Posted by Northcoast diver on January 03, 2005 at 16:49:12:
In Reply to: Re: Backplate & wing vs. BCD: another 2 cents posted by AADIVER on January 03, 2005 at 16:33:55:
The DUI harness weight belt is probably a must, if you are going to try diving with a backplate and a single tank.
I do not know if it works well at taking the weight off your lower back during a dive, since the weight ultimately is on your lower back when you are horizontal in the water anyway. But on the boat, and in and out of the boat, the shoulder straps definitely relieve your lower back from a heavy weight belt.
Integration with one of the Zeagles or a similar back-inflation B/C takes the weight off your back and transfers it to the wing, for single tank diving.
4 lbs in each of the pouches equals how many total lbs? 24 lbs? You must then also have a steel plate, which adds 6. And STA adds 2 more. Now you would be closer to the 32 lbs that I would expect for cold seawater.
Steel is really hard to drill, if you ever need to drill it. I drilled out my aluminum plate to accomodate slightly larger carriage bolts, and it was easy with my steel drill tips.
A steel plate takes a little more of the weight off your weightbelt, at the slightly greater risk of turning turtle with twin steel tanks on your back as well.