Brian Huff
Contributor
I'm a very new diver, only 3 weeks since OW certification, however, it's the 3rd attempt at certification in 40 years (long story) and I've been an avid reader of forums, watcher of videos, reader of books on diving.
I knew early on that I would go BP/W once I was certified but had some troubles really understanding how to configure it.
So I thought I would take a little time and write up my experience as a brand new diver going right to BP/W.
First, make sure to read "Beginners Guide to BP/W" by swimlikethefish:
Beginners Guide To BP/W
It's a very helpful review of the basics about the equipment and the options.
If you're getting into BP/W right away as an early diver, it most likely means, like me, you have a ton of enthusiasm and you might over-research things. I found YouTube and ScubaBoard to be really helpful, but they seemed to concentrate on a) equipment reviews and b) expert folks getting into BP/W or Tech.
Simply Scuba, Inner Space Explorers and Lake Hickory Scuba are fantastic YouTube sources so make sure you subscribe to their channels and watch everything you can.
After 3 weeks of videos, forum posts and reading reviews on Amazon, scuba.com, vintage double hose and divegearexpress.com here is what I ended up doing and how it went for me.
I settled on the basic entry level BP/W from Dive Gear Express:
DGX Custom - DGX Singles Harness / Backplate / Wing Package | Dive Gear Express®
I went with the Stainless Steel BP, no shoulder pads, and 2 trim weight pouches. The total was under $400 and DGX got it to me in 2 days.
During my OW certification classes, I, like many others, was over-weighted so the instructor could keep us all close by on a platform and not floating off on our own. I had 12lb of weight on a stab-jacket-BCD and sank like a rock. So I really had no idea what kind of weight I should go with.
You'll read forum posts about experienced divers using just the SS BP which weighs in around 6lbs as their only weight. I love that idea, but I figured my breathing control was NO WHERE near good enough to achieve that, so I purchased 6 lbs of weight to go in the trim pouches and figured I could grab more if needed when I did my first dive at the quarry.
So, on to the setup. This is an area that most folks get intimidated by when first looking into BP/W.
and for good reason.
If you're new to this, it sure can be confusing. OW Class teaches you to "just put it on and sink. hit the power inflator until you bob like a cork, then somehow find a middle ground... don't worry, you'll get it down kid".
Moving to a BP/W right after that and trying to get your weight down is a guessing game... we just don't have enough experience to know what we're talking about.
Some of you reading this might think "Right, go dive some before you try this out and gain some knowledge" and I can't argue with that. In fact, that's what I would tell most new divers as well, but some of us just wont listen and we really want to figure things out, so here I am.
If you're on this path, then be prepared to spend a bunch of extra time adjusting webbing and cam bands at home and at the dive site before you ever get in the water.
Take a friend who is patient and won't get upset by you taking and extra 20 or 30 minutes to figure things out while they stand around fully suited up and ready to go.
The first struggle once you receive whatever BP/W you go with is going to be getting the webbing done right. The instructions that come with your gear is going to suck. Most vendors seem to think if you're ordering a BP/W then you must be a tech diver and have been around other tech divers who have shown you their equipment so of course you already know how to setup your single 2" thick webbing.
Me, not so much, I'm totally new. I found the following videos helpful:
Simply Scuba - How to fi the Hollis Elite II harness
Inner Space Explorers (ISE) - Backplate:
Scuba Gear: How to assemble a deluxe harness: Dive Rite
how to lace a cam-band (I had to look this up and watch it while at the dive site):
and most helpful, ScubaToys - How to thread a backplate system:
The problem is, not one of these gets close enough to actually show you how to thread the retainer clips and d-rings nor the cam bans to hold on the tank
So I had to use them all to figure it all out.
Here's a quick album of my finished setup AFTER I did two dives with it.
Once I had it figured out, I was ready to spend a few days in my "scuba room" (my home office) donning and doffing the setup to get used to it.
The ISE video above is golden in helping you get things setup and learning how to get it on/off. I can NOT pronounce the guys name in the videos, but he is fantastic and produces really great, no nonsense videos.
After a week of practice in a room I was ready to get to the water with my BP/W after just picking up my SDI OW Certification card from my LDS (Local Dive Shop).
I went to the quarry, grabbed an AL80 tank, and went to the water.
First up, my cam band were no were near setup correctly (Edit: apparently they still aren't, read below). Expect to be stumped if you go with the DGX setup (no instructions... grrr) and watch the cam ban video above to get it right.
Make it tight around your tank. This will take some practice, you WILL make it too loose several times. Keep trying, watch the video a few times and get your buddy to help.
I started off with just the 6lb SS backplate and no extra weight.
Bad idea, I could not descend at all, just stayed on the surface.
I grabbed 8 lbs of weight from the quarry dive shop thinking I would need that much to get down and put them in the two trim pouches around the cam band. This basically meant I had 14lb of weight on me with the 6lb SS BP.
Yup, sank like a rock but that's OK. The 30# wing from DGX easily had me on the surface if I wanted to be.
The fit of the harness I actually got right from the start (Edit: I'm told my shoulder straps are too tight by several posters, so even when I thought I had it, I was still off). If you're just setting yours up, make it tight around the crotch strap, waist and shoulders. You might think it's really tight at your home, but once you get a tank on it and get it wet, it's going to shift, so cinch that fella up and make it tight all around. The webbing will expand some once wet for the first time.
The stability of the BP/W I'm told, is all in the hips. So the waist and the crotch strap are the import parts of the system. The shoulders really only "hold" weight when you're walking around on land before you get in the water. After that, it all floats up and off your shoulders a little bit and the weight transfers.
Once you're actually in the water a meter down, the BP/W really comes into its own. With 8lbs in the trim pouches and the 6lbs of the SS BP, I was able to hover with very little air in the wing.
I spent 51 minutes down on the first dive and then did the most important thing... I spent 5 minutes doing a safety stop around 10-15 ft with about 500 psi of air to check my buoyancy. THIS is the time you really want to check buoyancy, not at the start of the dive (remember, you're lighter at this point because gas has weight.)
I was able to hover with no problem. I then dumped all my air to see how fast I would sink... and I dropped like a rock again.
On my second dive, I went with 6lbs of weight on the trim pouches, so with the 6lbs of weight of the SS BP, I was now at 12lbs of weight.
Similar results, but I didn't sink as fast during my safety stop.
I was done for the day at this point, but my next test will be with 4 lbs in the trim pouches and I suspect I will still drop, but much less.
What this means is that 6lbs in the trim pouches will most likely be where I stay for 3 MM wet suit and warm water diving.
After two 50'ish minute dives I can say without a doubt that BP/W is the way for me... BUT it's going to be difficult to get it all adjusted. I was frustrated by how fast everyone else was setup and ready and I don't think I would take this rig out on a dive boat just yet as I would most likely piss everyone off with how long it took me to get setup (that's a guess, never been on a dive boat) so I'm going to keep practicing at the local quarry.
If you're like me and you want to jump right to the BP/W from OW, do so, but make sure you put in plenty of practice time because if you show up in a BP/W setup, people might expect you to know what you're doing.
Hope this helps some of the new folks to a BP/W. Don't take my advice as solid, I'm just starting out, but I'm having fun and think I'm on the right path.
I knew early on that I would go BP/W once I was certified but had some troubles really understanding how to configure it.
So I thought I would take a little time and write up my experience as a brand new diver going right to BP/W.
First, make sure to read "Beginners Guide to BP/W" by swimlikethefish:
Beginners Guide To BP/W
It's a very helpful review of the basics about the equipment and the options.
If you're getting into BP/W right away as an early diver, it most likely means, like me, you have a ton of enthusiasm and you might over-research things. I found YouTube and ScubaBoard to be really helpful, but they seemed to concentrate on a) equipment reviews and b) expert folks getting into BP/W or Tech.
Simply Scuba, Inner Space Explorers and Lake Hickory Scuba are fantastic YouTube sources so make sure you subscribe to their channels and watch everything you can.
After 3 weeks of videos, forum posts and reading reviews on Amazon, scuba.com, vintage double hose and divegearexpress.com here is what I ended up doing and how it went for me.
I settled on the basic entry level BP/W from Dive Gear Express:
DGX Custom - DGX Singles Harness / Backplate / Wing Package | Dive Gear Express®
I went with the Stainless Steel BP, no shoulder pads, and 2 trim weight pouches. The total was under $400 and DGX got it to me in 2 days.
During my OW certification classes, I, like many others, was over-weighted so the instructor could keep us all close by on a platform and not floating off on our own. I had 12lb of weight on a stab-jacket-BCD and sank like a rock. So I really had no idea what kind of weight I should go with.
You'll read forum posts about experienced divers using just the SS BP which weighs in around 6lbs as their only weight. I love that idea, but I figured my breathing control was NO WHERE near good enough to achieve that, so I purchased 6 lbs of weight to go in the trim pouches and figured I could grab more if needed when I did my first dive at the quarry.
So, on to the setup. This is an area that most folks get intimidated by when first looking into BP/W.
and for good reason.
If you're new to this, it sure can be confusing. OW Class teaches you to "just put it on and sink. hit the power inflator until you bob like a cork, then somehow find a middle ground... don't worry, you'll get it down kid".
Moving to a BP/W right after that and trying to get your weight down is a guessing game... we just don't have enough experience to know what we're talking about.
Some of you reading this might think "Right, go dive some before you try this out and gain some knowledge" and I can't argue with that. In fact, that's what I would tell most new divers as well, but some of us just wont listen and we really want to figure things out, so here I am.
If you're on this path, then be prepared to spend a bunch of extra time adjusting webbing and cam bands at home and at the dive site before you ever get in the water.
Take a friend who is patient and won't get upset by you taking and extra 20 or 30 minutes to figure things out while they stand around fully suited up and ready to go.
The first struggle once you receive whatever BP/W you go with is going to be getting the webbing done right. The instructions that come with your gear is going to suck. Most vendors seem to think if you're ordering a BP/W then you must be a tech diver and have been around other tech divers who have shown you their equipment so of course you already know how to setup your single 2" thick webbing.
Me, not so much, I'm totally new. I found the following videos helpful:
Simply Scuba - How to fi the Hollis Elite II harness
Inner Space Explorers (ISE) - Backplate:
Scuba Gear: How to assemble a deluxe harness: Dive Rite
how to lace a cam-band (I had to look this up and watch it while at the dive site):
and most helpful, ScubaToys - How to thread a backplate system:
The problem is, not one of these gets close enough to actually show you how to thread the retainer clips and d-rings nor the cam bans to hold on the tank
So I had to use them all to figure it all out.
Here's a quick album of my finished setup AFTER I did two dives with it.
Once I had it figured out, I was ready to spend a few days in my "scuba room" (my home office) donning and doffing the setup to get used to it.
The ISE video above is golden in helping you get things setup and learning how to get it on/off. I can NOT pronounce the guys name in the videos, but he is fantastic and produces really great, no nonsense videos.
After a week of practice in a room I was ready to get to the water with my BP/W after just picking up my SDI OW Certification card from my LDS (Local Dive Shop).
I went to the quarry, grabbed an AL80 tank, and went to the water.
First up, my cam band were no were near setup correctly (Edit: apparently they still aren't, read below). Expect to be stumped if you go with the DGX setup (no instructions... grrr) and watch the cam ban video above to get it right.
Make it tight around your tank. This will take some practice, you WILL make it too loose several times. Keep trying, watch the video a few times and get your buddy to help.
I started off with just the 6lb SS backplate and no extra weight.
Bad idea, I could not descend at all, just stayed on the surface.
I grabbed 8 lbs of weight from the quarry dive shop thinking I would need that much to get down and put them in the two trim pouches around the cam band. This basically meant I had 14lb of weight on me with the 6lb SS BP.
Yup, sank like a rock but that's OK. The 30# wing from DGX easily had me on the surface if I wanted to be.
The fit of the harness I actually got right from the start (Edit: I'm told my shoulder straps are too tight by several posters, so even when I thought I had it, I was still off). If you're just setting yours up, make it tight around the crotch strap, waist and shoulders. You might think it's really tight at your home, but once you get a tank on it and get it wet, it's going to shift, so cinch that fella up and make it tight all around. The webbing will expand some once wet for the first time.
The stability of the BP/W I'm told, is all in the hips. So the waist and the crotch strap are the import parts of the system. The shoulders really only "hold" weight when you're walking around on land before you get in the water. After that, it all floats up and off your shoulders a little bit and the weight transfers.
Once you're actually in the water a meter down, the BP/W really comes into its own. With 8lbs in the trim pouches and the 6lbs of the SS BP, I was able to hover with very little air in the wing.
I spent 51 minutes down on the first dive and then did the most important thing... I spent 5 minutes doing a safety stop around 10-15 ft with about 500 psi of air to check my buoyancy. THIS is the time you really want to check buoyancy, not at the start of the dive (remember, you're lighter at this point because gas has weight.)
I was able to hover with no problem. I then dumped all my air to see how fast I would sink... and I dropped like a rock again.
On my second dive, I went with 6lbs of weight on the trim pouches, so with the 6lbs of weight of the SS BP, I was now at 12lbs of weight.
Similar results, but I didn't sink as fast during my safety stop.
I was done for the day at this point, but my next test will be with 4 lbs in the trim pouches and I suspect I will still drop, but much less.
What this means is that 6lbs in the trim pouches will most likely be where I stay for 3 MM wet suit and warm water diving.
After two 50'ish minute dives I can say without a doubt that BP/W is the way for me... BUT it's going to be difficult to get it all adjusted. I was frustrated by how fast everyone else was setup and ready and I don't think I would take this rig out on a dive boat just yet as I would most likely piss everyone off with how long it took me to get setup (that's a guess, never been on a dive boat) so I'm going to keep practicing at the local quarry.
If you're like me and you want to jump right to the BP/W from OW, do so, but make sure you put in plenty of practice time because if you show up in a BP/W setup, people might expect you to know what you're doing.
Hope this helps some of the new folks to a BP/W. Don't take my advice as solid, I'm just starting out, but I'm having fun and think I'm on the right path.
