Old style plastic back pack and wings?

[ozziworld]

Has anyone tried to use a wing on an old style plastic back pack from the horse collar days? I have one lying around and wanted to try putting a small travel wing on it. Might make a great travel BC because of light weight and compact size.

 

[vyvial]

I did with an old Dacor doubles setup but it didn't work out too great, better off getting the bp/w.

 

[diveandclimb]

You could try but I would sooner get a good deal on a used AL BP and a simple hog harness and use that.

 

[rodrico]

Actually I did exactly that way back in the early 80's when I was of modest means. Flipped the inflater hose around so it would go over my shoulder, added a couple of screws to keep the horse collar from twisting around on the back plate.

Combined with an AL 80 I found that it would tend to pitch me forward on the surface. A tank weight fixed that problem. A steel tank would probably have the same effect as a weight.

It was magical under water too. Close to zero drag. Hook it up and give it a try. Back plates and wings are an old idea.

 

[spectrum]

One sold on eBay last night. It was the classic plastic tank with a Dacor wing.

 

[covediver]

I used one in the early to late 1980s made by Seaquest. It worked very well. As I recall, it was held in place with velcro panels that threaded through slots in the plastic backplate and via the tank strap/tank.

 

[Gilldiver]

It works fine with doubles. I used a Dacor pack with a Diverite Clasic wing for many years. The bolts has to be longer to extend through the pack, but the set up is just about the same. You can cut in web slots into the wing center section to use the pack.

But for a travel wing for use in warm water with standard tanks (aluminum 80's), you can get a plastic Diverite or OMS plate and just use that. The weight of the regs, harness are enough to off set the tank boyancy as long as you only have a skin or thin wet suit on.

 

[herman]

Or just do what I do, dive the plate the way it was ment to be dove...no bladder. If you are weighted properly and are not using any wetsuit to speak of, it's fairly easy to dive with no bladder. I would not go bladderless on a offshore boat but for shore diving it's a great way to dive. I got a lot of strange looks and shook up a couple of young DM's on Bonaire this year diving that way.

 

[mrfixitchapman]

New style backplate and WING!

Couldn't resist.

DC

 

[jac11819]

I say try it and let us know what happened