Why lite BPs for travel?

[GreenDiverDown]

6 # makes a big difference when I travel. On a two week vacation I might read 10 - 12 books, my partner will read closer to 18 in the same period. Try adding that weight to whatever it is you normally carry on vacation. Am almost always near the edge on weight allowance particularly on smaller airlines so an AL backplate may be in my future.

Books... O.K.

Never thought of that one.

 

[GreenDiverDown]

I recommend weighing your baggage at home, so you have time to make an informed decision on what to take, what to leave, or if you want to ponentially pay for overweight luggage.

Bravo! I agree! I always weigh mine.

One other thing, I don't think I've ever gone on vacation where I didn't wind up with clothes, etc. that it turned out I didn't need.

Yah... what's with that? You'd think we'd learn... after the first hundred times!

 

[GreenDiverDown]

I have been lurking in this place for a long time... and have been getting really interested in all this BP&W stuff, which I found by searching for travel and compact BC's. I am interested in light gear simply for travel purposes alone, and I am one who will compromise a bit on trim underwater if I need too (which I don't believe i do for reasons mentioned in previous posts) to shave 5 or more pounds.

All my travel is backpacking, where I often end up hiking between towns, camping on the beach or in jungle, and 5 or 6 punds is HUGE when your carrying everything on your back. Scuba gear is not the only thing I am carrying when I travel like this (which is usually for a month or longer), I have a tent, sleeping bag, stove & mess kit, water purifier, food & water, along with clothes books, and cameras. This is why I have always rented gear, rather than owning it, but I am getting anxious to have my own gear... but it must be light.

That is atleast one valid reason for light gear. Airplane luggage is another one.

-MG

Most definitely! Maybe the best reason for those extra light weight jobs like Tobin's special plate or that Mark Meadows job.

I do have a question, though. How do you carry your weight? I mean ya gotta have what ya gotta have. Do you pack lead... or is it already at the dive site?

 

[Nemrod]

Not sure about y'all but in a lycra type protective suit or a thin neoprene exposure suit or even often in just a swimsuit and rash guard and of course in the warm water I think we are talking about, then, using an Al 80, aluminum BP, I need no weight or weight belt at all. If I use a plastic plate I might need about three or four lbs weight. Why carry a heavy SS BP which is decidedly not optimum for warm water diving or travel. Most resort and end destinations have weights. I suck all of the air out of my BC so it has no bouyancy (when forced to use the d---n things), I have actually sucked it with a Shop Vac, often never put any air in it at all during a dive. No reason to. N

 

[Mystic Gringo]

Most definitely! Maybe the best reason for those extra light weight jobs like Tobin's special plate or that Mark Meadows job.

I do have a question, though. How do you carry your weight? I mean ya gotta have what ya gotta have. Do you pack lead... or is it already at the dive site?

I don't carry any lead, or a tank... I generally am not diving where I have to pack tanks, and weights in at all. I just backpack around the country, diving where I can, camping where I can. On a month long trip, I might only dive for a week or so... but I shlep the gear all over. Like a tent, I might only camp 10 or so nights in a month, but I have to have it all the time.

Now... if I had a sherpa, I certainly have snorkled in some sites that I know would be awesome shore-dives, and a sherpa would be so handy.

 

[halocline]

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.

I'm in total agreement with this post. For me in warm water it comes down to: AL80, SS plate=great trim; with a steel tank probably the AL plate would be better. In all the travel diving I've done, which is basically Cozumel, AL80s are the standard rental, so the steel plate works better. It's a few pounds more to lug around, but since I'm not backpacking, I gladly do this, and i think most travelers are in the same situation, i.e. only carrying bags from airport to taxi, etc.

What's REALLY questionable, IMO, is people insisting on lightweight "travel" regulators, where the difference in weight is only a few ounces.

 

[Mystic Gringo]

What's REALLY questionable, IMO, is people insisting on lightweight "travel" regulators, where the difference in weight is only a few ounces.

True... I know some backpackers though who insist so much on traveling light that they cut toothbrushes in half to shave fractions of an ounce. These people are on a far end of the sport, and are religious about weight shaving... which I think is awesome, not for me, but awesome all the same. There are certain characteristics of these types of backpackers to be found in the scuba world too.

 

[*Floater*]

i think it's just an excuse to buy another backplate...

 

[grazie42]

Locally I dive almost year-round with a drysuit and steel tanks which works great with a SS BP (6lbs + 8lbs of lead) if in singles and just the BP when in doubles.

When I travel I dive a 5mm wetsuit with total weight requirement of about 6lbs.
My Al BP saves me 4lbs of weight in luggage. When I plan on doing overhead/decompression diving (which is what I like) I usually bring 3 sets of regs, wing, STA, my HID canlight, cameras, backuplights, reels, spools, cuttingtools etc + power adapters for the electronics.

With a minimum of clothes and the above gear, I usually end up at or over the allowed weightlimits of the airline and end up "hiding" gear in my carry-on...

I sure don´t need the 4 xtra pounds of the al BP and with my weight requirements for WW-diving I don´t see that it would add "utility" to my diving...

The al bp set me back about 60$ which was well worth it IMO

 

[GreenDiverDown]

I'm sure that most of you guys are right about your luggage weight... but as I said earlier, some of this just doesn't jive with my personal experience.

For example... my last trip to Coz...

.. 2 full sets of standard hog gear, exposure protection and clothing/personals for one week... split between two standard Oceanic gear bags...

1 Al plate/harness/knife
1 SS plate/harness/knife
2 standard STAs, one with two pairs of cam band pockets
1 18# wing and 1 27# wing
1 weight belt (empty, of course)
2 complete reg sets, long hoses, Spgs, etc
3 computers/gauges
1 compass
a few extra hoses
2 masks
2 pair of fins... jets and quattros
booties
3 mil shortie and 3mil full
1 hood and 1 pair of gloves
1 DSMB and spool
2 scout backup lights
1 21W cannister light and charger (lighthead went in my carry-on along with a laptop)
an assortment of tools and repair parts
and possibly a few other things that I have forgotten to list

... that's a lot of stuff... more gear than most divers would need to take. Yet, each bag weighed in under 45#.

Another example...

... my last trip to Panama...
same gear list minus the shortie and can light but with a drysuit.
Again, each bag was under 45#. On that trip, part of the deal was a brief flight on a puddle jumper which had extremely tight weight limits. We planned ahead... we had a large group of customers... and arranged for the liveaboard company to set up a truck to transport all of the gear.