bp/w advice - OxyCheq, others..

[rhwestfall]

with his size/shape, it might be of benefit to not go one-piece for the harness.... IJS...

---------- Post added February 18th, 2015 at 01:01 PM ----------

he may also have some real estate for weight pouches on the waist band...

---------- Post added February 18th, 2015 at 01:02 PM ----------

I do like to tuck a set of XS pouches up against the plate if room permits

 

[tbone1004]

agreed Bob.

Don, ask to try a plate with a one piece harness, one with the Dive Rite Deluxe harness, and if the deluxe isn't comfortable, try the Transplate. They'll have all of these in stock and might have one on a plate already for you to try, worst case it takes 10 minutes to thread them on to check it out.

 

[Dave616]

with his size/shape, it might be of benefit to not go one-piece for the harness.... IJS...

You are probably correct. I missed that part.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[tbone1004]

Don, talk to John, ask him to see his custom plate, IIRC it's like 16-18lbs, enormous. Fred Tagge makes custom plates in crazy thicknesses, so it may be worth emailing him and seeing what he has on hand in the standard 16" plates. He used to have all sorts of crazy thicknesses available to get the plates up to pretty darned heavy, and if you read reviews, build quality is second to none. Stick with DSS if you want the weight plates for versatility of taking the extra weight on and off, but it might be worth looking into Fred's plates as well. He and Tobin go WAY back

His current email is
fredtgear@att.net

 

[KevinNM]

I ran into a guy working for a big diver operator using an Oxycheq BP/W in Hawaii. Original wing, looked beat up as hell, but still worked fine after 5-8 years of daily use. But he agreed that customer service was not ideal, which was why his operation had dropped them and was stocking Hollis BP/W.

 

[eelnoraa]

I have been using Oxcheq MkV 40lb for since 2009. Here are my roses and thorns

The good;
- Very tough outter shell. It uses think nylon with unrathan coating inside. I dont see how one can damage this wing
- very narrow and long, very low profile. If you ever doublt about lift, get the 40lb version. It is just slightly bigger than the 30lb. You will not likely notice above and below surface.

The not so good:
- The tough outer shell is also very stiff and inflexible. Packing this wing for travel is difficult. So not recommended if you travel to dive a lot
- It is so narrow that with tank mounted, the wing won't fully inflate especially with 8" tanks. I did control test and found Oxy 40lb give less lift than Halcyon 30lb wing with LP95 mounted.
- The inner blader is very large, folded inside the shell on all edge. This wing vent noticably slower than my Halcyon, I think the folded bladder is the the cause here.

Overall, it is a good wing. Being tough and narrow has both advantage is disadvantage. My only disappointment is they cut corner in the bladder. Beside this, I also have halcyon elcipse 30lb, and I have used DSS wing. Although both not as tough or narrow as Oxycheq, but I think they are both better wing, but they also cost more tho.

 

[NAM001]

TS&Ms ; post #2 is as right as it can be.

MY rig is a dss steel/kydex plate with single harness. I use the bolt on weights when I go nto sea water that is too cool to shed the wet suit. I at one time used the 30# wing of DSS's but it did not work out fo rme because of the hose placement right behnd the neck. I am using LP tanks so they are 8"'s. The wing was a no sta variety and with that the tank fits closer to the plate and ends up squeezing the wing. The wing that is a 30 will only inflate to say 25 at best. I am currently going to a 40# oxycheq wing for those dives I can wear my lavacore. I found that with the wet suit all was well but when I used the lavacore the 30 was not enough to keep me with the full 120lp faber on the surface comfortably. The oxycheq is a narrow wing (14") and really does a good job with control of the runnning bubble as mentioned on other posts. If you are not a warm water diver and will always be divning a wet suit then the 30 should be enough if not more than you should ever need. I have 3 30's and will sooon have a 40. I like the inflator hose over the left shoulder fause it does not interfere witht he tank valve behind my head and that the hose appears longer because it starts on the shoulder and not behind the neck. If oxycheq is a consideration you will be hard pressed to find any wing with any significant improvement's. Besides that i like not having to deel with an sta.

 

[buddhasummer]

the x-tek thread has a lot of information on it.

Sta is determined by the wing, not the backplate, i can't think of any backplates that don't have cam band slots anymore, though there is a dive rite plate without them in my living room right now.

Xt-lite isn't going to do a whole lot for taking weight off of your belt though i suspect you're still overweighted by a bit and switching to a bp/w will likely shed a few pounds just by nature of wing vs massive stab jacket. Xt-lite is only about 2lbs, so you'll want a full ss plate to shed 5lbs. If you're going to be flying to destinations outside of the country and can't put it in a carryon then it might factor in, but for local diving get the heaviest plate you can. Depending on cost, dss does make a large plate which is wider than others and weighs close to 6lbs vs 5lbs of normal sized plates, they also sell weight plates that can bolt onto the backplate which are 8lbs for that pair. So with ss cam bands at 1lb each, you can take 16lbs off of your belt with that setup. Downside is it isn't cheap, $330 for the backplate and weight plates, but their weight plates only fit their rig and depending on how antsy you are to ditch lead, it may help.

Oxycheq wings are very high quality but they use a very thick inner bladder material that is not particularly easy to pack because it is very stiff, cs is probably not the best in the industry if you have issues, but you shouldn't have any issues.
cave adventurers - single tank wings - marianna, florida usa - never undersold!
i understand supporting lds, but make sure you aren't getting ripped off, edd has great pricing and if you call may be even lower, the wings are very expensive though.

Steel tanks will also help your situation, worthington hp 100's over the other brands are 2.5lbs negative when empty vs most other hp steels at 1.3, so that alone will take 7lbs off of your weight belt vs an al80. Pst lp104's are 3.3lbs negative and you can usually find a set of double 104's for $400-$500, break them into singles, and if you buy the dss plate with the weight plates that would take away your weight belt altogether.

As far as shops go, before you buy, go visit crazy john at northeast scuba supply, he is a great resource, great instructor/diver, and always has some great deals on gear. He is a deep sea supply dealer, as well as oxycheq, dive rite, and many others.

agir...

---------- Post added February 19th, 2015 at 04:41 AM ----------

Agir make a heavy 5.1kg plate, it's 6mm. I own one and use divibg dry. It's stupid expensive.

 

[RJP]

I have been using Oxcheq MkV 40lb for since 2009. Here are my roses and thorns

The good;
- Very tough outter shell. It uses think nylon with unrathan coating inside. I dont see how one can damage this wing
- very narrow and long, very low profile. If you ever doublt about lift, get the 40lb version. It is just slightly bigger than the 30lb. You will not likely notice above and below surface.

The not so good:
- The tough outer shell is also very stiff and inflexible. Packing this wing for travel is difficult. So not recommended if you travel to dive a lot
- It is so narrow that with tank mounted, the wing won't fully inflate especially with 8" tanks. I did control test and found Oxy 40lb give less lift than Halcyon 30lb wing with LP95 mounted.
- The inner blader is very large, folded inside the shell on all edge. This wing vent noticably slower than my Halcyon, I think the folded bladder is the the cause here.

Overall, it is a good wing. Being tough and narrow has both advantage is disadvantage. My only disappointment is they cut corner in the bladder. Beside this, I also have halcyon elcipse 30lb, and I have used DSS wing. Although both not as tough or narrow as Oxycheq, but I think they are both better wing, but they also cost more tho.

I don't think the Oxycheq 40# wing gives any more lift than their 30# wing. On a Galapagos trip it struggled to float my rig - AL80, 6lb plate, 6lb STA, 8lbs of lead, regs, lights. And, while built like a tank I can confirm that it PACKS like a tank as well. Heavier and takes up a LOT of room in a suitcase. I have replaced it with a Halcyon Eclipse 30# wing.

People talk about Oxycheq wings being "tough" but I think they are far tougher than needed. Certainly for the average recreational diver. My Halcyon Evolve 60# doubles wing has been inside some pretty tight spots in a few hundred wrecks. Still looks like it's brand new. I just bought a used 40# Halcyon Evolve doubles wing (which also looks brand new) for next week's Truk trip; the seller was able to fold it up and fit it and the inflator/hose into a standard size overnight box. I used one of these on my last Truk trip and it made it through lots of tight places on 57 wreck dives without a scratch.

As eelnora points out... the Halcyon are much more expensive.

 

[dberry]

Wow, thanks for all the input, Folks! Here's what I'm taking away from this thread so far; feel free to correct anything I misunderstood.

(to newbs finding this thread in the distant future, I'm the OP summarizing the comments of the experienced posters)

-> OxyCheq wings:
-- are a quality product at a moderate price point (**any disagreement there?)
-- reliable; built VERY tough, possibly more than needed for recreational divers
-- downside: stiff, heavier = harder to pack for travel
-- relatively narrow profile (good), little difference between drag of 30# and 40# wings
-- narrow profile means may not inflate fully with 8" tanks (not so good).
-- some LDSs have stopped carrying oxycheq (maybe because of unresponsive customer service.)

-> 40# vs smaller wing - can you have too big a wing?:
-- a wing that is only partially inflated can be harder to dump
-- the oxycheq 40# may not provide much more lift than their 30# in practice (RJP, post #19)
-- a bigger wing will have more drag (although this may not be significant)
-- more bulk and weight when traveling
-- positives: posts in other threads talk of wishing for more lift, moving from 30# to 36#.
-- greater lift is usually needed for warm water dives (less lift from thinner wetsuit / dry suit).

-> Regarding my (OP) strategy of managing ballast - keeping enough ditchable lead for safety, while avoiding a weight belt:
(I have needed ca. 24-27# of lead in 60-70F water dives with a rental jacket BCD; I would prefer an integrated weight system.)

-- Add some weight to the rig (backplate material, bolted on weights, and/or trim pockets that can't easily be ditched.)
-- for safety, will want some minimum (10#?) in accessible, quick-release pockets attached to the harness.
-- More weight on the rig means extra lift needed at the surface (to keep rig floating)
-- less ditchable lead means less speedy ascents (or more work) in emergencies at depth.
-- may
-- soft lead (pellets, spent shot) in bags is more comfortable against the body (but won't be available when traveling)
-- trade-off: ballast can be rented when traveling, but weight bolted on the rig travels with you.

-> Harnesses: Adjustable vs. simple

-- Adjustable more expensive
-- experienced divers dislike the (unnecessary) complexity, eventually switch to simple anyway.
?? 1 or 2 comments suggest that adjustable may be better suited for my ample body shape
?? do you have to change the harness much when switching from a 3mm to 7mm suit? Is THAT a potential advantage to the adjustable harness for those of us who don't want to invest in multiple rigs?

As far as my own (OP) buying options: The oxycheq 40# + adjustable harness + SS backplate isn't a bad choice, assuming John's (NESS) price is good. I might consider cutting costs with a simple harness, or add cost with a heavier SS backplate. I'm also worried about how the "little things" will add up to a good chunk of change (pockets, clips, straps, etc.), but I'm more than willing to shop around if necessary.

Of course, if anyone out there has a great used rig to sell at a fantastic price, just send me a PM :blinking:

Thanks again to the posters willing to share their experience.
-Don