Bungied Wing
- Thread starter djcheburashka
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JeffG
Contributor
I have wondered about this for a while. I hear people talk about the benefit of the bungies being that they help restrict air movement in the wing. Most of the people I have seen dive do not have their wing more than half full (usually even less) during a dive, with the exception being maybe when they are at the surface.
Many people say (and many tech agencies suggest) that the bungies should be loosened to the point where they don't provide resistance when being orally inflated.
So my question is, how can the bungies be both loose enough that they don't provide resistance during oral inflation, but tight enough that they can restrict airflow in a partially inflated wing?
To me they seem to be mutually exclusive.
My other question is, if people are loosening their bungies, what other reason is there to have them?
If tacoing is that big a deal, your wing is too large. I have a 55lb for drysuit + steel tank cold water diving and a 38lb for warmwater AL80 diving (doubles in both cases).
The DIR solution is to:
get tanks suitable for your exposure protection
get a wing appropriately sized for the tanks
be able to easily orally inflate, shift gas around as needed or even lose the wing altogether with a rip, hole or corrugated hose failure and manage adequately without resorting to complicated task loading do-dads.
If you like the OMS bungies cause they are cool or all your buddies have them, I don't care. Go buy one and report back on your experience in another forum.
cool_hardware52
Contributor
Forgive me if I'm repeating any points made earlier.
Why bungeed wings at all?
The "holy grail" of wings is the mythical "do everything wing" i.e. One wing that will work great with single tanks, doubles, Tee Shirt diving and Drysuit with Mega undies.
The mass appeal of such a product is huge, witness the endless posts from those who want to buy **ONE** wing for all diving.
All "Variable Volume" wings are an attempt to produce this mythical beast. Bungees, Zippered Panels, Cords etc. All are attempts to build the "Everything" wing.
Some of these approaches sort of work, but none is better than using a simple wing designed for given application.
Simple wings of appropriate capacity and shape will be easier to dive, period.
I am amused at some of the claimed "benefits" of bungeed wings.
"Bungees keeps the air from moving around" Really? I spend a lot of time optimizing my designs so it's as easy as possible to move gas around in the wing. You need to be able to move the gas if you want to be able to easily and fully vent the wing.
Wings that trap gas lead to grossly overweighted divers.
It's like claiming the huge blind spot in a new car keeps the driver from being startled by the truck hiding there.
I'd love to be able to produce and sell "One" wing instead of the dozen or so we make now, and I'm sure my dealers would love to have to stock only one SKU.
As with much in life the easy / cheapest answer is seldom the best.
Properly sized wings for the application is the better tool, and that approach is completely consistent with the DIR philosophy.
Tobin
Why bungeed wings at all?
The "holy grail" of wings is the mythical "do everything wing" i.e. One wing that will work great with single tanks, doubles, Tee Shirt diving and Drysuit with Mega undies.
The mass appeal of such a product is huge, witness the endless posts from those who want to buy **ONE** wing for all diving.
All "Variable Volume" wings are an attempt to produce this mythical beast. Bungees, Zippered Panels, Cords etc. All are attempts to build the "Everything" wing.
Some of these approaches sort of work, but none is better than using a simple wing designed for given application.
Simple wings of appropriate capacity and shape will be easier to dive, period.
I am amused at some of the claimed "benefits" of bungeed wings.
"Bungees keeps the air from moving around" Really? I spend a lot of time optimizing my designs so it's as easy as possible to move gas around in the wing. You need to be able to move the gas if you want to be able to easily and fully vent the wing.
Wings that trap gas lead to grossly overweighted divers.
It's like claiming the huge blind spot in a new car keeps the driver from being startled by the truck hiding there.
I'd love to be able to produce and sell "One" wing instead of the dozen or so we make now, and I'm sure my dealers would love to have to stock only one SKU.
As with much in life the easy / cheapest answer is seldom the best.
Properly sized wings for the application is the better tool, and that approach is completely consistent with the DIR philosophy.
Tobin
lamont
Contributor
I hate this thread.
Closed and I took a hatchet to it. Sorry if I wasn't surgical enough for anyone, they don't pay me for this job.
I've had the same problem that the original poster is trying to solve once in Mexico when I was diving Al80s with a 60# evolve wing that is shaped right for 8" tanks, but not Al80s. Bungees would have "solved" this problem, but the DIR answer is to properly size the wing for the tanks. Tobin is spot on in his analysis that bungee wings are trying to solve the "once size fits all" problem.
I've also had my dump valve unscrew, my LP inflator come off and my elbow come off. None of them were particularly exciting, but I'm definitely concerned with any wing design which would increase the risk of forcing air out in these failures.
This either makes sense to you or it doesn't and no number of internet posts will ever convince anyone either way once they've made up their mind. If you don't agree, then by all means buy a bungee wing.
Closed and I took a hatchet to it. Sorry if I wasn't surgical enough for anyone, they don't pay me for this job.
I've had the same problem that the original poster is trying to solve once in Mexico when I was diving Al80s with a 60# evolve wing that is shaped right for 8" tanks, but not Al80s. Bungees would have "solved" this problem, but the DIR answer is to properly size the wing for the tanks. Tobin is spot on in his analysis that bungee wings are trying to solve the "once size fits all" problem.
I've also had my dump valve unscrew, my LP inflator come off and my elbow come off. None of them were particularly exciting, but I'm definitely concerned with any wing design which would increase the risk of forcing air out in these failures.
This either makes sense to you or it doesn't and no number of internet posts will ever convince anyone either way once they've made up their mind. If you don't agree, then by all means buy a bungee wing.
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