Question Who sells backplates optimized for single tanks?

[Eric Sedletzky]

Damn that's pretty. I think it's funny you did the full polish job on an experimental plate.

Needs a tiny wing to go with it.

It’s aluminum, it shines up really easy.
It needs a VDH 18 on it.
I had one but my steroid injected nephew-in-law begged me out of it along with a fully rigged large thin stainless travel plate that I was saving for myself for a warm water trip some day.

 

[LandonL]

Lazy photographer? @LandonL fire that person!

It is also a fake scuba tank made of plastic, so there is that as well. lol

 

[happy-diver]

Like this

or like this

and there are a few more thises

 

[happy-diver]

And I'll show you again as an adjunct to rx7diver and lowwalls conversation
here's one, best of the best, put a wing on it and poof voilà great dive gear

You Yanks know where to get buckshot you learn that in preschool

#4 .240 Diameter Buckshot 5 Pounds

 

[SubseaSports]

Forgot about this one.
Seac Modular aluminum plate.
Its thin but stamped with recesses including tank stabilizers which make it pretty strong.



I have and use one. The bladder blew recently and I have since replaced it with a used DR classic horseshoe wing. I made longer book screws for convinience.
These range from $74-$100
Or find a used one like I did complete for $60.

 

[mdwalter]

For anyone interested in going old-school, pick up a used blow-molded plastic backpack from ebay or your local Play-It-Again-Sports. These continue to work just fine. Weave some new nylon webbing through it, if you want. I think there might be new-production versions of these backpacks available to public safety divers, etc.--but I'm not sure about this.

rx7diver

This does work great if you're in a drysuit that you can use to control your buoyancy or if you have a horse collar BC. But it's pretty hard to use a plastic backpack with most wings, because they really were not designed with a wing in mind.

 

[AnaCat]

It is the center channel that is bent towards the tank that perches the tank up away form the diver and also the center channel can interfere with the regulator first stage unless the tank is boosted way up as in the photo with the Halycon set up.

Regarding the cam bands, both of my plates use two cam bands but the upper cam band is much lower so that when the cylinder is dropped down the upper cam band still remains below the cylinder shoulder. With most STAs the upper camband is way up high forcing the cylinder also way up high so that the upper camband remains below the cylinder shoulder.

The photos I posted show the difference, note the top of the plate relative to the first stage, mine is just at the bottom of the first stage and the Halycon is several inches below. That is one of the differences between a doubles plate and a true single tank plate.

I played around with this stuff for years. I cut my own plates trying to get what I wanted and not being a glutton for punishment when Eric offered me a Freedom Plate and then my friend at VDH produced the VDH plate I ceased cutting and grinding (for now). Both the Oxy Plate, Freedom Plate and the VDH Plate (and clones) allow the cylinder to sit much lower in the cam bands and retain the functionality/stability of two cam bands.

We say we are minimalist, at least I do, the center channel serves no purpose with a single tank therefore it needs to go away, it is a complication that can cause slippage, rolling and interferes with the divers optimal trim.

James

Hi,
Do you also know what can I get in terms of flat steel 3 mm for single tank in European Union? Although I travel for diving for usually 20-25 days per year I would still want steel for better weight distribution as I need 14 kg in my 5 mm wetsuit+boots in the very salty Red Sea. I could dive in our Black Sea, but when I tried the vis was under 1 m… not fun for me.
If I order from US/UK the taxes are huge. I was looking at XDEEP XDEEP Color BCD online catalog or Tecline SINGLE TANK CONFIGURATION - Teclinediving but from what I can tell they both have that center channel.
I’m from Bucharest Romania and here there are no dive shops that would keep a stock of plates/ wings and there is no place where I can custom make anything…
I admit that a lot of the discussion here is quite technical for me.
Thanks!

 

[David Novo]

Hi,
Do you also know what can I get in terms of flat steel 3 mm for single tank in European Union? Although I travel for diving for usually 20-25 days per year I would still want steel for better weight distribution as I need 14 kg in my 5 mm wetsuit+boots in the very salty Red Sea. I could dive in our Black Sea, but when I tried the vis was under 1 m… not fun for me.
If I order from US/UK the taxes are huge. I was looking at XDEEP XDEEP Color BCD online catalog or Tecline SINGLE TANK CONFIGURATION - Teclinediving but from what I can tell they both have that center channel.
I’m from Bucharest Romania and here there are no dive shops that would keep a stock of plates/ wings and there is no place where I can custom make anything…
I admit that a lot of the discussion here is quite technical for me.
Thanks!

I am quite happy with the Tecline one. I use it for both single tank with a STA and doubles.
You can have a heavier STA to drop some lead from the belt.

 

[lowwall]

Hi,
Do you also know what can I get in terms of flat steel 3 mm for single tank in European Union?

Unfortunately I don't think there's a good solution. It looks like the Golem Stream is the only true single tank BP for sale. Golem was bought out by SubGravity last year and they still make it, but they don't have any European dealers. Unless you know someone who can make one following Huw Porter's plans at Designing your own SCUBA Backplate .

I have no idea why one of the larger manufacturers hasn't picked this idea up. It seems like such an obvious way to differentiate your product and there are far more single tank than doubles divers in the world.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Designing your own SCUBA Backplate .

Are you trying to get people to steal stop signs? You didn't think about the consequences of sharing that link, did you?