nitro-bubbles
New
Hi all,
First post from a casual lurker.
I'm a warm water vacation diver interested in getting a travel friendly BP/W. So far I've always rented BCDs at the destination. I have an idea for a different approach to a single tank travel plate and I'm looking for feedback.
It's based on the shoulder and lumbar plates of a side mount harness, but the lumbar plate is the width of back plate, and the upper cam band is attached to the spine webbing. So the lumbar plate provides sway stability for the tank (i.e. prevents it from rolling left to right across your back); it's only tall enough for the cam slots and the harness slots. Since the upper cam band is attached to the spine webbing just below the shoulder plate, this keeps the tank aligned vertically, and not tilting sideways like a metronome. Otherwise, it uses a Hogarthian harness.
This lumbar plate design is smaller than a soft plate so it fits into your luggage easily, and is also very light. Given its small size, it can be rigid and still packable, so may provide better stability than a soft plate (but I'm speculating here as I've never used one). I guess another way to describe this lumbar plate is like the bottom part of a dog bone plate.
One thing I wonder about is if a dive shop will have any qualms about taking me out with this unconventional setup.
Curious to hear your thoughts!
First post from a casual lurker.
I'm a warm water vacation diver interested in getting a travel friendly BP/W. So far I've always rented BCDs at the destination. I have an idea for a different approach to a single tank travel plate and I'm looking for feedback.
It's based on the shoulder and lumbar plates of a side mount harness, but the lumbar plate is the width of back plate, and the upper cam band is attached to the spine webbing. So the lumbar plate provides sway stability for the tank (i.e. prevents it from rolling left to right across your back); it's only tall enough for the cam slots and the harness slots. Since the upper cam band is attached to the spine webbing just below the shoulder plate, this keeps the tank aligned vertically, and not tilting sideways like a metronome. Otherwise, it uses a Hogarthian harness.
This lumbar plate design is smaller than a soft plate so it fits into your luggage easily, and is also very light. Given its small size, it can be rigid and still packable, so may provide better stability than a soft plate (but I'm speculating here as I've never used one). I guess another way to describe this lumbar plate is like the bottom part of a dog bone plate.
One thing I wonder about is if a dive shop will have any qualms about taking me out with this unconventional setup.
Curious to hear your thoughts!