Freedom Plate Divers Roll Call: show us your rig!

[Soloist]

Thanks for posting. What's the total weight of the rig, and do you miss having a wedge?

Actually I’m using the wedge I cobbed up for my aluminum Contour plate (see post #220 in the link). This is a large plate made from 14 gauge material, so it weighs a little over two pounds. The total weight of the rig varies depending on my objectives and how much crap is attached.

Freedom Plate Divers Roll Call: show us your rig!

 

[txgoose]

I'll make my contribution.
I have two SS FPs. One for my self, one for my youngest. Mine is running the 20lb Deep 6 wing. His is running the 18lb VDH wing. Both have an Apex harness kit and Highland Scuba cam bands.

I don't feel like I have the patience or skills to deal with my plate, wing, and/or tank moving around during setup so I wanted to bolt our wings onto the plates. This is the only modifications I made to the "system." When I used the bolts supplied by Eric, tightened down, the bolt protruded well through the nut and the nut sank pretty far into the grommet of the wings. I didn't like the idea of the bolt digging into a tank side or the nut corners wearing on the grommet. I bought some sex bolts. Except that when they were tightened down the wing wasn't held tight. The shoulder of the sex bolt "nut" hit the plate before the wing was held tight. Which is not an issue by itself, except that it was going to hold the tanks out away from the wings' roll control as well as all of the pressure from the cam straps would have been on the sex bolt nut. (As an aside, is there a name for the female side of a sex bolt?)

So what is an OCD-ish person to do? I cut down the original bolts and I cut down the sex bolt nuts (SBN). This enabled me to get the wing mounted tight and have the SBN not intrude into the space of the roll control of the wings. I used the original nuts as a guide to cut off the original bolts. That is the depth of the threading left after I cut the bolts. For the SBN's I simply kept trimming one down with a dremel tool and testing the fit. After I got it where I wanted it, then I made the others to match.

The Deep 6 wing has velcro holding the roll control in place. Its SBN doesn't hit the tank. On the VDH wing, the SBN does touch the tank side but it is low enough that the roll control can still engage the tank sides.

We got to dive the plates yesterday for two short dives. The plates were definitely comfortable. As BPW newbies, we both have some adjustments to make with our gear. Figuring out what we want and where. It was a fun morning if not a bit chilly.

 

[Chanly83]

Sold my aluminum plate and just rigged my stainless Freedom Plate. I think it’s a thing of beauty!

Eric crafts one hell of a piece of art!

 

[stuartv]

I'll make my contribution.
I have two SS FPs. One for my self, one for my youngest. Mine is running the 20lb Deep 6 wing. His is running the 18lb VDH wing. Both have an Apex harness kit and Highland Scuba cam bands.

I don't feel like I have the patience or skills to deal with my plate, wing, and/or tank moving around during setup so I wanted to bolt our wings onto the plates. This is the only modifications I made to the "system." When I used the bolts supplied by Eric, tightened down, the bolt protruded well through the nut and the nut sank pretty far into the grommet of the wings. I didn't like the idea of the bolt digging into a tank side or the nut corners wearing on the grommet. I bought some sex bolts. Except that when they were tightened down the wing wasn't held tight. The shoulder of the sex bolt "nut" hit the plate before the wing was held tight. Which is not an issue by itself, except that it was going to hold the tanks out away from the wings' roll control as well as all of the pressure from the cam straps would have been on the sex bolt nut. (As an aside, is there a name for the female side of a sex bolt?)

So what is an OCD-ish person to do? I cut down the original bolts and I cut down the sex bolt nuts (SBN). This enabled me to get the wing mounted tight and have the SBN not intrude into the space of the roll control of the wings. I used the original nuts as a guide to cut off the original bolts. That is the depth of the threading left after I cut the bolts. For the SBN's I simply kept trimming one down with a dremel tool and testing the fit. After I got it where I wanted it, then I made the others to match.
View attachment 569739View attachment 569740
The Deep 6 wing has velcro holding the roll control in place. Its SBN doesn't hit the tank. On the VDH wing, the SBN does touch the tank side but it is low enough that the roll control can still engage the tank sides.

We got to dive the plates yesterday for two short dives. The plates were definitely comfortable. As BPW newbies, we both have some adjustments to make with our gear. Figuring out what we want and where. It was a fun morning if not a bit chilly.

View attachment 569741 View attachment 569742 View attachment 569757View attachment 569745 View attachment 569744 View attachment 569752

I used the plastic sex bolts from DGX to hold my wing to my FP. Haven’t come loose yet. Won’t scratch or damage anything.

 

[BalekFekete]

Having received #534 in the mail yesterday (truly a work of art @Eric Sedletzky just as everyone has said), next step is finding where to buy the harness/cam bands/weight pockets. When running a SP Knighthawk in the Caribbean and a 3mm full suit, my last weight usage was 16#, but know that number drops significantly with the weight of the BP and wedge and loss of the larger BCD boyancy. That said, still thinking that the option of some trim weights is a good idea, and I'd like ditchables on the waist webbing as I'm not a fan of a weight belt - but the more I read that is something I may want to reconsider?

Being wholly new to the BP/W idea, I'm interested in the recommenations from those here who are running the setup. Doesn't have to be #DIR necessarily, but light, streamlined, and moderately priced are positive factors. Thanks in advance!

 

[dmaziuk]

I don't need more than fits into a couple of DGX pouches and am not too concerned with ditchable simply because that amount won't make much difference. If you end up with e.g. 10 pounds, it could all go on the cambands, but the placement may be suboptimal.

 

[lexvil]

Piranha is a good place to get the webbing and hardware. Do you only dive warm water? Weight pockets on the cam band will probably carry all the weight you need, guessing 6 to 10 lb, for warm water less if you switch to a dive skin. If you want some ditch-able (not easy with so little) you can add some standard weight pockets and put them on upside down, or just tie a line to the weights.

You’ll likely find trim more important than anything so the biggest advantage to camband pouches and a few waist belt ones is the ability to move them around.

 

[drk5036]

I used the plastic sex bolts from DGX to hold my wing to my FP. Haven’t come loose yet. Won’t scratch or damage anything.

I also use the plastic sex bolts from DGX without problem.

 

[-JD-]

Thanks for posting. What's the total weight of the rig, and do you miss having a wedge?

Actually I’m using the wedge I cobbed up for my aluminum Contour plate (see post #220 in the link). This is a large plate made from 14 gauge material, so it weighs a little over two pounds. The total weight of the rig varies depending on my objectives and how much crap is attached.

Freedom Plate Divers Roll Call: show us your rig!

I'll have to get pics up later, but for a wedge, I'm using an old, plastic weight belt buckle with the clamp-lever removed and a hole drilled for the mounting bolt toward the thinner end. It sits between the plate and the wing on mine. I'm using SS weld-nuts (basically t-nuts without the spikes) with the carriage bolts and everything is held tight and sits down pretty close to flush with the wing grommet.

"Free" and retrofitable to pretty much any FP with a lower mounting hole.

 

[BalekFekete]

All pieces in finally and assembled. Still need to do some tweaking for sure, and then get it in the pool (hopefully - covid-19 likely has those options limited right now ) but can't wait to really dive it come May in Jamaica!