The dive supervisor who told me to ditch my steel backplate for a stainless one

He said the steel would rust out after 50 dives in the Gulf. It did on dive 47 and I had to cut my 3 day charter short. Anyone else deal with a gear recommendation that backfired?

2 comments

2 Comments

piperwhite17d ago

Hold up, I gotta push back on this a bit. I've been running a stainless steel backplate for almost 200 dives now in the Gulf and it's still looking great, no rust at all. The key is making sure you're getting actual 316L stainless, not some cheap knockoff that's just regular steel painted to look fancy. A lot of those dive shop specials in tourist spots sell you budget gear and call it professional grade. I rinse mine with fresh water every time after a dive trip, and I give it a good vinegar soak once a month to keep any salt deposits from building up. Sounds like you and price.tara both got burned by bad materials, but that doesn't mean all stainless plates are junk. If you're buying from a reputable manufacturer and taking basic care of it, a steel backplate will outlast pretty much everything else in your kit.

price.tara17d ago

Dive 47, huh? That's almost exactly where mine gave out too. I had a brand new stainless steel backplate from a dive shop in Key West, and by dive 43 the clips were already pitting and the plate was starting to flake. Totally ruined a week-long trip to the Flower Gardens. People always say stainless is the way to go, but if it's not 316L or something better, it's just marketing hype. Honestly, I switched back to a standard aluminum plate and never looked back.