Anyone ever adapt a Zeagle wing to a backplate?

[IceBergSlim]

I am going warm water diving and have no rec bc or wing. I was thinking about adapting an old Ranger wing to my backplate. Has anyone ever tried it? It seems pretty simple. I was planning on sewing together a gusset of webbing and nylon, putting a few grommets in and..well that's it.

I don't dive warm often and would hate to have to buy a wing I will only use a few times.

 

[yabbadabbadoo]

i adapted my recon to my bp.it didnt have the grommets,they were on the nylon harness.i just made sure the wing was secured .with a little inguinity your setup should work.are you using a sta or is your backplate slotted for the tank bands?

 

[The Kraken]

Yep, took the bladder from my Zeagle "Tech" and put it on my B/P.

the K

 

[PB4UDIVEDRY]

I used a Ranger wing on my aluminum bp until I bought a normal wing.
My bp has the slots for the cam bands. I laced a 3/4" nylon strap thru the cam slots and then thru the plastic thingys on the ranger wing, pulled them tight to the wing and everything was fine. The strap I used was one peice, so when everything was secured, the strap made an X inside the bp, so when wearing the bp I never felt the strap. The only thing that sucked about it was that looooong inflator hose.
Give it a try, and good luck.

 

[IceBergSlim]

I used a Ranger wing on my aluminum bp until I bought a normal wing.
My bp has the slots for the cam bands. I laced a 3/4" nylon strap thru the cam slots and then thru the plastic thingys on the ranger wing, pulled them tight to the wing and everything was fine. The strap I used was one peice, so when everything was secured, the strap made an X inside the bp, so when wearing the bp I never felt the strap. The only thing that sucked about it was that looooong inflator hose.
Give it a try, and good luck.

That sounds easire than the contraption I had in mind. I figure I will have to attach the shoulder bits to my webbing with something andbe done with it. Thanks

 

[Black Jack]

The Zeagle BP has holes drilled in the plate so you can mount a Zeagle wing using the plastic slots on each side of the wing. You could either buy a Zeagle plate that includes the screws or drill them yourself on your BP.

 

[PB4UDIVEDRY]

I forgot about the shoulder strap holder oner things on the wing. I put the bp shoulder straps thru them and secured them with small peices of 2" webbing and 2 tri glides on each shoulder strap. I used this setup because I thought the wing would slide down on the shoulder straps, but, I don't think it was really needed. If i would do it again, I would just slide the bp shoulder straps thru the elastic shoulder strap things on the wing.
Hope this helps.

Dan

 

[BuoyantC]

I have a related question...
My Ranger has always felt very draggy in the water. (trust me, it's neither weighting nor trim). I've tried a Bp/wing setup (OMS wing) with about the same sized bladder as the Zeagle and it feels very streamlined. What's the difference? I concidered adapting my Ranger to a plate once, but I'm not sure it's worth the bother.

Dennis

 

[IceBergSlim]

I have a related question...
My Ranger has always felt very draggy in the water. (trust me, it's neither weighting nor trim). I've tried a Bp/wing setup (OMS wing) with about the same sized bladder as the Zeagle and it feels very streamlined. What's the difference? I concidered adapting my Ranger to a plate once, but I'm not sure it's worth the bother.

Dennis

Depends on what sort of harness you were using with the OMS. Was it a simple webbing setup or one of those IQ Packs? The webbing harness should have provided a much more streamline profile than the Ranger. The Ranger has a lot of padding and other (IMO) useless junk.

I am planning on using the wing from the Ranger on a few warm water dives. I have cut off all the silly stuff Zeagle adds to make it more streamlined.

 

[BuoyantC]

Depends on what sort of harness you were using with the OMS. Was it a simple webbing setup or one of those IQ Packs? The webbing harness should have provided a much more streamline profile than the Ranger. The Ranger has a lot of padding and other (IMO) useless junk

IceBergSlim,

The harness was a deluxe harness with releases and padded straps. It also has Dive Rite weight pouches, so it doesn't look that much more trim than my Zeagle. The only thing I can think of is the actual shape of the bladder as I move through the water. The OMS wing lies pretty flat, whereas the Zeagle seems to have a drogue chute sort of shape.

As for trimming off "junk" from the Zeagle, what can you trim off? There doesn't seem to be much that doesn't have a function.

Dennis