Posted by Chris on April 19, 2001 at 23:29:36:
In Reply to: Re: Wet Suit diving with a Steel Tank posted by Steve on April 19, 2001 at 22:22:57:
They always insist on the use of a stainless steel (Halcyon) back plate, which is about 7 lbs. negative.
Their "rule" makes sense it you use in the context of Florida cave diving and the use of the negative back plate, but California is not Florida.
Also the insistence on the use of the SS back plate makes no sense unless you are using Al tanks.
Part of the motivation for this is that Halcyon does not manufacture a non-metal back-plate.
However their competitor Dive-Rite does manufacture a very nice ABS one.
I have owned an ABS one since 1994. It works great, and stands up to great amounts of abuse.
It also less than ½ lb. negative.