Bungeed wings...

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Warhammer

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I had a look at OMS wings yesterday and I must say, they look very appealing to me. Just what does DIR and others have against them? I saw no reason why anyone with healthy lungs couldn't inflate them manually. And they looked to offer the most streamlined design available, while at the same time eliminating the tendency for wings to trap air. What gives?
 
I take it that you missed the recent discussion on Rodale's. For an even more scathing set of opinions do a search on OMS on Techdiver. The most prevalent description of bungee wings is suicide wings. The belief (right, wrong, or otherwise) is that if the bag gets punctured that the bungees will close the bag down and there goes any possibility of lift from the BC. On other wings, depending on where the hole is, the bag will still hold air. Another point of disagreement is that the deflated bungee wing is less streamlined than other deflated wings.

JoelW
 
Warhammer, Just to add to the previous post by JoelW, I'd like to point out that people have argued that they don't do as efficient a job in getting all of the air out of them when the diver is in certain positions.
 
Yeah, I had heard them described as suicide wings. But seems to me that if it did in fact get punctured that the bungee would just shutdown that particular aera making the rest of the BC still operable vs the opposite. And from a DIR diver standpoint, not me BTW, they usually dive dry so even if the BC got punctured, they'd still have lift in their drysuit. I have hard time seeing anything more streamlined than the OMS wings, I mean you can barely even tell there is a wing there when it's deflated. But guess that's a matter of opinion. I've also heard DIR refers to the Dive Rite wings as "death wings", guess because of the bungee along the side, but I sure can't see that.

Mario....I'd think the bungees would squeeze the air out in any postion, but maybe not.

Just wandering what that side of the story was...Thanks guys.
 
Warhammer,

Another reason they are not liked is most of the time, the bungee is to tight and does not allow the wing to infate 100%. They really are not that streamlined. A wing that lays flat against the tank will cause less drag than one that is "bunched". Another pet peeve is the inflator hose it to long, don't need two bladders, and you don't need that much lift for doubles and stages.

Eric
 
The Dive Rite cord and the OMS bungees are a little bit different in that at the lowest amount of the pull on the DR cord the DR wing doesn't deflate much due to the cord. The OMS bungees really pull the wing down. The only reason I toss that out is that I just picked up a DR Trek Wing with the cord. I could have ordered it without the cord but decided I could always remove it if I don't like it. I was also looking at the non-bungeed 45# OMS. In my case the difference in drag between bungeed wing vs. non-bungeed would be negligible compared to going from my Zeagle Tech BC to the backplate and wings. I looked at myself in the mirror in both rigs and was amazed at how much more compact the backplate setup is.

The unfortunate thing is that it is warm enough to where icediving would be questionable due to ice melting and not warm enough for open water yet. I will have to wait a few more weeks for the ice to go before diving the new rig.

JoelW
 
With all those loops of bungee around it's a real source for intanglement. Especially in wrecks.

ID
 
Hey all,

I dive the OMS IQ system with the dual bladder (100# lift) wings. If one were to puncture (so far I have ripped a bit of the outer shell) I still have the other one to fall back on... er... to fall UP with. I like the bungee cords, and have never had a snag on them... they lie closer in then the wing. It fits like a glove, and is very adaptable to many different situations.

Pete from Orlando...
 
Everybody knows what that means. You need to look at the DIR approach as the big picture, not just at how trim the wings are.
1) The inflator hose is short, just long enough to reach your dry suit inflator and your mouth. Why does it need to be any longer?
2) There is no pull dump valve on the shoulder, this is a failure point and is not needed. Also the area where the valve would be is reinforced and a solid elbow is in its place.
3) The inflator itself is different, it is a low flow inflator, unlike the DR & OMS which are high flow. This means in an equipment failure if the inflator fails it will not fill your wings up so fast that you cannot dump them with the bottom dump valve.
4) Why on earth does anybody need 100lbs of lift, we're not raising the Hunley.
5) If your gear is configured properly, that is, your wings are reinforced, you are not diving with steel tanks with a wetsuit or steel stages you don't need all that lift. If you are using your BC to get to the surface, this is an accident waiting to happen.
6) Cost of double bladders, this doesn't need explanination.
7) A B/P harness is much more secure than any soft body harness.

You can't just pick a part of the DIR system and use it or pick it apart, you have to look at the entire system.

I must admit that my DIR experience is limited, but I can see the advantages to it once I looked at the system as a whole.

ID
 
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