not clued in...

[mle_osu]

okay, so i am not up on everything, but I am about to buy a new BC and have picked out a back inflate BC....

what is the difference between a bp/w and back inflate... is there a difference?

 

[DivingCRNA]

Emily,

Read my thread on "Now you guys hooked me"

I AM going to do a backplate/harness/wing system. You can choose what you want and where. Leave off what you do not want.

Don

 

[diversteve]

okay, so i am not up on everything, but I am about to buy a new BC and have picked out a back inflate BC....

what is the difference between a bp/w and back inflate... is there a difference?

In simple terms, a bp/w is just that, a hard backplate, usually of stainless steel, hard plastic or aluminum, to which a wing is attached. They can be from the same or different manufacturers. Depending on the material/weight of the b/p it's also your weight or you can wear a supplemental weight belt. A bp/w setup is probably the optimum in streamlined setups and very customizable to individual diver requirements. Pretty much anything else you need is bolted to your backplate or carried elsewhere.

A B/C is more general purpose, one model fits all, generally has a soft tank mounting, usually some sort of jacket/cummerbund system and other creature comforts. It might also have weight-integrated features, then it's also your weight system. With some exceptions, generally most inflation systems on BC's aren't removable/interchangeable.

Although some mfr's do also sell hard backplates as options for their BC's, not sure what that setup would then be called.

Any of you bp/w or DIR people that want to correct this, feel free, this is based on a 10 min. salespitch overheard at my LDS.

 

[DiveMaven]

Here are a couple of the exceptions:

SeaQuest BC's have a hard plastic backplate tank holder, including their regular jacket style ones.

Also, Zeagle BC's have interchangeable parts and wings so you can mix and match how you like.