Stainless steel backplates are most popular with saltwater divers and divers using aluminum tanks and/or drysuits. The Mares XR Backplate is 316 marine grade stainless steel XR backplate with a flat matte finish weighs† approximately { 4.2 lb | 1.9 kg } and it is compatible with Mares XR Padding Kit.

The Mares XR backplate features a modern laser cut design:

• 3 mm version weighs† approximately { 4.2 lb | 1.9 kg }.
• { 11 in | 28 cm } centers mounting with three holes for height adjustability and a lozenge slot that allows easy assembly on doubles bolts without alignment concerns.
• { 2 in | 5.1 cm } slots on 6mm plate accepts directly threaded tank cam bands for single cylinder diving, improving stability by making the use of a single tank adapter optional. †
• { 2 in | 5.1 cm } horizontal and angled strap slots to allow your choice of straight or cross-over shoulder strap mounting.
• { 2 in | 5.1 cm } slot at the base to accommodate a crotch strap.
• { 3/8 in | 1 cm } perimeter holes (four on each side and four at the base) for mounting accessories such as light canisters, butt plates, inflation bottles, lumbar pads, and surface marking buoys.
• Rounded corners and all edges are deburred to reduce wear on the harness and wing. The lower corners have a slight bend for comfort.
• { 15.75 in | 40.0 cm } high and { 10.63 in | 27.0 cm } wide at the base, { 8.75 in | 22.2 cm } wide at the top before the corner curve, with "V" depth of { 1.6 in | 4.1 cm }.
• 316 marine grade passivated stainless steel with a flat matte finish and stamped Mares XR logo.
• Compatible with the Mares XR Padding Kit.

† The Mares XR 3mm Stainless Backplate has an issue with incompatibility of the tank strap slot alignment with the Mares XR wings. In order to use the Mares XR3mm Stainless Backplate with a Mares XR brand wing for single tank diving, a single tank adapter (STA) is required because the tank straps cannot be directly threaded through both the plate and wing as is typical of most designs. Note this issue does NOT affect the Mares XR 3mm Aluminum or 6mm Stainless Backplates, which do NOT require an STA for use with Mares XR wings. Also, the issue does NOT affect the use of the 3mm Stainless Backplate with doubles. Mares is aware of the issue, which they tell us will be corrected with the next manufacturing run of 3mm S/S backplates in summer 2021.

† Although Mares documentation officially lists the weights as 2.5 kg our own measurements listed above disagree significantly when taken using multiple electronic scales and averaging across multiple items without including packaging. The Mares XR backplate is also available in an extra thick 6 mm version that weighs† approximately { 8.5 lb | 3.85 kg } for divers who wish to transfer even more weight off their waist.