Back Plate Configuration vs. Jacket-style Configuration

Published

December 27, 2018

In our new, five-episode equipment series, GUE Instructor Dorota Czerny discusses the differences between a GUE-configured equipment set, consisting of a single tank, backplate, harness, wing, and long hose regulator system, and a jacket-style system that is most common in recreational diving. The comparison covers general components and goes into detail about streamlining, fit, and function; weighting options; managing out-of-gas situations in the two regulator configurations; and offers some advice for GUE-trained recreational divers.

The purpose of the series is not only to differentiate the two equipment configurations, but to provide GUE-trained recreational divers with an overview of an equipment set they may need to use when traveling to a destination where GUE-configured equipment is not available and they are not able to travel with their own system.

Chapter 1 is available now for free on DiveGUE.tv.

Click the image below to start the series.

Episode 1 – Introduction: The guests are entering the stage

In this episode, GUE Instructor Dorota Czerny introduces the two different equipment configurations, outlining the main components of a single tank system on both of them. You will learn the main reasons for creating this video, what the advantage of a jacket-style BCD is, and what the big advantage of the GUE system is. You’ll also get a glimpse of how Dorota got to know the long-hose, backplate configuration and what her first take was on that!

DiveGUE.tv was created to provide a supplementary educational platform for scuba diving enthusiasts. We believe these materials will increase global awareness of GUE training, thereby inspiring divers from around the world to establish and maintain a unified perspective, help ease diver anxiety, enhance class readiness, aid in skill maintenance, and encourage otherwise undecided or unsure divers to seek out training.

DiveGUE.tv is a production of Global Underwater Explorers (GUE), the 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to high-quality diver education and to exploration and conservation of the world’s aquatic environments. Learn more at www.GUE.com/about.