Stainless backplate for tropical diving

[Badger7]

I think the whole‘taco effect’ comments on 30lb wings is over exaggerated.
Mares and DGX wings are good examples of 30lb wings that are compact.
I doubt many rec divers in warm water would notice or feel a difference when diving one.

I think you're right, and 95% of rec divers in warm water are slightly to very head-up trim as well, dumping from their corrugated inflation hose, not from their hip dump, wing shape and size largely irrelevant.

 

[RIHappyDiver]

I know you don’t care about travel weight, but, to put a rest to travel weight statements, while the soft plate may give you more weighting options in the water, it won’t save you in the way of luggage weight. As an example, the DGX SS BP/W (SOOO many initials) weighs in at about 9#, whereas the DGX soft plate set up weighs in at about 9#. The Dive Right/DGX system, per DGX, weighs in at about 12#.
The DGX BP/w with aluminum will save you a bit of weight, 3#, and allow for a slight amount of ditch able wt, but this seems negligible.

 

[pickens_46929]

Only downside is the weight in luggage during travel. Dove SS backplate 100% of the time for nearly 20 years. Only reason I switched to an AL plate recently was to attempt to get my travel luggage down to something closer to 30# rather than --> a) constantly worry about being over the 50# limit for checked luggage, and b) lugging around said 50# bag (even with wheels) with my so-so back these days.

Otherwise getting that 4# of weight off me or weight belt was great! Heck at one point I was thinking about getting a 6# SS backplate because all I needed a couple extra pounds with my 3mm shorty in warm water.

 

[Tournesol2000]

I chose to use lighter luggage rather than lighter backplate when I switched to SS backplate. Plus I am very precise with what I bring and pack in checked luggage.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Only downside is the weight in luggage during travel. Dove SS backplate 100% of the time for nearly 20 years. Only reason I switched to an AL plate recently was to attempt to get my travel luggage down to something closer to 30# rather than --> a) constantly worry about being over the 50# limit for checked luggage, and b) lugging around said 50# bag (even with wheels) with my so-so back these days.

Otherwise getting that 4# of weight off me or weight belt was great! Heck at one point I was thinking about getting a 6# SS backplate because all I needed a couple extra pounds with my 3mm shorty in warm water.

Just wear your harness and BP under your coat! I've never had to do it, but would in a pinch! Then put it in my backpack once on the plane. Cargo pants and photographer vests are super useful for circumventing carryon weight limits.

Story time: once flying back to the US from Greece, i left a bag full of ceramics and dive gear next to someone sleeping while I checked in. i was able to maintain eye contact. My other bag was over, but I promised the person checking me in that I'd take some stuff out. That was the last time I pulled such an extreme stunt as eventually I would get caught!

 

[pickens_46929]

I chose to use lighter luggage rather than lighter backplate when I switched to SS backplate. Plus I am very precise with what I bring and pack in checked luggage.

Me too... I've already skinnied down the luggage.

 

[benlangfeld]

How many wing failures have you ever seen at the beginning of a dive? Isn't this why the pre-dive check includes inflating the wing? Every wing problem I have seen at the surface is people forgetting to connect the inflator hose, which can be inflated by mouth in the water. In the EXTREMELY rare chance of a wing failure during a dive you would shoot your DSMB, follow it up, clip it to the chest ring, slip out of the harness and swim it to the boat, shore, whatever. I've done this many times in training but have never heard of anyone having to do it in real life. This is what a "balanced rig" is all about.
OP: I dive a steel plate everywhere I travel. With a 3mm wetsuit, booties and 1-2mm hood, I only need 2 pounds of weights added.

I had a wing failure 5 minutes into a dive. My buddy had washed our gear after the last dive, removing the dump valve to rinse out my wing, and then not fully screwed it on. It passed pre-dive checks, holding air. I was carrying extra weight to donate if others ended up light on this dive. I had to hand off 1kg shortly after the start of the dive. I used the dump valve. It came off the wing in my hand and my wing filled with water. I was able to swim it up from 12m, but had a little difficulty staying positive on the surface for the swim back to the boat, so I had to inflate my DSMB.

Now you’ve heard of it in real life

 

[happy-diver]

Did you manage to hang on to the valve

 

[johndiver999]

I had a wing failure 5 minutes into a dive. My buddy had washed our gear after the last dive, removing the dump valve to rinse out my wing, and then not fully screwed it on. It passed pre-dive checks, holding air. I was carrying extra weight to donate if others ended up light on this dive. I had to hand off 1kg shortly after the start of the dive. I used the dump valve. It came off the wing in my hand and my wing filled with water. I was able to swim it up from 12m, but had a little difficulty staying positive on the surface for the swim back to the boat, so I had to inflate my DSMB.

Now you’ve heard of it in real life

I've had at least two wing failures myself and seen a few others and also narrowly avoided some additional ones when cleaning the BC after a dive and noticed that a spring or fitting had failed.

BC failure is not as unusual as some people might hope. A good pre-dive check makes a lot of sense, but if the BC worked an hour ago, I might not check it before a second dive.

 

[souladdikt]

I travel with a ss backplate. I can fit all my gear in a 90L duffel that weighs about 1.6kg empty and 18kg when packed full with all my gear--even clothes and toiletries. The lightweight luggage more than offsets the extra weight from the plate.