I'm easy to convince on this one.  I've been preaching the merits of no
weight diving for a long time.  Those that have, or feel a need to have
weight that can be ditched won't be experiencing this.  To be honest, I'm a
bit surprised to hear of a somebody that dives where buoyancy shifts with
depth are the rule rather than the exception, that dives without ditchable
weight.  Then again, the use of a drysuit and some form of BCD does provide
redundant left.

I gave up carrying underwater photography equipment when traveling or, for
that matter, when diving locally.  It's more bother than it's worth to me
and, during a dive, it really detracts from what I enjoy the most, seeing
whatever is there to see.  I do carry a 3.2 mp digital for above the surface
photography, but I've downsized it considerably from my prefious 35 mm
equipment.  It's smaller than a pack of cigarettes.  I do carry a notebook
computer.

For Florida diving, I either use a car to get to a commercial dive charter
or one of my own boats.  The cruiser, a 32 foot Wellcraft, costs me
considerably more to use than paying somebody else to take me.  On the other
hand, when we're cruising, it's our mobile home too.  Best of all, no mobile
home park fees.

Here in the US, very little luggage actually gets weighed.  At check in,
it's normal to place luggage on a scale, but rare that anybody actually
looks at the weight.  If I think I'm close to the limit, I usually put two
or three bags on the scale at a time, mixing and matching to minimize the
weight on the scale at any one time.  It seems it's too much trouble for
most ticket agents to add up the total weight and divide to find out what
the average weight is.  The airline's failure is my gain.  Hand luggage is
almost never weighed.  Our masks, regulators and computers travel with us.

There are, of course, exceptions.  Commuter airlines, which often fly
smaller planes, are more likely to check baggage weight.

Lee

After diving with no weight-belt, weight harness or pouches for the last few
years, both in the UK, where I use a V weight between my twinset & abroad,
by putting the weights on the cam bands, I would hate to be encumbered, even
with pouches.  I was considering making some weight pouches that would slide
over cylinder cam-bands so that I could securely place a weight on each cam
band easily & securely.

My wife & I travel at least twice a year by air and getting the luggage down
to an acceptable weight, especially with underwater digital and 35mm
photographic and video systems and a notebook (for downloading digital
stills & video editing) can become quite a task.

We used to start a week or more in advance, but have now fine-tuned the
packing, with Linda sorting out the clothing, paperwork and her video kit
and I look after al the medical stuff, travel arrangements, SCUBA gear and
my photographic kit; thus we have three sets of packing lists:

1.  For UK or European diving where we are using our car so don't need to be
quite as strict with size or weight allowances (as long as the suspension &
chassis will bear it!).

2.  Long haul flying where we usually get two 32Kg bags per person plus the
normal hand luggage allowance.

3.  Short haul (usually Europe & Middle East) where we budget for one 20KG
bag each and haggle with the airline for a further 10Kg of 'sporting
equipment' free allowance, plus the normal 5Kg hand baggage.

Most airlines now allow an extra free 10Kg of sports equipment per person,
although some still don't recognise SCUBA gear, even those that allow golf
clubs!  One of the old scams was to pack scuba gear in a golf bag with dummy
club-heads.  One little thing we do is to dismantle our regulators and we
each carry two 1st stages on our pockets until we have checked-in and then
we put them in our hand luggage so they aren't weighed, but are still
X-rayed when we pass through into the departure area.

Tony

I looked for a good way to add and subtract weight for quite a while.  I was
interested both from the standpoint of diving with my aluminum plate while
traveling or in fresh water and for when I use my wetsuit or tanks that are
more buoyant than what I normally use.  I settled on the Halcyon Trim
pockets that, at the time, were a good deal.  They have since raised in
price by so much that, if I needed more of them, I'd shop elsewhere.  I
slide them onto my waist harness, then slide on my small knives (one sharp,
one blunt) and then add a D ring to each side to hold everything in place.
It's not even close to DIR, but it suits me.  The pockets will hole about 4
lbs of soft weight each, probably more if I use hard weights.  Eight pounds
is enouigh  for using my wetsuit and a more buoyant tank, but is probably
not enough if I go to my aluminum plate and a more buoyant tank.  I have
enough extra pockets to add a couple to the cam straps or someplace else
(depending on what gives me the best trim) if necessary.  They're out of the
way, compact and as streamlined as anything I've been able to come up with.

Understood.  I've not traveled by air since I gave up my old jacket style
BCD.  I'll certainly keep your words in mind when I do.  My aluminum plate
is sitting in my living room as I type.  I've got the harness, but lack much
of the hardware, particularly the triglides.  By the end of the weekend, it
will be ready to go.

I start at least a week in advance, often more.  It just aggrivates me no
end when I forget something I knew I should have.  I drive my wife nuts by
starting early and making lists I check off.  She drives me nuts by packing
at the last minute and leaving things behind.  Traveling by boat, as we
often do, can make it even harder to replace what you forget than traveling
by air.

Lee

A valid point, as I was with our club diving in the Red Sea last week and if
my wife & I had our steel BP's instead of the aluminium we would have
virtually not needed any lead at all, however i normally slip them on the
cylinder cam-bands so negating that matter.

However the core issue regarding the weight is often more to do with airline
baggage allowances than weight in water, with some airlines strictly
enforcing the 20KG + 5KG hand luggage.  Many of us would prefer to take a
steel BP on overseas trips but the almost 2Kg difference can be the make or
break of our luggage, especially if (as i do) have a lot of UW photo gear to
take as well.

I always take the day off before a holiday to completely get my gear set-up
before packing it (as per my standard packing list).

TTFN & safe diving.

You're surely correct about the weight issue, but not everybody matches your
preferences (no surprise, huh?).  I dive a steel plate in warm water
specifically because it happens to give me near perfect buoyancy with no
additional weight.  I don't need a weight belt and, because by the time the
dive's half over, I don't need any gas in my buoyancy control device either.
It's a very comfortable way to dive.

Two days ago, I took my plate and wing into fresh water for the first time.
There, I quickly found out why I bought an aluminum plate so many years
back.  I was quite overweighted.  Good thing I tested everything before the
actual dives.  My 18 lb lift wing would not float my equipment.  Since I
didn't have time to righ my aluminum plate before leaving for the dive
sites, I switched over to my wife's 27 lb lift wing.  The dive wasn't ideal,
but it was manageable.  The excess weight forced me to add more gas to the
wing during the entire dive, which adds other buoyancy issues.

Yep.  Now that I've got the time, it will likely be years before my next
fresh water dive, I'll set my aluminum plate up so that I don't have to try
to get it done at the last minute.

Lee

All aluminium will corrode, less so with ours as it's made from high quality
aluminium that is hard anodised, so corrosion will start if the anodising is
scratched or damaged, however I've used mine for a few years worth of
overseas trips and only slight 'furring' around the two bolt holes is any
evidence of corrosion.

The aluminium BP's will almost certainly last longer then the stitching of
an average BCD!   Several years I would expect.

However that's not the core issue, the real reason to choose between ally or
steel is weight.

The Ally is ideal for travelling overseas and use with limited requirements
for weight (warm-water with thin wetsuit offering little positive buoyancy).
For example, when I dive in the Caribbean in water above 29c then I only
need a 3mm shortie (mainly to stop the straps of the harness chafing), and
with an ally back-plate which weight 700g and a single ally 80 cylinder I
only need about 6Lb of lead.   In even warmer water I dive in a T shirt and
no lead.   If I used a steel back-plate (2.5KG / 5.5Lb) I would be
overweighed.

However for cold water dry-suit diving in the UK and northern Europe, the
2.5KG of the steel BP and about 5KG of V weight is required.

It's therefore much more about the type of diving than the small
consideration of longevity.  if you're needing it for cold water diving in
thick, buoyant, suits requiring a lot of lead then get a steel BP, if you're
wanting it for warm-water diving needing less weight fro travelling and
becoming neutral in the water, then get aluminium.

Many divers (like me) have one of each for that reason.

Hope that clears that up.

TonyH

If you're interested, I have a SS Combro (UKRS) Backplate for sale complete
with 1 piece harness

email me offlist for info

Nige

Just wondered if anyone had / knows of a good source of SS backplates - I
know Tony H has some Ali ones (Had been told Ali corrodes - any comments???)

Have had a bit of a browse, but all I can find seem a bit steep!

TIA

Graham