Looking for BP/w (Single and later Doubles)

[Kitzy]

I am looking for BP/w as I want to switch over from Jacket

My kit is... Rather complicated (For what it is), I use a massive 41 ah 14.4 volt battery with has a canister light attached to it, alongside a voltage regulator that converts the 14.4 volt to 12 volt for my heating:
My kit is heavy, incredibly heavy... 52kg, with a 10l 300 bar (This is everything)

Part of the reason I want to eventually switch to doubles, in theory I should be able to get more air for minimal increase in weight (9.5kg as of current is lead, I dive dry)

As for what exactly I am looking for inside of a BP/w, something that could work with a single but also a double, something that would support such a large battery and the voltage regulator (Ideally being able to clip the battery on easily and being able to keep the voltage regulator on the BP/w).

My budget in theory is limitless, that being said I'm a sucker for value for money and much rather not spend 200 euro's for a 1% increase in comfort.

I am rather new to BP/w so my apologies if I left out vital information, always open to questions/suggestions and thanks in advance for such!

 

[Kitzy]

The freedom plate gives you increased flexibility to twist and move your arm/shoulders. That said, backplates can be swapped, just as you can swap wings, harnesses, and tank-mounts at will, so you could always swap to a freedom-plate much later. That said, I wouldn't worry about it now, and just get another backplate, and come back to this later.

I have some aluminum backplate, a steel backplate, and had a generic-$45-ebay-china backplate. They all seemed to work the same, with the only major difference being the weight. I probably got about 20 backplate dives in, during a 2-month period, before I went sidemount full time.

Nylon backplates are also a thing, but probably NOT what you're interested in. It's great with my sidemount rig, because it provides a little bit of rigidity, while still being flexible. That said, they're a little less useful with backmount, because you still have a rigid tank on your back that doesn't bend.

IMO, where things get more interesting with BP+W is not the backplate, but rather the harness or wing. For example, a large wing on a single tank sucks; it creates a lot of drag and is more difficult to dump air.

Harnesses can be rather customizable. I'd start with a one-piece webbing, and follow standard instructions (plenty of videos on youtube). From there you can start to customize. You can add extra d-rings, shoulder-pads, chest-straps and other things over time if you really want them and feel they benefit you.

There's just so many brands and different options i'm not really sure what would work best for me, that is the primary issue.

Especially given my battery / voltage regulator, rather not have those dangling about.

I understand the whole freedom thing but it'd be nice to have some pointers, hence asking here xP

 

[Marie13]

I don’t believe a Freedom plate works for doubles.

 

[sea_ledford]

Plates are plates. Aside from the freedom. If you have that much weight, get an aluminum one. Single piece harness, to which you can add as many d-rings as you need.

For the wing, a double duty single and doubles don't really work. It's not the lift amount, it's the width of the wing. If it's wide enough for doubles, it'll be too wide for a single and will cause air trapping.

I would recommend kitting your gear up as usual, put it all on a line and submerging it while using a luggage scale to figure out how negative it all really is. You need to know the buoyancy, not the dry weight. Get a wing with the appropriate lift from there. I suspect you won't have too many to choose from with appropriate lift.

 

[Kitzy]

Plates are plates. Aside from the freedom. If you have that much weight, get an aluminum one. Single piece harness, to which you can add as many d-rings as you need.

For the wing, a double duty single and doubles don't really work. It's not the lift amount, it's the width of the wing. If it's wide enough for doubles, it'll be too wide for a single and will cause air trapping.

I would recommend kitting your gear up as usual, put it all on a line and submerging it while using a luggage scale to figure out how negative it all really is. You need to know the buoyancy, not the dry weight. Get a wing with the appropriate lift from there. I suspect you won't have too many to choose from with appropriate lift.

I don't have access to a luggage scale nor would I really know how to do all of that, to be honest.

Could you give me some examples, maybe a youtube video of what exactly you mean/how to do this?

Well I much rather not have to buy another wing later on, is there truly no solution that works for both singles and doubles?

Like the XDeep NX Zen

 

[SlugLife]

Well I much rather not have to buy another wing later on, is there truly no solution that works for both singles and doubles?

Speaking from experience, using a doubles-wing on a singles tank for about 20 dives .... it technically works, but is rather frustrating.

• You'll get a fairly significant increase in drag, because your wing effectively turns into a small parachute.
• Getting good trim becomes annoying. Air gets trapped on the left-or-right side, and then refuses to go to the other side.
• Dumping air, when you're trying to descent from the surface is really annoying. Same when you're at your safety-stop.
• You'll find yourself wishing you had just bought a singles-wing, it's just a bad diving experience.

BP+W setups are designed to be reconfigured. Since you mentioned having an "unlimited" budget, why not buy two wings? Regardless, I highly recommend starting with a singles-wing. Your requirements for now are rather minimal, so this will make a good starter to get you going. "Donut" style wings generally allow the air to move around the tank a little easier, but horse-shoe is also fine.

When you start getting into technical-diving, you may find you have additional requirements you didn't anticipate, such as wanting a dual-bladder wing, multiple dump-valves and so-on. So if you're not diving doubles just yet, I'd put the doubles-wing on the backburner. After-all, when you go doubles you might be buying a lot of things including bands, manifolded valves, extra regulators, and so-on.

Well I much rather not have to buy another wing later on, is there truly no solution that works for both singles and doubles?

There technically is one, but it has loads of problems. Essentially, wrapping your doubles-wing in bungies. Problems include: it's time-consuming to setup or take-down, causes air-trapping, is hard to get "right", is never as good as a single-wing, presents entanglement-hazards, and may give your tech-diving instructor a heart-attack.

Here's mine, it's sandwiched between two backplates and bungies. However, imagine I wanted to switch to doubles, I'd have to take it all apart, and it was pretty time-consuming to setup and adjusted. The only reason I haven't bought a singles-wing, is because I dive sidemount and don't use my BP+W. However, I was really close to buying one.

 

[Kitzy]

Speaking from experience, using a doubles-wing on a singles tank for about 20 dives .... it technically works, but is rather frustrating.

• You'll get a fairly significant increase in drag, because your wing effectively turns into a small parachute.
• Getting good trim becomes annoying. Air gets trapped on the left-or-right side, and then refuses to go to the other side.
• Dumping air, when you're trying to descent from the surface is really annoying. Same when you're at your safety-stop.
• You'll find yourself wishing you had just bought a singles-wing, it's just a bad diving experience.

BP+W setups are designed to be reconfigured. Since you mentioned having an "unlimited" budget, why not buy two wings? Regardless, I highly recommend starting with a singles-wing. Your requirements for now are rather minimal, so this will make a good starter to get you going. "Donut" style wings generally allow the air to move around the tank a little easier, but horse-shoe is also fine.

When you start getting into technical-diving, you may find you have additional requirements you didn't anticipate, such as wanting a dual-bladder wing, multiple dump-valves and so-on. So if you're not diving doubles just yet, I'd put the doubles-wing on the backburner. After-all, when you go doubles you might be buying a lot of things including bands, manifolded valves, extra regulators, and so-on.


There technically is one, but it has loads of problems. Essentially, wrapping your doubles-wing in bungies. Problems include: it's time-consuming to setup or take-down, causes air-trapping, is hard to get "right", is never as good as a single-wing, presents entanglement-hazards, and may give your tech-diving instructor a heart-attack.

Here's mine, it's sandwiched between two backplates and bungies. However, imagine I wanted to switch to doubles, I'd have to take it all apart, and it was pretty time-consuming to setup and adjusted. The only reason I haven't bought a singles-wing, is because I dive sidemount and don't use my BP+W. However, I was really close to buying one.

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Alrighty, thanks.

In that case any advice on Bp/w's?

How do most people mount things such as batteries and voltage regulators ?

 

[Kitzy]

There was this youtube video of a person using a BP/w with Gralmarine, some kind of special harness that made it work.

But stupid me never saved it and I cannot find it.

 

[grantctobin]

The 40Ah can isn’t that big. Just slide it on the right side of a standard harness where a can light goes.

 

[Kitzy]

The 40Ah can isn’t that big. Just slide it on the right side of a standard harness where a can light goes.

A decent bit chunkier then 24 ah, where would the voltage regulator go at that point however ?

Still need to be able to access it, as well

 

[grantctobin]

A decent bit chunkier then 24 ah, where would the voltage regulator go at that point however ?

I have a 72cm waist and two 20Ah cans fit comfortably on the right side, each of which has a 7.5cm diameter. The regulator attaches to the top of the lid and then has an E/O on the end of it right? Battery, regulator, then into your suit. If it’s the correct length, it shouldn’t need to attach to anything. If it’s too long, tuck the excess into the waistband or bungee part of it to the can. Does this make sense?