Finding my BC

[Aloha Joe]

Hi,
Another new guy here looking to get my first BC. I found this forum because I'm excited about diving but put off by the size/amount of gear I was seeing, so doing a search for "minimal scuba gear" brought me here to learn about BP/W.

I'm looking for something to use in SoCal (~7mm suit) and in the tropics. I believe I'll be carrying my BC on my back a fair amount out of the water - walking down the street to a popular dive spot, on the ferry to Catalina, and likely transporting my gear on a scooter/moped.

So my big question right now is about padding. I know many steer toward less padding and more simplicity, but I feel like an anatomical shoulder strap with lumbar and hip pads will serve me well - out of the water.

Diving in SoCal in a 7mm suit makes me think a SS BP is the right choice, but not all SS B/P brands offer padding or anatomical straps (DSS for one) and I don't know how well SS BPs play with soft harnesses like the Transpac. I'm open to back inflate BCs if I could get enough weight near the wing (weighted STA, e.g.)

I found the ISI Dolphin Tech rig online (also on one LDS website) but there's not much info about the brand. I feel like I should stick with "tried and true". The transpac is probably similar but seems like more material and maybe less sturdy since the webbing doesn't seem to interface with the optional steel BP?

Any thoughts on this? I have plenty of other questions but I figure I'll start by nailing down the general configuration and go from there.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Centrals]

Do you still need padding when wearing 7mm suit?
The single DGX package with SS plate and 25lb wing is a good start at $309.00. Alternatively, a used SS plate, DIY harness + whatever wing you fancy as long as it is compatible with your back plate with/out the use of STA + hard ware including cam bands.

 

[tbone1004]

essentially all backplates will accept the transplate if you feel you need it. If you are scootering without a tank though, you won't benefit from the padding at all. They don't weigh very much on land.

What I would do is buy the hog harness, if you decide that it is uncomfortable while you are zipping around, then spend the $80 at Northeast Scuba Supply and get a transplate.
Alternatively, you can spend like $10 and get the neoprene shoulder pads that a slew of mfg's offer

 

[cool_hardware52]

Hi,
Another new guy here looking to get my first BC. I found this forum because I'm excited about diving but put off by the size/amount of gear I was seeing, so doing a search for "minimal scuba gear" brought me here to learn about BP/W.

I'm looking for something to use in SoCal (~7mm suit) and in the tropics. I believe I'll be carrying my BC on my back a fair amount out of the water - walking down the street to a popular dive spot, on the ferry to Catalina, and likely transporting my gear on a scooter/moped.

So my big question right now is about padding. I know many steer toward less padding and more simplicity, but I feel like an anatomical shoulder strap with lumbar and hip pads will serve me well - out of the water.

Diving in SoCal in a 7mm suit makes me think a SS BP is the right choice, but not all SS B/P brands offer padding or anatomical straps (DSS for one) and I don't know how well SS BPs play with soft harnesses like the Transpac. I'm open to back inflate BCs if I could get enough weight near the wing (weighted STA, e.g.)

I found the ISI Dolphin Tech rig online (also on one LDS website) but there's not much info about the brand. I feel like I should stick with "tried and true". The transpac is probably similar but seems like more material and maybe less sturdy since the webbing doesn't seem to interface with the optional steel BP?

Any thoughts on this? I have plenty of other questions but I figure I'll start by nailing down the general configuration and go from there.

Thanks for your help!

It's a common prepurchase perception that a BP&W is going to need padding to be comfortable. The reality is they very seldom do.

In a 7mm suit with a 50-60 lbs singles rig you won't need any padding.

What I tell those considering a BP&W that think they need padded everything: Buy a youth wetsuit on ebay. They are available all the time for $10-15, kids grow quickly. Cut off the arms and legs. Now you have neoprene "tubes" you can use for shoulder pads. (Cut slits for the Drings)

Trace the plate on the torso and cut it out. Zip tie it to the plate.

That way when you cut all this crap off after 2-3 dives you are only out $10-15.....

BTW, do you really want to add inherently buoyancy to your nice negative BP&W so you can carry more lead?

Tobin

 

[Aloha Joe]

I guess I was thinking of rigging the rest of my gear to the backplate for transport. I like the idea of a pad used, if needed, that I can ditch before I dive. My plan is to start simple, I was just curious if there's anything different about the different plates that might affect what pads would fit or whatever, but a custom solution obviously fixed that.

What are some of the key functional differences between different backplates? I read that some are flatter and longer - is there any downside to that?

 

[cool_hardware52]

Most plate brands off a single size, and claim one size fits all. A few now offer a small plate, IMO a nod to the growing Asian market and divers of smaller stature.

DSS offers 5 sizes. If you provide you height I can make a recommendation.

DSS plates are also flatter than most, and have a shallower center channel. Plates were first developed to mount doubles, and the way a plate fits the diver when using doubles vs singles is a bit different. With most cylinders the lower corners of the plate don't contact a diver using doubles, the tanks hit the diver in the butt first. That makes steeply bent plates with near square corners OK for doubles, but often uncomfortable for use with single tanks. Many try to address this issue by adding addition bends at the corners to "tip" the corners away from the diver.

Deep center channels have no effect on fit and function when used with doubles, but result in the cylinder being spaced further away from the diver when using singles.

Most plates in use today were designed for doubles, and "adapted" for singles. The reality today is maybe one plate in 50 will ever be attached to a set of doubles, as BP&W's have become a very popular recreational single tank BC.

DSS plates were designed to be optimized for use with singles, while retaining the ability to be used with doubles. Flatter over all bend, large radius lower corners, shallow center channel etc. Combined with DSS wings the need for "adapters" (STA's) was eliminated.

So yes there are differences.

Tobin

 

[stuartv]

Since @Eric Sedletzky has now posted about it, I'll mention it here.

If you are willing to go with a back plate that is really intended just for single tank use*, and is the most "minimal" and comfortable around (as I understand it - I have not tried one yet, myself), consider the Freedom Contour back plate.

The new Freedom Contour - The Rolex of backplates.

I doubt you would ever feel like you needed padding. I have never felt any desire for padding on any of my BP/W rigs. But, part of the beauty of the BP/W config is that you can start with no padding and add it later, if you decide you want it.

* There is a rumor of some adaptation to be able to use the latest Freedom plate design for doubles, but I don't know if it can or not. Mine should be here later this week, with my Deep Sea Supply SS BP going up for sale shortly thereafter. I have a separate dedicated BP/W rig for diving doubles, so I'm not really concerned with whether the Freedom plate can be used with doubles or not.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Since @Eric Sedletzky has now posted about it, I'll mention it here.

If you are willing to go with a back plate that is really intended just for single tank use*, and is the most "minimal" and comfortable around (as I understand it - I have not tried one yet, myself), consider the Freedom Contour back plate.

The new Freedom Contour - The Rolex of backplates.

I doubt you would ever feel like you needed padding. I have never felt any desire for padding on any of my BP/W rigs. But, part of the beauty of the BP/W config is that you can start with no padding and add it later, if you decide you want it.

* There is a rumor of some adaptation to be able to use the latest Freedom plate design for doubles, but I don't know if it can or not. Mine should be here later this week, with my Deep Sea Supply SS BP going up for sale shortly thereafter. I have a separate dedicated BP/W rig for diving doubles, so I'm not really concerned with whether the Freedom plate can be used with doubles or not.

I have adapted a set of doubles onto a Freedom Plate in the past, but it was test only, never went into production. It required a set of complicated adapter brackets that had to be bolted on from inside since the plate is designed to be smooth on the outside. Doubles plates have a channel that the wing nuts or thumbwheels can sit in and not dig into your back. The Freedom Plate does not have a channel so I had to use carriage bolts with the domed head on the outside and everything had to be connected on the inside between the back of the plate and the tanks...throw the wing in there too. I realized that trying to get in between a set of doubles to tighten bolts with an end wrench or a socket on an extension with a swivel was fiddly and frustrating and way more than anybody would have time and patience to do, plus the cost factor, so I took the idea behind the barn and shot it.
I figured the current plates used for doubles suffice just fine, and anybody diving doubles probably has a dedicated set up already.

I'm afraid that this new removable bracket idea for singles might even be too much for some people, but we'll see. Maybe when the people who have ordered them get them they can chime in with their unbiased opinion on the newest design.

 

[Aloha Joe]

I had seen something like that and didn't know it was still available. I don't know that it makes the best "first rig" for me since I don't know much about my buoyancy or ballast needs. I imagine it's also out of my price range especially since I'd lose a package deal. But I would love something like that.

I'm leaning toward the DSS rig. One thing I learned is the plate may be too heavy for warm water - I wasn't expecting that, just figured I'd want a different wing. But it might be OK with an exposure suit, and I guess if I follow my dream of diving in next to nothing in Hawaii I can make some changes when the time comes (hopefully soon!)

I'm hoping to move to Hawaii but for now I live and will be diving in SoCal.

 

[stuartv]

I had seen something like that and didn't know it was still available. I don't know that it makes the best "first rig" for me since I don't know much about my buoyancy or ballast needs. I imagine it's also out of my price range especially since I'd lose a package deal. But I would love something like that.

I'm leaning toward the DSS rig. One thing I learned is the plate may be too heavy for warm water - I wasn't expecting that, just figured I'd want a different wing. But it might be OK with an exposure suit, and I guess if I follow my dream of diving in next to nothing in Hawaii I can make some changes when the time comes (hopefully soon!)

I'm hoping to move to Hawaii but for now I live and will be diving in SoCal.

Coupla things.

One, a SS BP is not "too heavy" for warm water. If your weighting is PERFECT with an aluminum plate and no additional ballast, then a SS plate will have you 3 or 4 pounds over weighted. And that is just not that big a deal, at all. 10 # over weighted? Sure, you want to address that. 4? Address it if you can. Otherwise, don't even sweat it.

Two, Hawaii water is not exactly tropical. You're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. You will very likely want a full wetsuit, and maybe even a 5mm or thicker. I dived Kona last year and most of the shop's DMs that I went out with were wearing a 5 or 7 mil. The shop I went out with in Maui gave 5 mils as their standard rental suit.

My very first rig was a SS BP and I have used it in Hawaii and Mexico (Cozumel area) and have never wished for a lighter rig (for single tank diving). I have a lighter rig that I only use for diving double steels in warm water.

If you are planning for diving in SoCal or Hawaii, I suspect you would be very happy with a SS BP.