Why lite BPs for travel?

[GreenDiverDown]

Why is travel weight more important than having your required diving weight appropriately distributed? Why choose a rig that sacrifices better trim characteristics... just to save a few pounds?

I can think of a few circumstances where you might just have to do this... flying on a small plane with extremely tight baggage weight limits; portaging your gear a long way through a jungle; hand carrying your luggage through several big airports during a multi-transfer trip; dealing with a physical impairment. Photographers, of course, have their hands tied. But, it seems to me, most of the time a few pounds shouldn't make a difference.

I just have a hard time relating this to my own travel experience. Rarely do I have the need to cut my baggage weight by 3 or 4 or 5 pounds. In fact, I almost always carry two full rigs... plates, wings, regs and gauges! Sometimes I have to split it up and put some of my dive gear in with my clothing, but I'm usually way under the limit.

Are some folks just way over-packing... clothes, booze, TVs, whatever? Do some divers just have it in their head that they need an AL plate to travel efficiently?

For example...

... take someone with a weight requirement of 16#. Their best weighting arrangement might be to use a 6# SS plate and a 2# STA for 8# on the back and 8# on a belt. Let's assume that with this particular arrangement their trim is spot on, their true weighting requirement is met, and their rig is balanced.

Do they really need to lighten their luggage 5# by bringing a 3# Al BP and no STA? Are those few travel pounds more important than having to dive a rig with 3# on the back and 13# on the belt, fighting a foot heavy trim and lugging a monster belt around... every dive for a week? They are traveling to dive... wouldn't they have more fun if they had the appropriate rig?

I can think of a few ways to cut the travel pounds and still have a rig that is dialed in for trim. One of those would be to use those killer cam band weight pockets. Pack your 3# plate and maybe 1 pound of pockets, then when you get to your location stick some weight into those pockets. There... your luggage is lighter and you have a rig that is trimmed up.

I know that for some situations it really doesn't matter how you distribute your weight... those dives where your weighting requirements are low. For those trips... ya... pack the lighter plate. But, for those trips where it matters, why cheat your trim for a few pounds?

... just thinking... and wondering...

 

[Wayward Son]

bc airlines have strict weight limits & excess poundage, when permitted at all, costs a lot of money to take.

 

[spectrum]

I'm not a BP/W diver but for me it will be whole different ballgame when I travel. As a New England Diver most of my dives are in some level of 7mm exposure protection be it wet or dry. Furthermore I dive exclusively steel tanks. When I get to dive in warm water I hope to be in a lot less wetsuit and will be using the ubiquitous AL-80. Without all of that rubber on my legs I may not have as much need to hold my chest down with trim weights and that may be the case for BP/W divers as well. Also as the weight requirement drops some divers will be beyond what they consider appropriate non ditchable weight provided by the SS plate and sta.

Pete

 

[GreenDiverDown]

bc airlines have strict weight limits & excess poundage, when permitted at all, costs a lot of money to take.

I understand airlines have baggage limits. I understand that some of those limits are very low... small planes, etc. What I don't get is why anyone would need more than the regular, reasonable, 'big jet' limits... even when toting a SS plate and STA.

 

[StSomewhere]

I think a 3/2mm wetsuit and a 5 lb plate with an AL80 is the perfect warm water setup. Trims out perfectly for me. I'm wondering about using some bigger tanks though and whether I'd still have a balanced rig in that case.

 

[Tamas]

When traveling I take my s/s plate and trim pockets but only need a light sta for balancing the tank since I hate it when it rocks around.

and yes, airlines are the reason most people shed the weight

 

[Wayward Son]

I've heard from plenty of people who struggled to make wt, especially when they have additonal gear such as serious photography equipment & travel to more remote location such as the Glapagos.

 

[GreenDiverDown]

... maybe some divers pack junk they don't really need.

... maybe some divers have yet to dial in their trim.

... maybe some divers have yet to think about the importance of good weight distribution.

... maybe some divers haven't considered getting something simple like cam band weight pockets... or whatever.

... I don't know... I just don't get it.

 

[TSandM]

I don't know, either. I took my SS plate to Australia with me. We did pay an overweight charge (one way but not the other -- go figure) flying from Sydney to the Gold Coast, but then, we had hauled clothing for two weeks, dive gear, and riding gear with us. The domestic flight within Australia was the only place we pushed limits.

 

[Wayward Son]

Seeing as how most people generly do not travel with weights but rent them at the destination, I have no idea what relevance having theit trim dialed in nor what their distribution of the weights they don't travel with has to do with making a wt limit for an airline?

Maybe you're simply far superior at packing for traveling with dive gear than all the people who are concerned about it?

Beats me.