brand new BP&W setup, really excited - but how to weight it? Trim pockets?

[gasket]

Woz/Steve - thank you.

Yes, I'm diving in a 5mm wetsuit and I don't think I need a STA as both cambands pass all the way through both the backplate and the wing and the wing itself has a pair of the little stabiliser rubbers for a single tank too.


OK - I think I have a sensible solution here if anyone would care to comment:

Based on the assumption that my BP&W setup with aluminium plate would require the same or less weight than my past Aqualung Zuma BCD (that was 7-8kg but likely was overweighted. Bear in mind I only do single tank diving in Mediterranean or warmer water in a 5mm wetsuit) - then having the same 8kg capcity on the new setup should be plenty.

I want to have as little 'bulk' on the rig as possible.

So, here goes:

-my two Mares trim pockets go on the upper tank band
-I buy a pair of the small XDeep weight pockets. These hold a maximum of 2kg each (so are really compact, I think the photo actually shows the medium) and are quick release - but held by a good quality pinch clip. So to all intents and purposes they are just the same as a pair of trim pockets, just adding that little bit of a 'ditchable' factor. They are also one of the few pockets that physically bolt onto the backplate so are sure not to slide around.

That lot gives me a maximum weight capacity of 8kg and lets me distribute it around without having any oversized pockets with weight flopping around inside them.


If in the future I want to move the weight out of the XDeep pockets and onto the camband I can just pick up another cheap pair of mares pockets.

Sound sensible?

I could go for the medium pocket (which is still quite compact) but that would give me a max weight capacity of 10kg (2x2kg camband trim pockets and 2x3kg in the medium pockets) which seems excessive.

[Energy58]

With a very similar set up to you I dive in the sea with about 4kg less in a 2*12L steel twinset wing (double bladder although that makes minimal difference) with an aluminium BP than in the (fairly heavy - Sherwood Scuba AVID) BCD set up which I use for teaching. I also have a single tank wing with a stainless BP & NAS stainless single tank adapters - that needs about 3kg less than the BCD set up. That should give you a reasonable starting point if you have your weighting right for your BCD.
The only other point I would add is that the manifold/regs combo is quite heavy so you need to be a little careful of how high you mount the weights if you are not to be face planting into the sea bed (like I did when I switched to twins!) I use a weight harness when in a drysuit but a belt in a wetsuit in warm water as there is only about 1-2kg on it and its fine. You can mount some weight on the cylinders or as a v weight (which also helps with the top-heavy tendency) but I find the twinset heavy enough as it is to manhandle without adding a few kg of lead to it as well.

[bottle maker]

Just a tip for your ditchable weight, fasten about 0.5 meter of yellow webbing to the weight. If you drop them instead of disappearing into a soft bottom the webbing is visible making finding and recovery easier.

Graham

[gasket]

Brilliant - that's really helpful - thank you (I like the tip re: the bright webbing too)

I use little Aqualung Mikron regs and stage so they're very light indeed (thinking of the nose forward reference above).

So - all sorted. Just ordered the Small XDeep pockets and confirmed they're in stock (there's a couple of 10% off codes floating around at the moment).

So - this lot gives me 4 pockets (two on tank bands and 2 on waist), each of which can take up to 2kg of weight for a maximum of 8kg - half of which is ditchable. Should let me evenly distribute as well which has always been an issue in the past.

Thank you all very much for your help with this.