BP/W Compatibility question

[Clammy]

Hi, does anyone know if most back plates and wings from various manufacturers (apeks, oms, halcyon, dive rite, etc) are compatible with each other? As in, could I buy an oms back plate and attach a halcyon wing or get an apeks harness and throw on oms stuff?

 

[Teamcasa]

Most are interchangeable.

 

[Gombessa]

For the most part, yes. Bolt spacing is pretty standard throughout the industry now (I think it's 11"?), so a bp and wing should fit on a given set of doubles or STA. And a harness is just a 2" webbing that will slot through any plate. But there's enough small variation where you might run into problems:

1. Some (older, usually) plates only have a 1" slot for a crotch strap (or no crotch strap slot), many harnesses use 2" crotch straps.

2. The geometry of the harness slots differ slightly, so a pre-rigged harness may have a grommet location that doesn't line up with the bolt hole on a given plate.

3. For single tank usage, some plates don't have cam band slots, and some wings have cam band slots that don't line up with the ones on the plate, meaning you have to use an STA.

4. Some accessories, like the H MC Pack, require holes on the edge of the plate, which some plates don't have, and others will have with different alignments.

5. I have no idea if there are any custom bits with non-hog "comfort harnesses" that some manufacturers make for their bp/w setups.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Hi, does anyone know if most back plates and wings from various manufacturers (apeks, oms, halcyon, dive rite, etc) are compatible with each other? As in, could I buy an oms back plate and attach a halcyon wing or get an apeks harness and throw on oms stuff?

It depends on what you want to do.

For doubles, virtually any wing and any plate will bolt right up. All you need is one pair of holes in the wing and plate at 11" centers. Almost all wings and plates have these features.

For singles, IF YOU WANT TO USE A STA, pretty much the same applies, all you need is one pair of holes in the wing and plate at 11" centers.

If you wish to avoid using a STA things more complicated. Not all wings have slots for the cambands. Not all plates have slots for the cambands.

Even if the slots are present there is no standard for the location of these slots, and some designs require that both the slots and the "holes" (see above) line up at the same time.

Many mix and match combo's will work, some will sorta work, and some won't work very well.

If you want to direct mount a single tank, i.e. no STA, I recommend sourcing your plate and wing from the same maker.

Tobin

 

[Clammy]

Thanks! I'm not looking to get super complicated with the setup so outside of an STA doesn't sound like it'll be a problem!

 

[bryanmc57]

Being how Tobin is pretty much local to you you might want to look into the Deep Sea Supply gear. Great gear, great price and the ultimate in support.

 

[cavediver08]

Majority of your brands are going to be interchangeable... As said above, cam bands slot might not be correct for single tanks. But other than that, your grommets for your bolts on doubles should line up =)