bp/wings

[tharg]

going to a hog setup. what wing would you get for a singel tank. im looking at the oxchang mach v or a dive rite venture wing. i don't no any thing about a bp/wing setup any help would be nice. thanks

 

[mts0628]

Hey tharg:

You will have to provide more information if you want a better tailored answer. How much weight do you use, how much do you weigh, what kind of water are you diving in, the type of exposure suit you wear, etc? If you don't have your heart totally set on a Dive Rite or Oxycheq, give Tobin at Deep Sea Supply a call. He will ask you questions and then give you the scoop on what is best for you. His prices are great too.

On the other hand, if you want one of the wings you specified, I am sure one of the resident experts can help you better than I can help you. There is a ton of help here and probably a lot of people with better brand specific help. Good luck.

With kindest regards,
Thomas

 

[rongoodman]

DSS is popular around here, as is Oxycheq and Halcyon. I use a Halcyon 30# Eclipse and SS plate, standard Hog webbing harness. The Venture seems large for a single tank wing to me.

 

[DeNomad]

Another vote for Deep Sea Supply, pretty slick.

Anyway, you basically want a wing that provides you with the minimal amount of lift required for your diving. This is done as per Tobin's quote below:

Any BC needs to meet two criteria:

1) Be able to float your rig at the surface with full bottles if you ditch it

2) Be able to compensate for the maximum change in buoyancy of your exposure suit.

A couple examples. I make some assumptions here because you did not provide any buoyancy info on your suit.

Single Tank Rig

I will assume that your Dryusuit with minimum gas in it is about 24 lbs positive.
***This may not be the case. You should test your own suit***

Rig

SS plate and harness ~-6 lbs
Reg -2
Full HP 100 -11

Total with a full tank -19 lbs
Total with an empty tank ~-11 lbs

If your suit is +24 and the rig provides 11 of ballast with an empty tank you should need about 13 lbs of weight belt.

If you were to suffer a total failure of your suit, i.e. suit torn open, you could loose all 24 lbs of buoyancy, but no more than that. This is of course unlikely, but it is the worse case scenario.

24 > 19. That means you need a singles wing of greater than 24 lbs. Something in the 26 - 30 lbs range is a reasonable choice.

How buoyant would your suit need to be to require a 40 lbs wing, or a 60?


Doubles rig

SS plate and harness -6
Dual regs -5
Bands and manifold -5
2 x hp 100 full of air or nitrox -21
Can light -2

Total with full tanks -39
Total with empty tanks -23

You need to start the dive negative by the weight of your Backgas 2 x 100 = ~16 lbs of air or nitrox.

You should add another 2-3 lbs to allow for extra suit inflation, no shrink wrap at your shallow stop

That means to stay at the surface at the beginning of the dive with full tanks you will use about 16 + 3 = 19 lbs of the capacity of your wing.

You need in reserve enough capacity to deal with a total failure of your suit.

19 + 24 = 43 lbs.

Your rig will provide about 23 lbs of ballast with empty bottles, and you need 27. (24 lbs of suit buoyancy +3 for extra inflation)

If you add 4 lbs of ballast to your rig, for example a couple soft weight pouches between the wing and back plate, your rig will now be 43 lbs negative at the start of the dive.

Bingo! Suit + gas + 3 = 43 and your rig is 43 lbs negative.

You need a wing that's larger than 43 lbs. Something in the 49 -50 lb range is reasonable.

Imagine how buoyant your suit would need to be, and / or how much gas you would need to carry to require a 94 lbs wing.


You should ask your LDS to explain how, quantitatively, they arrived at their recommendation.


A couple final points.

Your "personal buoyancy" i.e. do you float or sink in your birthday suit, will impact your total weighting, but it does not impact the size of the wing.

Remember wings are used to COMPENSATE for things change in buoyancy, and your lipids or lack of lipids won't change as you descend.

You need a wing for singles and a different wing for doubles. Lots of goods reasons here including different capacity, different shape, and the likelyhood that you will use different exposure protection with singles vs doubles.

To test your dry suit:

Get a big bag o lead, put on your undies and suit and find some neck deep water.

Jump in and stand up. Vent all the gas you can from the suit. Remove lead from your bag until you just sink when you pick up your feet.

Weight the bag of lead. That represents the buoyancy of your suit with minimum gas in it. If you are of normal body mass Index you are done. If you are aren't add or subtract a few lbs as required.

If you do the test in fresh water and plan to dive in salt you need to add ~1 lbs for every 40 lbs of diver and gear. In this case is almost all diver.

Good luck,

Tobin __________________
http://www.deepseasupply.com

 

[Jorgy]

There was a recent thread about selecting between the Oxy Mach V 30 lb or 40 lb wing for a single tank cold water (drysuit) rig............

The consensus seemed to be that the 30 lb rig would be OK..........

However, there were many good points for both wings.............

I think it comes down to how much lift you need versus how easy it is for you to vent the wing...............

If I look at the Venture wing I see the potential to trap a bubble of air in the lower right tip of the wing due to the dreaded taco effect...........

Of course venting any wing can be done, you may need to go vertical or squirm around to get any air to the highest point and vent it out.............

I have never used a Venture wing so I might be completely wrong.............

If you are diving without a massive amount of lead, in warmer water the Travel EXP wing looks good to me.............

As far is calculating lift, the wing needs to be able to float the entire rig at its heaviest (start of dive) with all your gear and weights (if on the BP/W) attached......

I use an Oxy 18 lb wing for my warm water travel AL BP/W and a Halcyon 36 lb wing for my cold water SS BP/W..............

Hope this helps.............M

 

[tharg]

sorry guys. im at 200 pounds 5'6". 2 piece 7mm suit. i dive cold water lakes mostly. 42 to 48 degrees.belowe thermocline. and i well also be using a alum 80. right now im using 30pounds of wieght. so im figurung a ss bp. hope that helps

 

[Jorgy]

Diving wet at 42 degrees..........

You are one highly motivated diver.............

Do you plan to use a weight belt or do you want to transfer all your lead to the BP/W?

Assuming you want all the weight on the SS BP/W and that your current BC was 3 lbs buoyant.....

You use 27 lbs of weight.....of which 6 would shift to your SS BP.........so

SS BP/harness - 6 lbs
Reg - 2 lbs
Full AL 80 tank - 4 lbs
Weight - 21 lbs

So at least a 33 lb wing is required..................

If you split the weight between the BP/W and a weight belt you can use a smaller wing.....

M

 

[Scott L]

I own both a Halcyon rig with a 30# Eclipse wing and a DR rig with the venture wing and I would definatly recommend the Halcyon, DSS or similar donut style wing as the Venture is not steamlined or well designed IMO. I will defer to others whether 30 or 40#'s is best for your set-up. Scott

 

[Jorgy]

I see a Oxy Mach V 40 lb wing in your future..........

M

 

[DeNomad]

Yea.. check out a 35 or 40 lb DSS, Oxy Mach V 40 lb.