Info Beginners Guide To BP/W

[RIHappyDiver]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. While divers familiar with bp/w state how simple they are, those of us not familiar with them (me) can find them a bit intimidating. This write up made it all more approachable.

Erik

 

[dmaziuk]

Note that single-tank wings and plates are usually mostly compatible. If the wing and/or plate does not have camband slots, you must use an STA. If they do have them, the slots may or may not match up -- unlike boltholes that are mostly standardized and some plates even have a slot.

I.e. don't "just mix and match", either spend more time researching or be prepared to DIY a little.

 

[johnelrick0897]

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 instead of the doubles. Or slots in the plate allow cam bands to pass through a singles wing and attach a tank directly.

Where did you get this webbing??

 

[MichaelMc]

Where did you get this webbing??

Piranha NITROX Green stiff. They have a few colors, in stiff and standard.
Shopping Categories Piranha Dive Shop |
I ordered their High Vis green as well last night, but I'm not sure of the difference.

Piranha does not have soft for crotch strap, but CaveAdventures has soft in black.
Cave Adventurers - Nylon Webbing - Marianna, Florida USA - Never Undersold!

 

[johnelrick0897]

Piranha NITROX Green stiff. They have a few colors, in stiff and standard.
Shopping Categories Piranha Dive Shop |
I ordered their High Vis green as well last night, but I'm not sure of the difference.

Piranha does not have soft for crotch strap, but CaveAdventures has soft in black.
Cave Adventurers - Nylon Webbing - Marianna, Florida USA - Never Undersold!

Thanks very much
Is it simple enough to web my own harness??

 

[swimlikethefish]

Hogarthian Harness Assembly Instructions | Dive Gear Express®

Step by step. There are also YouTube videos as well.

 

[Diver below 83]

Great info in here. Thanks for this.

 

[MichaelMc]

Adding to the basic BP/W info:
Some wings have bungee cords to reduce their size when all the lift isn't needed. A good description of issues is here:

Three kinds of bungee wings
Bondage wings like those from OMS. Keep the outsides tame, but tend to trap air and if you have the wing inflated to the point that it is pushing on the bungee, if a failure occurs it will squeeze gas out until the bungee is no longer under tension. Not ideal at all.
Modification on bondage wing like those from Dive Rite. These are more shaping bungees and do not restrict wing lift. Really not needed either, but much more easily removed.
Elastic bladder covers-not sure who is making them now, but Dive Rite used to with their travel wing and I have two of them. Same argument against them with the bondage wings, but less severe and don't trap gas.

So the positive is it allows an oversized wing to be less "big" when it's not full. A lot of guys in the 90's and early 00's were using 100lb lift wings from OMS and Dive Rite. No need to ever use them because you should never need that much lift for your rig. If you are picking something up, use a lift bag.
On the smaller wings, it was to improve streamlining and what not, but again, it largely has to do with using a larger wing than you need or to overcome a bad design.

See that thread or others for a little more discussion.
Another post describing shaping bungees vs 'bondage' wing: Help with Doubles

 

[T Mogle]

Thank you for putting this together.

As a new diver with plenty of question, I am about to create a shopping list or wishlist for my first set of diving gear. Got the basics but need to step up on the rest. I normally go for the top of the range (with everything I do), not without extensive research and interactions with professionals. Your write up is priceless. Thanks.

 

[purbeast]

This thread is great and now that I've been converted to BP/W I am doing tons of research on them.

I've noticed that there are various widths of wings. For instance the DGX S1 is very narrow but then some of their other/more expensive ones are a bit wider. What exactly is the difference in practical use of the thinner/wider ones?

I have a big upper body and my shoulders are broad and my back/chest are wide. Would one of these make a difference based on my build?

The BP/W I tried out for reference was the Scuba Pro X-Tek Donut wing as shown here:

Scubapro X-Tek Donut Wing Single Tank