Freedom Plate Divers Roll Call: show us your rig!

[rx7diver]

We are prepping and packing gear for another trip to Indonesia. Carryon weight is limited to a meager 15 pounds. ...

A 15 lb carry-on weight limit is crazy! You will be able to shave a couple pounds by replacing the inflator and octopus reg with an AIR 2-like device, and your SS Contour FP with an alum Contour FP, and eliminating the wedge altogether. (Good luck finding an alum Contour FP, though! An alum VDH vintage DH plate will work, too, instead. And others here sing the praises of plastic plates and fabric "travel" plates.)

rx7diver

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Get one of these:

 

[Soloist]

A 15 lb carry-on weight limit is crazy! You will be able to shave a couple pounds by replacing the inflator and octopus reg with an AIR 2-like device, and your SS Contour FP with an alum Contour FP, and eliminating the wedge altogether. (Good luck finding an alum Contour FP, though! An alum VDH vintage DH plate will work, too, instead. And others here sing the praises of plastic plates and fabric "travel" plates.)

rx7diver

Thanks for the thoughtful advice @rx7diver, but I SOLD my Aluminum Contour when I took ownership of the new Lightweight Stainless Contour from Eric five years ago. I tried the plates without the wedge, but after diving my Freedom plate for nearly 15 years I like the tank angled away from my backside. I have owned fabric and standard aluminum plates in the past, but the Freedom/Contour is the only plate I will dive now. If it means having to wear the same stinky travel clothes due to weight limitations it's a sacrifice I am willing to make...and a sacrifice the poor bastards sitting next to me will have to make. Cheers!

My wife packs her HEAVY stainless steel Freedom Plate and travel regs in her carryon. So she is even more hardcore about her gear than I am.

 

[Soloist]

Get one of these:
View attachment 886979

Piranha sells a couple of different versions of this plastic plate for around 15 bucks, but I have never pulled the trigger. One more thing to rig, store and maintain...who knows what UPS may deliver to my doorstep!

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Piranha sells a couple of different versions of this plastic plate for around 15 bucks, but I have never pulled the trigger. One more thing to rig, store and maintain.

These things are as free as sunshine around here.
I have a bunch of them. Nobody wants them because they are from a simpler time gone by and most people have no idea how to dive with one.
But with a little creativity they can be used today in modern times with a wing just like any other plate.

 

[-JD-]

Shave a few ounces further and use an old plastic weight\waist-belt buckle with the lever removed for your wedge.

ETA:

 

[RIHappyDiver]

These are what I was trained on. This, a weight belt and a snorkel vest. I’ve been tempted to try them again, but I think I’d rather have one of your plates. Just say’n.

Erik

 

[rx7diver]

These things are as free as sunshine around here.
I have a bunch of them. Nobody wants them because they are from a simpler time gone by and most people have no idea how to dive with one.
But with a little creativity they can be used today in modern times with a wing just like any other plate.

I used a U.S. Divers (or Dacor?) version when I was taking my university scuba course in 1986. I have friends who still dive similar here in MO lakes (sans BC) when they dive shallow.

I bought a SeaTec version for my daughters when they were preteens, to use in a backyard pool when I introduced them to scuba. Bought it at a local Play It Again Sports for $15 or $20.

Yep, these plastic, blow-molded backpacks still work. They always will!

rx7diver

 

[happy-diver]

I drove through an aluminium smelter on Tuesday, there had been much smelting

Plates
Under
Review
Pending
Stock

 

[Soloist]

I drove through an aluminium smelter on Tuesday, there had been much smelting

View attachment 887051

Plates
Under
Review
Pending
Stock

Do you see many Mack Truck road trains down there mate? I had the displeasure of working for Mack/Volvo Trucks as a mechanical engineer for a number of years and some of it involved the Australian market. Being strong armed and coerced into one BAD design after another was infuriating. BAD is an acronym for Boss Assisted Design. Much to my dismay these incompetent assholes had no interest in producing reliable and serviceable vehicles. It was strictly focused on covering their asses for their previous incessant disastrous decisions. It was "almost" as bad as working for Ford!

The dirt tarmac running across Australia is brutal. The washboard surface causes vibration fatigue and severe stress concentrations dramatically impacting the reliability of vehicles pulling those road trains. To make matters worse you have to worry about kamikaze kangaroos!

Apologies for the cathartic rant down BAD memory lane...G'day!