BP/Wing What will I need to buy?

[RiverRat]

If you haven't bought a BP/W yet, contact FredT on the board.
He builds custom BP's and provides a complete package as well as some spreadsheets to help you with your buoyancy/weighting calculations. If you have ANY questions at all Fred will answer them.

 

[oatmeal769]

My company makes harnesses and BP's, so we're obviously biased. Spring for the SS plate, the extra weight (5 or 6 LBS) is great. If you use one of our flat backplates, you don't need an adaptor, which gets the tank in closer. Also, the SS one will last forever.

If you want to go with something lightweight, I'd use ABS or Titanium. IMHO, Stay away from Aluminum, it really isn't much stronger than ABS for this application, and will corrode eventually.

As far as the harness and wings, No company makes a bad one, so you're pretty safe there. It's just a question of fit, durability, and features.

 

[OneBrightGator]

holy cow... titanium BP??? I think I'll PASS on that one!

First time around, here's my suggestions:

-SS plate
-Standard/Hogarth harness (most will come with what you need, but if not you'll need 12-15 ft of webbing, 2 serrated triglides, 5 slotted triglides, 3 flat D-rings, two bent D-rings for the harness and crotch strap)
-Wing, 30 pounds of lift should be good, look at the new DR Venture, Halcyon Eclipse and the Oxycheq wings, if you want more lift you could get a Halcyon Eclipse 40, Oxycheq 45 or DR Trek
-Single Tank Adapter, never liked the STA-less setup, but if you go that way you will need two cam straps instead

The SS plate should work fine for you in wamer water, but if you find a need for a lighter plate, Alum will work, but saltwater can screw it up, ABS is nice and light and you don't have to worry about saltwater then, and spring for a second harness, for 20-30 bucks it's not worth swaping them.

Ben