[Disclaimer: By reading the below article, you release me from any and all responsibility and acknowledge that diving and diving equipment is accompanied by risk of injury or even death. You also acknowledge the necessity of proper training from a licensed instructor prior to beginning Scuba Diving or diving beyond your current level of training (or with new/unfamiliar equipment)]
Stainless steel or aluminium backplates – both have their advantages. Obviously, stainless steel plates are heavier, which means that your weight required during the dive will be reduced as you’re already wearing it as part of your backplate. This is a great advantage for divers in colder climates who often require large amount of weights for the likes of 7mm wetsuits etc but can also be helpful in warmer climates too to get weight out of your weight system. You still have to carry that weight, but now you have the option of putting it on your body as part of your scuba unit instead of pieces of lead. An important caveat here is to look at the body type of the diver in question – if they’re a big person, a stainless steel plate could be perfect; if they’re a smaller, or lighter person, a stainless steel plate could put them into a negatively buoyant situation even with no weights on.
The reality is that you have to look at weighting as a whole – how many lead weights are you carrying, what type of tank are you using (SS/AL, 12ltr, 15ltr etc?), and are you using a stainless steel backplate or an aluminum one (or a BCD). With this in mind, how much weight do you require? And how is that weight being added to your scuba unit? Once you’ve answered these questions, you can then get back to which type of backplate is more suited to your needs, based on how much weight you’re already carrying and whether that weight is from heavy tanks or actual lead weights. There are actually divers out there who dive stainless steel backplates with steel 12ltr tanks and require no additional weight whatsoever – your plate and tank selection becomes a part of how you build your weighting configuration as a diver.
“Aluminium backplates are better for travel” – sure, lighter is nicer for frequent travel. BUT, when you get on the boat, you’re still going to need a weight system. SO, back to the paragraph above, what weighting do you require? AND, by the way, are you diving a dry suit in Iceland, a dry suit in Malta, a 5mm wetsuit in Bahrain(saltier waters in the Arabian Gulf = more weight needed) or a t-shirt in Thailand?
Have you now noticed that choosing Aluminium backplates solely because you’ll be travelling and diving doesn’t automatically become the right thing to do? You MUST look at the big picture – type of diving, exposure protection, body type, tanks, etc. etc.
Again, and as I said in my previous article, to get the most out of BP/W diving I’d highly recommend running through an Intro To Tech course so that you have chance to really dig into the fundamentals of your diving, while also learning much more about the equipment you’re now wearing and its capabilities.
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