Info Beginners Guide To BP/W

[inquis]

I have only purchased the VDH Argonaut Wing #23 and I am nervous about it being too small

The air you'll use from a single 80 cuft talk is about 5 lbs. A 3 mm wetsuit loses about 6 lb of buoyancy at depth. If that is the configuration you're diving, you'll be fine with a wing lift at twice that. If diving colder water, you might be borderline, but not necessarily. Let us know and we can hopefully resolve any uncertainty.

 

[rongoodman]

I don’t think I’ve ever heard about testing your weight at the safety stop like you suggested before. But it totally makes sense. Thanks for that!

Just go a little head down and you can reach around and feel how much gas there is in the bottom of the wing. If it's more than a fistful or so, drop a little weight and check it again next time. There's no need to have the wing shrink wrapped around the tank.

 

[Saboteur]

Great thread. A couple of questions I could use opinions on. Just finished the drysuit course and will be renting for awhile until I decide on a suit type. I’m looking at a bp/w to accomodate salt and fresh ds diving, which I’d buy now to get used to it and avoid renting a larger lift bcd. This is for single tank diving. I can get a very good setup that has a 38# wing, horseshoe style, stainless plate and all rigging. The lift capacity should be fine but the wing appears to be useable for singles and doubles (spacing between the wings chambers looks quite wide). There is an sta. Is this type of setup less desireable for single tank diving and better suited for doubles. Is it better to just configure specifically for singles.

 

[Desertlifter]

Great thread. A couple of questions I could use opinions on. Just finished the drysuit course and will be renting for awhile until I decide on a suit type. I’m looking at a bp/w to accomodate salt and fresh ds diving, which I’d buy now to get used to it and avoid renting a larger lift bcd. This is for single tank diving. I can get a very good setup that has a 38# wing, horseshoe style, stainless plate and all rigging. The lift capacity should be fine but the wing appears to be useable for singles and doubles (spacing between the wings chambers looks quite wide). There is an sta. Is this type of setup less desireable for single tank diving and better suited for doubles. Is it better to just configure specifically for singles.

If you aren't going to use doubles, I'd say just get a wing for singles. I don't use an STA for my BP and it works fine. The straps secure the tank more than the wing - otherwise the tank would be flopping around when you don't have much air in the wing.

 

[fnog]

Great thread. A couple of questions I could use opinions on. Just finished the drysuit course and will be renting for awhile until I decide on a suit type. I’m looking at a bp/w to accomodate salt and fresh ds diving, which I’d buy now to get used to it and avoid renting a larger lift bcd. This is for single tank diving. I can get a very good setup that has a 38# wing, horseshoe style, stainless plate and all rigging. The lift capacity should be fine but the wing appears to be useable for singles and doubles (spacing between the wings chambers looks quite wide). There is an sta. Is this type of setup less desireable for single tank diving and better suited for doubles. Is it better to just configure specifically for singles.

Many wings for singles contain a pair of ruberry wedges that prevent the tank from rolling about. This makes the STA moot and keeps the tank closer to your spine (and your gravity and buoyancy centres).
If you find a good wing which has no such pseudo-STA groove, you can make a DIY pair of flats to slide on their respective tank straps... or you can live without them: with a good firm tension on the straps that keep tank+wing+plate together, the tank will not wobble about, so STA is superfluous (aka covidous )
So what you may want in the end are maybe a pair of these

Dive Rite Quick Release Adapter for Narrow Tank Strap

Use this adapter to convert the Dive Rite Low Profile Tank Strap to a quick release strap

www.divegearexpress.com

(or some Alibaba carbon fiber clones for same price)
and no STA.

 

[rongoodman]

If the wing is wide enough for doubles it's likely to wrap around a single tank, trapping air and causing you endless aggravation. Buy a singles wing if you're going to dive a single tank.

 

[Saboteur]

If the wing is wide enough for doubles it's likely to wrap around a single tank, trapping air and causing you endless aggravation. Buy a singles wing if you're going to dive a single tank.

Yes, this is what I am thinking.

 

[Saboteur]

Regarding the 11” hole spacing for the wing, do most manufacturers of plates and wings follow this convention… making backplates and wings from different companies interchangeable.

 

[swimlikethefish]

Yes, any commercially available plate will have 11" spacing.

 

[Wallowa]

Diving XDeep dbl wing and steel plate with twin 63cf als...

My question: Does everyone dismantle the tanks, wing and plate after a dive for rinsing and storage? Or do some leave every thing battened down, rinse and store in that configuration?

Thanks...