Up later by adding all sorts of DooDads and Gimmicks.....for a price...
(read: pact with Satan)

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Nice write up !