Our compact plate for PRISM head and basket

**jstovall** · 8th January 2007, 14:29

Well we put the plate in the water finally. and here are the results and changes we think need to be made. May omit some or forget to mention all, but it was over a few beers.

Used a 5 mm suit, 3 mm hood and gloves, 40 cu ft BO, and canister light-needed NO extra weight to get down. This was a fresh water dive 60 ft for 30 min to check unit and plate out, besides for southern divers, 53 degree F water temp/50 degree air temp, wind blowing like we are in Chicago, it was COLD. Unit trimmed out fairly well. Could stay horizontal easily, no effort. Then we added a 1 pound ankle weight to strap at top of plate and just a squirt of air to BC and was head down feet up stone cold stable in the water. It was nice to see and feel. Cowling didn't move much at all. We didn't bang or pull on it in water, but was tight before and after the dive. Tanks stayed in place. After giant stride off dock, approx 1 ft from water, no movement or sliding was noted, hooray for innertubes. Wish we had better straps to hold tanks in place and still use cowling.

Lower tank strap wing needs to come up 1 1/2- 2 inches, as the strap comes over the tank right at neck. half on neck and half on cylinder, would like the entire strap to be on the tank. But now we take away a little space of bucket grasping area. I don't think it should affect bucket removal.

Going to extend the but plate area down 2-2 1/2 inches. May also weld a small 1 in angle to the back for cowling rest and attachment point with zuess clip or something similar. But the plate does need to be extended.

And for all PRISM divers out there that really like the stock harness system and BC from SMI, we figured out that we can place 6 holes in the plate and mount the harness and BC from SMI directly to this plate just as the black one mounts to it.

Still working on a Head protection piece that would just clip in place on this plate. We have another good idea but need to think on it a bit, different from the one i discussed with you earlier Stefan. We think its better.

All in all the unit was very comfortable in the water. felt just as it did in training and other dives. Probably not heavy enough for dry suit, not sure if we will need any weight in salt water, but will throw in a couple of pounds in each CL pocket, or strap to BP up high.

Going to Dive the Mighty "O" this weekend. taking unit. Will let you know how it goes, might even bring some pics back to post. Safe Diving.

James

silent running · 9th January 2007, 09:15

Quote: (Originally Posted by jstovall)

Could stay horizontal easily, no effort. Then we added a 1 pound ankle weight to strap at top of plate and just a squirt of air to BC and was head down feet up stone cold stable in the water. It was nice to see and feel. Cowling didn't move much at all. We didn't bang or pull on it in water, but was tight before and after the dive. Tanks stayed in place. After giant stride off dock, approx 1 ft from water, no movement or sliding was noted, hooray for innertubes. Wish we had better straps to hold tanks in place and still use cowling.

Lower tank strap wing needs to come up 1 1/2- 2 inches, as the strap comes over the tank right at neck. half on neck and half on cylinder, would like the entire strap to be on the tank. But now we take away a little space of bucket grasping area. I don't think it should affect bucket removal.

Going to extend the but plate area down 2-2 1/2 inches. May also weld a small 1 in angle to the back for cowling rest and attachment point with zuess clip or something similar. But the plate does need to be extended.

And for all PRISM divers out there that really like the stock harness system and BC from SMI, we figured out that we can place 6 holes in the plate and mount the harness and BC from SMI directly to this plate just as the black one mounts to it. James

Hi James, thanks for the update. As for the tank mounts, have you looked into the G-snaps? Also, in place of the innertubes, maybe a pc of non slip contoured material, like what you used on the lower bucket support, would be more effective and appealing with either the stock velcro bands or another system.

Glad to hear that trim was good and I don't think that moving the lower tank tabs higher will be too big a deal. As long as there's a hand width of space to turn the buckett, it will be fine. I usually wind up hitting the bottom of the buckett a few times to loosen the seal, so I would ask that you make sure that whatever you put on the bottom of the plate to help locate the cowling, it should not stick out too far so as not to get in the way of the taps needed to break the bucket seal.

And why do you think the plate needs to be longer/extended?

Very glad to hear that the stock harness will be usable. I myself hope to integrate the upper velcro CL fastening point of the harness and add a waist web belt for the bottom part of the harness which I will loop a crotch strap and the 2 stock fastex CL lower mount pt. loops onto it. Might have to get a new velcro upper CL adapter from Cool Hardware as mine was butchered in the tech harness conversion...

***caveseeker7*** · 9th January 2007, 09:33

Quote: (Originally Posted by silent running)

Also, in place of the innertubes, maybe a pc of non slip contoured material, like what you used on the lower bucket support, would be more effective and appealing with either the stock velcro bands or another system.

Cam Strap Tension Pads from Deep Sea Supply, best I ever used, work like a charm.

**jstovall** · 12th January 2007, 01:20

Checked out the G-Snaps. Cool bracket. If anyone knows the dimensions of them please let us know. I will post some pics below to show the clearances we are working with, not much, and still be able to use the Cowling.

The Cam Strap Tension pads look nice as well. they might work. I'll order a couple pairs and see how we can use them.

Also will post a pic of the thread saver delrin caps for the bolts from the plate to the BP. Neat thing is, under the cap is milled out so wingnut and washer are under there as well. You can also see our makeshift handle, works.

Thanks again for all the input Gents.

silent running · 17th January 2007, 06:35

Hi James, just a thought: Why not get rid of the tank wings altogether and weld/put in place the G snap reciever to save some space and make it easier to remove the cylinders. Not sure if it will work or not...

silent running · 9th April 2007, 21:23

Hello all, just wanted to report on my 14 day trip to Ambon Indonesia with a prototype of the compact SS Prism plate. The plate worked great, it gave me the best trim I've ever had with just 2 x 1 kilo weights attached with pipe clamps to the top of the cyls. This was with a .5mm wetsuit and a web belt harness with the velcro tabs from the stock harness sewn onto the top slots of a Deep Sea Supply plastic travel harness plate.

As you can see from the pictures at the begining of this thread, the SS plate has a trim shape barely wider than the head, which makes mounting weight btw the wing, up high on the cylinders very easy. The trim shape also allows you to see more of the bucket seals, almost all the way around, a nice reassuring feature. The hour glass cutouts on the side also allow for easy routing of hoses btw the cyls and plate.

My fiberglass cowling fit on the unit very tightly, tight enough that I didn't need the bungees to hold it on. In the future, I will probably do as James has and drill a small hole in the bottom on each side of the cowling and bungee only the bottom part to the tank valves as fit at the top of the unit is very tight. With the unit asembled, cowling on, it sat upright perfectly, very stable and much easier to secure on the boat or anywhere else.

Because of it's trim size, I was able to fit the SS plate with the head attached and the loop inside a small wheeled carry on bag under the 46 inch limit on Singapore Airlines, which I think is the smallest carry-on dimension of the international carriers when I last checked. Only the harness, wing and cyls went in the checked baggage.

I didn't weigh the wheeled carry on bag, but then again neither did the airline. Joe Radomski was very right, they rarely do.

The only things I would like to see changed are:

-Make one in Aly for us warm water types so it's lighter and and allow one to keep as much weight as we like up top on the cyls. With the SS plate, 2 kilos and 30 cuft. OC BO, I was overweighted. I don't think they make .5 kilo weights.

-Find a good place for a webbing style plastic covered handle. Maybe it could be mounted from the top tank tabs, back away from the cables coming out of the head. As it stands now, I will not let any boat crew handle my unit for fear they will accidentally grab the cables coming from the head. Anything that solves this problem would allow me to doff the unit in the water and have the crew pull it up into the boat, saving me from humping up the ladder back into the boat in full gear, which is nearly impossible to do in a RIB. I'm sure all Prism divers will be gratetfull to anybody who can solve this problem once and for all.

-I would like to see if there's anyway to mount g-snaps to the tank tabs as the tanks did slip very slightly and allowed some weight to be put on my 1st stages and the swivels, not optimal for those of us with the old style valves without the rubber ball extentions. Gnaps also would allow for quicker cyl removal and make cutting/scraping up my soft, saltwater soaked skin less likely. One of my least favorite things about long trips is how beat up my hands get from all the equipment handling...

That's about it, I will post some pix of the new set-up with the 37lb Zeagle wing and plastic harness plate soon. Thanks very much to James and co. for lending me the plate to try. -Andy

**DeepBlueInnovation** · 10th April 2007, 00:35

Thanks for the report Andy. In relation to smaller weights, have a look for Bright weights, I don't use them myself, but have a couple of friends who do and they offer some great tank mounted, small increment solutions.

For the handle issue, I have purchased one of the Portland Oceaneering backplates and they make carrying the unit much easier. It would be relatively easy to have a stainless steel handle manufactured and attached to existing backplates. For anyone intent on retaining the standard plate and harness perhaps you could lobby Mr Routley of Narced @ 90 fame....

Cheers,

Ben.

**jstovall** · 10th April 2007, 02:30

Thank You Andy.

We are very pleased that you had a great trip, and made it back safely. We are glad the plate worked for you. And thanks for all the feedback. As stated before, the whole idea for the plate was so we could carry it on the plane, and keep it with us and out of the hands of the gorillas that load the luggage.
I agree with all of your suggestions. We have talked about them, and we are always open to more insight and thought.

So lets all go dive, enjoy ourselves, and return to tell others what they are missing. I got Bonaire, Cozumel and then Truk-Yap/Palau this year. Several trips to the gulf for spearfishing (OC) and the Flower Gardens. Not to mention those weekend trips to the lakes around here for an underwater fix.
Funny- it seems i work and live for my hobby. Couldn't think of another way to do it.

Thanks again from south Texas.

James

Underwaterbear · 10th April 2007, 04:27

Guys,

Nice work...that's a sweet looking plate for the Prism. I use a homemade adaptor and my old Stainless BP with my rig. I have it set up with no shoulder webbing...I use the Y piece from the stock harness and the CLs as the shoulder straps with an extra fastex pair on my waistband - it seems to work well and overcomes the awkward don and doff required when having to work my way into two sets of shoulder straps. Then, as a consequence of this set up, I've attached an armadillo Rebreather side mount kit...this is a sweet bit of gear. Check it out if you haven't used one.

So from my observations the only comments I'd make are firstly that I'd leave the tank mounts as you have them...means you can use any old cylinders without having to swap hard mounts and I really like the protection for the head the folded plate offers; and secondly, how much and when can I get one...!?

Actually no rush as just this morning I put my rig and all my household effects on the slow boat to Seattle...it'll be 8 weeks before I can even hope to dive it again. As an aside I got my entire rig incl. cylinders, wing, backplate and even a few tools, tub of grease, 2 smbs, torch, reels and vr3 in it's own tiny pelican case all inside the 1650 it originally came in....thank god it aint flying though I reckon it weighed 45kg!!

Cheers
Andrew

dive2dive2000 · 19th April 2007, 01:45

Quote: (Originally Posted by silent running)

Hello all, just wanted to report on my 14 day trip to Ambon Indonesia with a prototype of the compact SS Prism plate. The plate worked great, it gave me the best trim I've ever had with just 2 x 1 kilo weights attached with pipe clamps to the top of the cyls. This was with a .5mm wetsuit and a web belt harness with the velcro tabs from the stock harness sewn onto the top slots of a Deep Sea Supply plastic travel harness plate.

As you can see from the pictures at the begining of this thread, the SS plate has a trim shape barely wider than the head, which makes mounting weight btw the wing, up high on the cylinders very easy. The trim shape also allows you to see more of the bucket seals, almost all the way around, a nice reassuring feature. The hour glass cutouts on the side also allow for easy routing of hoses btw the cyls and plate.

My fiberglass cowling fit on the unit very tightly, tight enough that I didn't need the bungees to hold it on. In the future, I will probably do as James has and drill a small hole in the bottom on each side of the cowling and bungee only the bottom part to the tank valves as fit at the top of the unit is very tight. With the unit asembled, cowling on, it sat upright perfectly, very stable and much easier to secure on the boat or anywhere else.

Because of it's trim size, I was able to fit the SS plate with the head attached and the loop inside a small wheeled carry on bag under the 46 inch limit on Singapore Airlines, which I think is the smallest carry-on dimension of the international carriers when I last checked. Only the harness, wing and cyls went in the checked baggage.

I didn't weigh the wheeled carry on bag, but then again neither did the airline. Joe Radomski was very right, they rarely do.

The only things I would like to see changed are:

-Make one in Aly for us warm water types so it's lighter and and allow one to keep as much weight as we like up top on the cyls. With the SS plate, 2 kilos and 30 cuft. OC BO, I was overweighted. I don't think they make .5 kilo weights.

-Find a good place for a webbing style plastic covered handle. Maybe it could be mounted from the top tank tabs, back away from the cables coming out of the head. As it stands now, I will not let any boat crew handle my unit for fear they will accidentally grab the cables coming from the head. Anything that solves this problem would allow me to doff the unit in the water and have the crew pull it up into the boat, saving me from humping up the ladder back into the boat in full gear, which is nearly impossible to do in a RIB. I'm sure all Prism divers will be gratetfull to anybody who can solve this problem once and for all.

-I would like to see if there's anyway to mount g-snaps to the tank tabs as the tanks did slip very slightly and allowed some weight to be put on my 1st stages and the swivels, not optimal for those of us with the old style valves without the rubber ball extentions. Gnaps also would allow for quicker cyl removal and make cutting/scraping up my soft, saltwater soaked skin less likely. One of my least favorite things about long trips is how beat up my hands get from all the equipment handling...

That's about it, I will post some pix of the new set-up with the 37lb Zeagle wing and plastic harness plate soon. Thanks very much to James and co. for lending me the plate to try. -Andy

Hi Andy,

Did you find any problems or differences in installing and removing scrubber? Stiffness of steal plate as opposed to plastic, curious if this presented any problems.

8th January 2007, 14:29	#41 (permalink)
jstovall Supporting Member Current Rebreather/s: Prism Topaz Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: New Braunfels, TX Posts: 55	Re: Our compact plate for PRISM head and basket Well we put the plate in the water finally. and here are the results and changes we think need to be made. May omit some or forget to mention all, but it was over a few beers. Used a 5 mm suit, 3 mm hood and gloves, 40 cu ft BO, and canister light-needed NO extra weight to get down. This was a fresh water dive 60 ft for 30 min to check unit and plate out, besides for southern divers, 53 degree F water temp/50 degree air temp, wind blowing like we are in Chicago, it was COLD. Unit trimmed out fairly well. Could stay horizontal easily, no effort. Then we added a 1 pound ankle weight to strap at top of plate and just a squirt of air to BC and was head down feet up stone cold stable in the water. It was nice to see and feel. Cowling didn't move much at all. We didn't bang or pull on it in water, but was tight before and after the dive. Tanks stayed in place. After giant stride off dock, approx 1 ft from water, no movement or sliding was noted, hooray for innertubes. Wish we had better straps to hold tanks in place and still use cowling. Lower tank strap wing needs to come up 1 1/2- 2 inches, as the strap comes over the tank right at neck. half on neck and half on cylinder, would like the entire strap to be on the tank. But now we take away a little space of bucket grasping area. I don't think it should affect bucket removal. Going to extend the but plate area down 2-2 1/2 inches. May also weld a small 1 in angle to the back for cowling rest and attachment point with zuess clip or something similar. But the plate does need to be extended. And for all PRISM divers out there that really like the stock harness system and BC from SMI, we figured out that we can place 6 holes in the plate and mount the harness and BC from SMI directly to this plate just as the black one mounts to it. Still working on a Head protection piece that would just clip in place on this plate. We have another good idea but need to think on it a bit, different from the one i discussed with you earlier Stefan. We think its better. All in all the unit was very comfortable in the water. felt just as it did in training and other dives. Probably not heavy enough for dry suit, not sure if we will need any weight in salt water, but will throw in a couple of pounds in each CL pocket, or strap to BP up high. Going to Dive the Mighty "O" this weekend. taking unit. Will let you know how it goes, might even bring some pics back to post. Safe Diving. James
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9th January 2007, 09:15	#42 (permalink)
silent running Mature mouth breather Current Rebreather/s: Prism Topaz Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: U.S.A. Brooklyn, New York Posts: 1,777	Re: Our compact plate for PRISM head and basket Quote: (Originally Posted by jstovall) Could stay horizontal easily, no effort. Then we added a 1 pound ankle weight to strap at top of plate and just a squirt of air to BC and was head down feet up stone cold stable in the water. It was nice to see and feel. Cowling didn't move much at all. We didn't bang or pull on it in water, but was tight before and after the dive. Tanks stayed in place. After giant stride off dock, approx 1 ft from water, no movement or sliding was noted, hooray for innertubes. Wish we had better straps to hold tanks in place and still use cowling. Lower tank strap wing needs to come up 1 1/2- 2 inches, as the strap comes over the tank right at neck. half on neck and half on cylinder, would like the entire strap to be on the tank. But now we take away a little space of bucket grasping area. I don't think it should affect bucket removal. Going to extend the but plate area down 2-2 1/2 inches. May also weld a small 1 in angle to the back for cowling rest and attachment point with zuess clip or something similar. But the plate does need to be extended. And for all PRISM divers out there that really like the stock harness system and BC from SMI, we figured out that we can place 6 holes in the plate and mount the harness and BC from SMI directly to this plate just as the black one mounts to it. James Hi James, thanks for the update. As for the tank mounts, have you looked into the G-snaps? Also, in place of the innertubes, maybe a pc of non slip contoured material, like what you used on the lower bucket support, would be more effective and appealing with either the stock velcro bands or another system. Glad to hear that trim was good and I don't think that moving the lower tank tabs higher will be too big a deal. As long as there's a hand width of space to turn the buckett, it will be fine. I usually wind up hitting the bottom of the buckett a few times to loosen the seal, so I would ask that you make sure that whatever you put on the bottom of the plate to help locate the cowling, it should not stick out too far so as not to get in the way of the taps needed to break the bucket seal. And why do you think the plate needs to be longer/extended? Very glad to hear that the stock harness will be usable. I myself hope to integrate the upper velcro CL fastening point of the harness and add a waist web belt for the bottom part of the harness which I will loop a crotch strap and the 2 stock fastex CL lower mount pt. loops onto it. Might have to get a new velcro upper CL adapter from Cool Hardware as mine was butchered in the tech harness conversion...
(Online)

9th January 2007, 09:33	#43 (permalink)
*caveseeker7* Who loves ya, baby Current Rebreather/s: Sport Kiss Other Rebreather/s: Prism Topaz Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Too far from Neverland Posts: 5,325	Re: Our compact plate for PRISM head and basket Quote: (Originally Posted by silent running) Also, in place of the innertubes, maybe a pc of non slip contoured material, like what you used on the lower bucket support, would be more effective and appealing with either the stock velcro bands or another system. Cam Strap Tension Pads from Deep Sea Supply, best I ever used, work like a charm. __________________ Cheers Stefan "It is still a good day if you are on the green side of the grass! Su amigo Roberto!" Sponsor Lou in Race For Life!
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17th January 2007, 06:35	#45 (permalink)
silent running Mature mouth breather Current Rebreather/s: Prism Topaz Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: U.S.A. Brooklyn, New York Posts: 1,777	Re: Our compact plate for PRISM head and basket Hi James, just a thought: Why not get rid of the tank wings altogether and weld/put in place the G snap reciever to save some space and make it easier to remove the cylinders. Not sure if it will work or not...
(Online)

9th April 2007, 21:23	#46 (permalink)
silent running Mature mouth breather Current Rebreather/s: Prism Topaz Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: U.S.A. Brooklyn, New York Posts: 1,777	Re: Our compact plate for PRISM head and basket Hello all, just wanted to report on my 14 day trip to Ambon Indonesia with a prototype of the compact SS Prism plate. The plate worked great, it gave me the best trim I've ever had with just 2 x 1 kilo weights attached with pipe clamps to the top of the cyls. This was with a .5mm wetsuit and a web belt harness with the velcro tabs from the stock harness sewn onto the top slots of a Deep Sea Supply plastic travel harness plate. As you can see from the pictures at the begining of this thread, the SS plate has a trim shape barely wider than the head, which makes mounting weight btw the wing, up high on the cylinders very easy. The trim shape also allows you to see more of the bucket seals, almost all the way around, a nice reassuring feature. The hour glass cutouts on the side also allow for easy routing of hoses btw the cyls and plate. My fiberglass cowling fit on the unit very tightly, tight enough that I didn't need the bungees to hold it on. In the future, I will probably do as James has and drill a small hole in the bottom on each side of the cowling and bungee only the bottom part to the tank valves as fit at the top of the unit is very tight. With the unit asembled, cowling on, it sat upright perfectly, very stable and much easier to secure on the boat or anywhere else. Because of it's trim size, I was able to fit the SS plate with the head attached and the loop inside a small wheeled carry on bag under the 46 inch limit on Singapore Airlines, which I think is the smallest carry-on dimension of the international carriers when I last checked. Only the harness, wing and cyls went in the checked baggage. I didn't weigh the wheeled carry on bag, but then again neither did the airline. Joe Radomski was very right, they rarely do. The only things I would like to see changed are: -Make one in Aly for us warm water types so it's lighter and and allow one to keep as much weight as we like up top on the cyls. With the SS plate, 2 kilos and 30 cuft. OC BO, I was overweighted. I don't think they make .5 kilo weights. -Find a good place for a webbing style plastic covered handle. Maybe it could be mounted from the top tank tabs, back away from the cables coming out of the head. As it stands now, I will not let any boat crew handle my unit for fear they will accidentally grab the cables coming from the head. Anything that solves this problem would allow me to doff the unit in the water and have the crew pull it up into the boat, saving me from humping up the ladder back into the boat in full gear, which is nearly impossible to do in a RIB. I'm sure all Prism divers will be gratetfull to anybody who can solve this problem once and for all. -I would like to see if there's anyway to mount g-snaps to the tank tabs as the tanks did slip very slightly and allowed some weight to be put on my 1st stages and the swivels, not optimal for those of us with the old style valves without the rubber ball extentions. Gnaps also would allow for quicker cyl removal and make cutting/scraping up my soft, saltwater soaked skin less likely. One of my least favorite things about long trips is how beat up my hands get from all the equipment handling... That's about it, I will post some pix of the new set-up with the 37lb Zeagle wing and plastic harness plate soon. Thanks very much to James and co. for lending me the plate to try. -Andy Last edited by silent running : 9th April 2007 at 21:41. Reason: Piss poor spelling...
(Online)

10th April 2007, 00:35	#47 (permalink)
DeepBlueInnovation Prism #007 Current Rebreather/s: Prism Topaz Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 312	Re: Our compact plate for PRISM head and basket Thanks for the report Andy. In relation to smaller weights, have a look for Bright weights, I don't use them myself, but have a couple of friends who do and they offer some great tank mounted, small increment solutions. For the handle issue, I have purchased one of the Portland Oceaneering backplates and they make carrying the unit much easier. It would be relatively easy to have a stainless steel handle manufactured and attached to existing backplates. For anyone intent on retaining the standard plate and harness perhaps you could lobby Mr Routley of Narced @ 90 fame.... Cheers, Ben.
(Offline)

10th April 2007, 02:30	#48 (permalink)
jstovall Supporting Member Current Rebreather/s: Prism Topaz Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: New Braunfels, TX Posts: 55	Re: Our compact plate for PRISM head and basket Thank You Andy. We are very pleased that you had a great trip, and made it back safely. We are glad the plate worked for you. And thanks for all the feedback. As stated before, the whole idea for the plate was so we could carry it on the plane, and keep it with us and out of the hands of the gorillas that load the luggage. I agree with all of your suggestions. We have talked about them, and we are always open to more insight and thought. So lets all go dive, enjoy ourselves, and return to tell others what they are missing. I got Bonaire, Cozumel and then Truk-Yap/Palau this year. Several trips to the gulf for spearfishing (OC) and the Flower Gardens. Not to mention those weekend trips to the lakes around here for an underwater fix. Funny- it seems i work and live for my hobby. Couldn't think of another way to do it. Thanks again from south Texas. James
(Offline)

10th April 2007, 04:27	#49 (permalink)
Underwaterbear A Prismer in Megland Current Rebreather/s: Prism Topaz Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: May 2005 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 168	Re: Our compact plate for PRISM head and basket Guys, Nice work...that's a sweet looking plate for the Prism. I use a homemade adaptor and my old Stainless BP with my rig. I have it set up with no shoulder webbing...I use the Y piece from the stock harness and the CLs as the shoulder straps with an extra fastex pair on my waistband - it seems to work well and overcomes the awkward don and doff required when having to work my way into two sets of shoulder straps. Then, as a consequence of this set up, I've attached an armadillo Rebreather side mount kit...this is a sweet bit of gear. Check it out if you haven't used one. So from my observations the only comments I'd make are firstly that I'd leave the tank mounts as you have them...means you can use any old cylinders without having to swap hard mounts and I really like the protection for the head the folded plate offers; and secondly, how much and when can I get one...!? Actually no rush as just this morning I put my rig and all my household effects on the slow boat to Seattle...it'll be 8 weeks before I can even hope to dive it again. As an aside I got my entire rig incl. cylinders, wing, backplate and even a few tools, tub of grease, 2 smbs, torch, reels and vr3 in it's own tiny pelican case all inside the 1650 it originally came in....thank god it aint flying though I reckon it weighed 45kg!! Cheers Andrew
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19th April 2007, 01:45	#50 (permalink)
dive2dive2000 PRISM DIVER & LUVIN IT! Current Rebreather/s: Prism Topaz Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 784	Re: Our compact plate for PRISM head and basket Quote: (Originally Posted by silent running) Hello all, just wanted to report on my 14 day trip to Ambon Indonesia with a prototype of the compact SS Prism plate. The plate worked great, it gave me the best trim I've ever had with just 2 x 1 kilo weights attached with pipe clamps to the top of the cyls. This was with a .5mm wetsuit and a web belt harness with the velcro tabs from the stock harness sewn onto the top slots of a Deep Sea Supply plastic travel harness plate. As you can see from the pictures at the begining of this thread, the SS plate has a trim shape barely wider than the head, which makes mounting weight btw the wing, up high on the cylinders very easy. The trim shape also allows you to see more of the bucket seals, almost all the way around, a nice reassuring feature. The hour glass cutouts on the side also allow for easy routing of hoses btw the cyls and plate. My fiberglass cowling fit on the unit very tightly, tight enough that I didn't need the bungees to hold it on. In the future, I will probably do as James has and drill a small hole in the bottom on each side of the cowling and bungee only the bottom part to the tank valves as fit at the top of the unit is very tight. With the unit asembled, cowling on, it sat upright perfectly, very stable and much easier to secure on the boat or anywhere else. Because of it's trim size, I was able to fit the SS plate with the head attached and the loop inside a small wheeled carry on bag under the 46 inch limit on Singapore Airlines, which I think is the smallest carry-on dimension of the international carriers when I last checked. Only the harness, wing and cyls went in the checked baggage. I didn't weigh the wheeled carry on bag, but then again neither did the airline. Joe Radomski was very right, they rarely do. The only things I would like to see changed are: -Make one in Aly for us warm water types so it's lighter and and allow one to keep as much weight as we like up top on the cyls. With the SS plate, 2 kilos and 30 cuft. OC BO, I was overweighted. I don't think they make .5 kilo weights. -Find a good place for a webbing style plastic covered handle. Maybe it could be mounted from the top tank tabs, back away from the cables coming out of the head. As it stands now, I will not let any boat crew handle my unit for fear they will accidentally grab the cables coming from the head. Anything that solves this problem would allow me to doff the unit in the water and have the crew pull it up into the boat, saving me from humping up the ladder back into the boat in full gear, which is nearly impossible to do in a RIB. I'm sure all Prism divers will be gratetfull to anybody who can solve this problem once and for all. -I would like to see if there's anyway to mount g-snaps to the tank tabs as the tanks did slip very slightly and allowed some weight to be put on my 1st stages and the swivels, not optimal for those of us with the old style valves without the rubber ball extentions. Gnaps also would allow for quicker cyl removal and make cutting/scraping up my soft, saltwater soaked skin less likely. One of my least favorite things about long trips is how beat up my hands get from all the equipment handling... That's about it, I will post some pix of the new set-up with the 37lb Zeagle wing and plastic harness plate soon. Thanks very much to James and co. for lending me the plate to try. -Andy Hi Andy, Did you find any problems or differences in installing and removing scrubber? Stiffness of steal plate as opposed to plastic, curious if this presented any problems. __________________ Safe Diving, Martin "but what's the fun of getting what you need, instead of what you want?"
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