Are we over obsessed with Wing lift accuracy?

[scubafanatic]

I don't do wing lift calculations - I just know how much gas I put into any given wing...and whether that wing has surplus capacity for my needs, or whether it is insufficient. I won't rush to the shops... I never upgrade anything that works ok... but on my next purchase, I will get something more adequate, if it is available.

For a user buying their first wing, without the benefit of experience, trial and error.... then the 'wing lift calculator' gives them a good starting point. Most importantly, it prevents them buying a wing with inadequate buoyancy. It also prevents new users buying something monstrous 'just in case'.

I'd hazard a guess that a lot of us who recommend the 'wing lift calculator' don't actually use it ourselves. Why should we? We're already wing users.

If it stops just one noobie going out and buying a 90lb OMS wing "suitable for single and doubles", then it's worth its weight in gold

I dunno, I kinda like having easy ways to spot newbies before I accidentally get paired off with one on rent-a-buddy dives......

 

[scubafanatic]

...I think I'm more obsessed with my Fastex genuine plastic QD (aka 'Quick Death') Transpac buckles catastrophically exploding in a hail of shrapnel and sinking my liveaboard, please don't give me anything esle to worry about!

 

[blake7]

Some of the most effortless and delightful cruising I've done underwater was using the DSS 17 lb travel wing with a thin wetsuit and an Al80. It's almost as though you don't have gear. One of my only regrets about going universally dry for diving is not being able to use that little wing any more.

Which wing do you use now for tropics diving and your drysuit? How much weight do you have to use with your drysuit and tropic undergarments? What are your tropic undergarments?

 

[DevonDiver]

What are your tropic undergarments?

I'm just sat here waiting for someone to say "Victoria's Secret".

 

[TSandM]

Well, in Mexico, I use double Al80s with a 7 lb v-weight. That's in fresh and brackish water. In Egypt, I dove double Al80s with 17 lbs on a belt, with a Kydex plate.

I honestly can't remember what I've ended up using with a single Al tank and a dry suit in Maui, but I'm about to get a reminder.

I use my 30 lb DSS horseshoe wing for single tank diving in warm water now. I have a Deep Outdoors 40 lb doubles wing.

 

[mahjong]

Lots of factors to consider, besides the wing calculator. Wing shape is an issue, given what kind of tank(s) you are diving and your own height, as someone suggested. Also, what kind of diving you are doing. Boat diving, for example, I need to doff my rig in the water before climbing over the boat's pontoon. Single tank diving, I dive an LP95, with 18lbs of trim on the tank bands and 10lbs ditchable on my waist. I use a 4lb DSS short SS plate. My go to single tank wing is an 40lb Oxy Mach 5. On my first boat dive with this configuration I ditched my 10lbs of waist weight, clipped off my rig to the line, and then doffed the rig with the Oxy fully inflated. The rig sank like a rock! Where a 40lb wing is fine with me in the rig, it's not with my out of the rig, at least with my weights configured this way. Another 40# wing might just float the rig--the Oxy is so trim that it cannot fully inflate, with the thick tank and the trim weights.

I mainly dive double MP72's with a 38lb Agir horseshoe wing. I need only the 10lbs of ditchable weight. With this rig, if I ditch my 10lbs of weight, the 38# Agir floats the rig with no problem.

 

[Parsons]

Is it possible to have a good wing setup that can be used for LP 80 twins up to, say HP 120 twins while still using the same drysuit and undergarmets? Or is this to much of a gas change?


DP

 

[cool_hardware52]

Is it possible to have a good wing setup that can be used for LP 80 twins up to, say HP 120 twins while still using the same drysuit and undergarmets? Or is this to much of a gas change?


DP

2 x 80 is ~12 lbs of air or nitrox and 2 x 120's ~18 lbs of air or nitrox, so about 6 lbs difference. If the undies and suit stay the same it's reasonable to use the same wing for both. In practice the dives where 160 cu ft of back gas make sense, and the dives that require 240 cu ft of back gas could differ enough in runtime and depth and temperature to make using the same undies problematic. You need to look a the total picture.

Tobin

 

[Parsons]

I don't see the suit and garmet changeing. 60 min on the bottom on the bottom of Great Lakes is enough time for me and the team and I have no problems. So the 6lbs between the setup is not to much? Setup a good wing lift number for the twin 120s and still have a good system with the smaller twins?

 

[cool_hardware52]

Require wing lift is a function of both exposure suit buoyancy and the weight of your back gas. If the max difference between your two sets ups is ~6 lbs of gas the same wing is very likely to wrk ok for both.

This is a prime example of *why* I find wing recommendations based on cylinders alone to be suspect, as it ignores the suit buoyancy.

Tobin