New style backplate/harness demo in Socal

[Eric Sedletzky]

I normally post on scubaboard norcal since I am from Santa Rosa but since I am going to be doing many demos of my newly designed backplate in Southern California I figured this was a good board to post news on.

Let me explain.

I own a marine business up here in Santa Rosa and I have developed a completely newly styled stainless steel backplate. It is a very streamlined body molded design for single tank diving. I originally made one for myself for commercial work where I have to work in all kinds of wierd positions, scrubbing, cleaning, wrenching, using my upper body like you would top side doing hard work.
This lead to the realization that this piece of equipment would work perfect for recreational diving as well, especially lobster diving.
The design is very ergonomic allowing your arms and shoulder blades a full range of motion. The sides wrap around your body for lateral support and the overall look is very streamlined and minimalist. I now have 6 prototypes ready for people to test dive. They are set up with straight webbing, no plastic, and Oxycheq 30# signature wings. They also are set up with s/s cam buckles and the total weight of the rig is about 7 lbs.

I decided to produce and sell these rigs as a sideline to my normal work. Who knows, if people like them and they really take off it could turn into more than that.
I am going to do a hands on approach to the marketing and do dive demos to allow people to dive the rig and let them decide if they like it.

I have a demo booked for this Saturday at the Breakwater in Monterey, then I am planning the first of many Southern California trips on March 4th and 5th. The location of the first Socal demo has not been determined yet. Some on another board have mentioned Vet's Park in Redondo. I know nothing about Southern California so maybe some of you might have a suggestion.

In any event I think that divers who have gone to, or would like to go to the minimalist style of diving would really appreciate this product.

Thanks for reading

Eric Sedletzky
Pacific Coast Marine
Santa Rosa, Ca.


Bodega Bay, a quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

 

[Rickster]

For those of you interested, on Sat. March 4th, ZKY will be attending the our 1st Monthly Dive/picnic for the northern counties of the SoCal Board.

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=130182

 

[RICHinNC]

Looks like it would dig into you in places. Just an observation from the pic

 

[divad]

Looks like it would dig into you in places. Just an observation from the pic

You're not looking right.

 

[divad]

It looks great but it also looks specific to your body. How well does it fit different bodies? Fitting a lot of different bodies is one advantage of the existing un-broke
variety.

 

[radinator]

I'm noticing that the bottom of the tank is not near the plate. Seems like the bottom of the tank would stick up a bit when the diver is horizontal, and that it would wobble around.

Perhaps that not the case, I haven't dove it. I'm just looking from the pic (which may or may not be the actual item, but since I've met and talked to MaxB, I'll trust him on this.

Ray

 

[RICHinNC]

Maybe i was looking left....pls forgive me.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I will explain some of your concerns.

The reason the bottom of the tank is kicked away from the plate is so that the tank will have clearance for your butt. Otherwise what would happen is with the tank that close to your body you would get that "tied to a pole" feeling kind of like a splint. With the conventional style plate I found that the tank does not fit at the best angle according to the axis of your body.
Your back starting at your neck goes out to the peak of the shoulder blades then back in on the slope to the small of your back and then back out to your tail bone. The conventional plate sits right on the inward slope right below you shoulder blades so if the plate is flat and the tank is mounted flat on the plate what happens is that the tank will sit at an angle to your body with the top of the tank sticking pointing away and the bottom of the tank rubbing or resting on the top of your butt. With my plate, when a person is wearing it with a tank mounted on, you can see the tank is lined up with the axis of your body (the imaginary straight line drawn from the top of the head though the body to the bottom of the feet.

I was very careful do design this plate so there are no sharp edges anywhere. The top of the plate is slim enough that it allows the tank to rest right down between the shoulder blades allowing total freedom of movement. I came up with this design for my commercial work where I lay face up under a boat for hours sometimes and scrub using full overhead arm and body movement. A conventional plate would chafe the hell out of my back and shoulder blades with the amount of physical labor performed. I also have to do a lot of wrenching and swinging hammers doing prop work on the big trawlers which requires freedom of movement.
The sides of the plate where it curves around the body really holds the tank nice when you're sideways because the shape kind of grips your waist, and the reverse curve out at the bottom keeps the plate from cutting into your lower back.
Normally for underwater work I don't use it with a wing and sometimes just recreationally I dive it sans the wing, but most of the time I use the wing. Diving it without the wing is a trip because it's almost like you're freediving but on scuba. That's about as minimalist as you can get, and talk about some wierd looks! Your weighting has to be right on though to be able to do that and I don't recommend it.

All the outer edges of the plate are oval rounded on the face side (towards your back) and I give it the trademark mirror polish, and the backside I brush finish it and the edges get a radius curve. So there are no sharp edges anywhere that can cut anything. The little tank foot at the bottom is TIG welded on. The plate is 10GA. 304 stainless. A lot of the others use 316 because it has a higher nickel content but 304 is stronger and I haven't had a corrosion problem yet.

As far as the fixed shape, this plate can be adjusted to fit anybody by adjusting the curves at top and sides. I realize that people have many varying waist sizes and back curves so the ability for me to custom shape to somebody does exist. Just like a custom made wetsuit this piece of equipment becomes yours and yours alone but the difference is it never wears out.
I have found though that even with the preset shape I developed, it actually fits everyone that has tried it so far. The only thing I will do soon is come up with a smaller version for women and small guys. I had a small asian guy and his wife at the breakwater the other day that it did not fit.

The only thing I am asking from people is before they come to a final conclusion and make too many comments is to try the rig on a dive. I plan on doing as many free demos as it takes so people can have a chance to try it and give me feedback. Just keep an eye out on all the furums and I will also be booking presentations at dive club meetings. I will use all this information to further develop the product so it is the absolute best that it can be.
I also enjoy diving with new people and want to personally introduce the new product to my potential client base so if there are any questions I will be there to have the discussion rather than some dive shop employee that knows nothing about it.

Hope this answers some of your questions.

Eric Sedletzky

I also have some designs for cutting tools made out of 440 stainless that should be really cool.

 

[RICHinNC]

Going to be anywhere near Raleigh NC for a while?? Willing to mail one our direction for eval??