BP/W and tanks for a very small woman

[NorthWoodsDiver]

I really liked making my own harness for each of the plates because I could put D-rings right where I wanted unlike conventional bc's and prerigged harnesses. If you order any backplate today you probably wont be disappointed and a single piece harness with soft webbing will be comfortable with only a t-shirt. If you get into diving doubles the harness will definitly be uncomfortable w/ only a t-shirt but if you are gonna dive doubles you will have a good heavy wetsuit or drysuit I bet.

If I was you I would listen to tobin and pick up the right size plate and just order some webbing and hardware from reefscuba.com (they are the best). Than get a weight belt, I found having the pockets on the already heavy stainless plate to be to much weight. I made a weight harness with some pockets like halcyon and golem sell and that is the most comfortable weight system I have encountered. If you only dive with the same exposure suit and the same single setup you might be able to get v-weights or another plate mounted weight that would work for ya.

I did hours of research before getting a plate and really they are all pretty close. just go get one from tobin and I know you will be happy. getting a good bladder is a different story, that takes some research.

 

[TSandM]

Honestly, if I remember the figures correctly, it's cheaper to buy the whole setup (plate, harness and wing) from Tobin, than it is to piecemeal it from a variety of sources. You still put the harness together yourself, so you can put all the D-rings and such precisely where they work best for you. But if you buy the webbing and hardware all separately, it adds up.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Honestly, if I remember the figures correctly, it's cheaper to buy the whole setup (plate, harness and wing) from Tobin, than it is to piecemeal it from a variety of sources. You still put the harness together yourself, so you can put all the D-rings and such precisely where they work best for you. But if you buy the webbing and hardware all separately, it adds up.

Our "complete rig" packages are very competitively priced, and the complete rigs are truly complete.

These kits include the cambands, all the harness pieces, LP hose, even knife and sheath. All you need to add is a tank, regulator, and diver.

All the parts are designed to work together.

Tobin

 

[lil' castaway]

Thank you all so much. This is giving me a lot to think about.

MaryAnn

 

[Silverlode]

I really liked making my own harness for each of the plates because I could put D-rings right where I wanted unlike conventional bc's and prerigged harnesses. If you order any backplate today you probably wont be disappointed and a single piece harness with soft webbing will be comfortable with only a t-shirt. If you get into diving doubles the harness will definitly be uncomfortable w/ only a t-shirt but if you are gonna dive doubles you will have a good heavy wetsuit or drysuit I bet.

Just wondering, are there any special properties in webbing for diving, or is a webbing a webbing? If I get webbing set, hog style it comes with 12' of webbing. I don't think i need that much being of small size. So would prefer to get my own, probably in Australia and save on some postage (weight) and maybe cost of webbing. I'm just curious if there are different grades of webbing. Found some nice soft webbing in our local adventure shop, but no one knows if they are suitable.

 

[TSandM]

There is different webbing. You don't want the really soft stuff, like seat belts are made of, because it twists and bunches and doesn't hold the D-rings in place well. But even the standard webbing comes in various thicknesses and stiffnesses. I really like the Halcyon webbing (although it annoys the daylights out of me to like ANYTHING Halcyon) because it's a little thinner and a little more flexible. But one of my buddies bought it and discarded it within a few weeks, because he said it was "weebly wobbly webbing". So there is a certain amount of personal preference possible.

The problem is that I don't know the specifications of the different webbing, in order to tell you what I do and don't like. And there's no guarantee at all you'd like the same thing.

But the very soft webbing really doesn't work. Except for crotch straps.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Just wondering, are there any special properties in webbing for diving, or is a webbing a webbing? If I get webbing set, hog style it comes with 12' of webbing. I don't think i need that much being of small size. So would prefer to get my own, probably in Australia and save on some postage (weight) and maybe cost of webbing. I'm just curious if there are different grades of webbing. Found some nice soft webbing in our local adventure shop, but no one knows if they are suitable.

You want to stick with resin reinforced webbing for the main harness, and a softer, non reinforced webbing for the crotch strap.

Different mills produce somewhat different webbing, i.e. not all resin reinforced webbing is the same. Ours is sort of a "medium" I've seen some that is really stiff, and some that is a lot softer. You can accelerate the "break in" of the webbing by running it through wash, but you probably don't need to.

Our kits have 12' of 2" resin reinforced, and that's enough for almost any body. Your correct that you will need less, maybe 7-8 ft. Webbing is inexpensive, and not very heavy, compared to a Backplate, and the rest of the kit. I doubt if you would save very much in postage.

I'll weigh a 12' piece today and let you know.

Tobin

 

[cool_hardware52]

I weighed a 12' piece of 2" resin reinforced webbing. Less than 11 ounces for the 12'

A complete rig is about 15 lbs, SS plate, wing, harness and cambands etc.

Even if you only shipped 6' of webbing you save only 5-6 ounces, not really significant out of 15 lbs.


Tobin

 

[Silverlode]

Thanks for the weight information Tobin.

 

[Walter]

MaryAnn,

If you are diving with no exposure suit, and using a HP80 you could be overweighted.

Depending on manufacturer HP 80's range from about -3 to about -7 lbs empty.

Add a regulator (~-2) and you might have as much as 9 lbs of ballast between your tank and reg. In just a swimsuit you should need much less.

Any BC needs to meet two criteria;

1) Have enough lift to float your rig a the surface without you in it, when it's at it's heaviest, i.e full tank

2) Have enough lift to compensate for the maximum change in buoyancy of your exposure suit. Obviously if diving "nekkid" you have no suit to compress.

Your current set up might be as much as -15 with a full tank, but that's should easily be within the capacity of virtually every bc made. It's pretty unusual to find a BC with less than about 25 lbs of lift. It concerns me that you mention your current bc provides inadequate lift.

If you wish to continue using your HP80 tanks I'd suggest a lightweight back plate. We offer hybrid kydex (polymer) and SS plate that are only very slightly negative. You should need a small wing. Our LCD 20 would be might first suggestion.

Better would be a less negative tank. For diving without exposure protection you may want to consider an AL80. These tanks are +4 lbs empty vs the -3 to -7 of the various HP80's. This will allow you avoid being overweighted.

Tobin

Mostly good info, but there are two points I'd like to make:

1. Recommending an AL 80 for someone 5 feet tall and 97 lbs is not very wise. Perhaps you missed her size?

2. You didn't answer her questions

Comfort is another issue - I live is SE Florida and do a lot of nekkid diving (not naked, but nekkid - meaning without a wetsuit) so I think the jacket style would be more comfortable. (I may be wrong since I've never tried a bp/w.) There are also some features that I would like - I want an intergrated weight system and pockets. I would also like a shoulder pull cord, if possible.