travel with steel backplate?

[gurumasta]

I live In the Tropical Paradise of Indonesia. My BCD comes with a plastic backplate. I suggest use plastic if u have any or no backplate at all if u r diving single. This is a good option so u don't need to have more weights when travelling. Once u arrive at the tropical destination site , just ask for more weights to counter the plastic backplate.

Hope this is a good advice

i hear what your saying but i would rather only have to invest in one backplate and im trying to find out if that is feasable or not with travel and all. thanks.

 

[Puffer Fish]

i hear what your saying but i would rather only have to invest in one backplate and im trying to find out if that is feasable or not with travel and all. thanks.

I travel with a SS back plate. No issue at all. Even with it, and a 3 or 7 mil wet suit, all my gear and clothing (except mask, regulators and gauges, which I carry on with me) all are in one bag and under 48 lbs.

As Rick said, it gets "touched" by inspectors, but so will the Al one.

This might not work, if you are going to be using doubles, or you dive without a wet suit. Other than that, the bigger concern should be trim for you specifically. If you dive locally with a single AL 80's, expect that you will see the same, almost anywhere you travel.

 

[kidspot]

Tim,

Have you ever considered to use those "I" or "T" (4 lb.) shaped SS plates? Are those any good? Or those are not for doubles?


Thanks!

Not really - the regular SS plate works fine for all my Single tank diving. Now that I'm diving dry I could probably even use it with my doubles rig now. It's just a matter of needing the right amount of weight in the right places.

Aloha, Tim

 

[TSandM]

I travel with my SS backplate -- I use two pounds on the cambands and trim out just right with an AL80 and a 3 mil wetsuit. I have the DSS wing that comes off the BP easily, so I can pack the two in difference places, and that makes travel very easy.

 

[mattroz]

does anyone try to pack their SS backplate in their carryon. i'm sure you'd be stopped at the security checkpoint but at least you could watch the inspectors touch your stuff. instead of the 5 finger discount store where all the checked luggage goes.

 

[down4fun]

I carryon my BP and never have had a problem. I use one of the small rolling suitcases. I remove the wing and then the BP/W, regs and computer all go onboard with me.

 

[Ron Brandt]

I carry two sets of gear so....I take 1 aul BP/wing and 1 plastic bp/wing. I have weight pockets for the aul and a pouch weight belt for the plastic.

The ss/bp combined with the weighting restrictions of the airline was just over the limit.However,I would certainly travel with a ss if weight were no object and would not need more than a couple of pounds attached to the cam bands.

Ron

 

[Diver Lori]

I use a SS backplate diving the tropics too. For me, it's also the perfect weight with a 3mm jumpsuit and cap hood. I've not had any trouble with the TSA either. Heading to Kona in August and plan to pack it again this go-round.

 

[jagfish]

Lots of good answers here already.

As some posters mentioned, some of this depends on your natural trim. I'm a leg heavy individual to start, so if I am wearing 3mm or less, or even worse a shorty, I can be very leg heavy.

Thus, if I were using an Al plate in warm water with one of the aforementioned suits, my most likely solutions would be to add weight to the belt region (which doesn't help my balance) or put a kg or two up on the top tank band (could do it, but not a very eloquent solution in my opinion).

A SS plate for me puts things just about right, though in a shorty I'm still a bit foot heavy.

For airlines that don't check weight on carry-on (like United or Thai) I've had up to 40 or 50 pounds in that bag (two sets regs, two can lights, SS plate, etc). I guess some airlines (like Philippines Air) are check-in that more closely these days.