Correct weighting and wings

[Andeee]

Hi all. Just joined the forum, but I have been using it to gather information before.

Now I'm about to move into more DIR/ tech diving and so have bought myself a wing. So far I've never dived with one and I'm trundling off to the Maldives for 10 days next week and am trying to decide if I should jump in at the deep end and just take it with me.

My biggest problem at the moment is that I have a 30lb single-tank wing with a steel backplate and STA, which together weigh in at about 5kg. Given that with a 5mm wetsuit and 12l ali tank I usually take 4-6kg, does that mean I then need no extra weight? I have also recently bought a Halycon Proteus 6 which (according to Halycon) adds about 1.3kg of ballast. So can I use this with the wing and the wetsuit in the Maldives without running into problems and being overweighted? And will it unbalance me, having an extra kg on one side only? I know that with a drysuit it should be no problem, but I am a little concerned, firstly over diving without removable ballast for the first time, and about being overweighted.

I feel that the best way to learn is just to do it, but I also don't want to cause unnecessary problems on my holiday. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[TSandM]

Do you have a weighted STA, then? Or did you buy a heavy BP? Because most of the SS backplates weigh in around five to six pounds (2.5 - 3 kg), and an unweighted STA is about another pound or so (.5 kg).

It's quite possible not to need any additional weight when diving in warm water with a SS backplate. I need 1 kg in the tropics.

If your weights are correct, you might be slightly overweighted (given that most BCs are a kg or so positively buoyant) but probably not enough to notice.

I have never noticed any imbalance on account of my canister light, either diving dry or in the tropics, but I don't believe mine is 1.3 kg negative, either. You get used very quickly to a little unbalanced weight.

 

[Andeee]

Thanks TSandM. Fully rigged the thing weighs 5kg. The backplate is 3 and the STA is about 1 or so. I wasn't taking into account the wing itself weighing about a kilo.

 

[TSandM]

Remember that what it weighs is not the same as how negative it is. Same with the light -- my canister light is only about 250 g negative, if I remember correctly, but it weighs more than that.

 

[Bismark]

Hi,

I dive a BpW and just got back from belize. With a 3mm suit and a 5lb ss bp, I needed no extra weight when using an al80 tank. When I dive with a canister light, I put it as close to the plate as possible and it doesn't affect trim too badly but it means I am about 1 pound overweighted. I am about 6' and a pretty solid 220lbs. It is absolutely awesome to have no extra weight to have to deal with. I am the first one geared up and have very little drag in the water. I took an al plate on a tropical trip last fall and needed 4 extra pounds. With the ss plate, I don't need to mess with any extra weight. My wing is pretty much empty from 40' up to the surface. What a great feeling..

By the way, what is the water temp in the maldives right now? Sure you need a 5mm suit? 3mm does me good in the upper 70's and lower 80's.

Have good trip.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Hi all. Just joined the forum, but I have been using it to gather information before.

Now I'm about to move into more DIR/ tech diving and so have bought myself a wing. So far I've never dived with one and I'm trundling off to the Maldives for 10 days next week and am trying to decide if I should jump in at the deep end and just take it with me.

My biggest problem at the moment is that I have a 30lb single-tank wing with a steel backplate and STA, which together weigh in at about 5kg. Given that with a 5mm wetsuit and 12l ali tank I usually take 4-6kg, does that mean I then need no extra weight? I have also recently bought a Halycon Proteus 6 which (according to Halycon) adds about 1.3kg of ballast. So can I use this with the wing and the wetsuit in the Maldives without running into problems and being overweighted? And will it unbalance me, having an extra kg on one side only? I know that with a drysuit it should be no problem, but I am a little concerned, firstly over diving without removable ballast for the first time, and about being overweighted.

I feel that the best way to learn is just to do it, but I also don't want to cause unnecessary problems on my holiday. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Are you currently using a jacket BC? If you are currently using a jacket and are moving to a BP&W don't be surprised if your net change in weighting is more than the weight of your backplate and STA. The reason is the inherent buoyancy of most jacket BC. Jacket Style BC's can be 1-2 kg positive due to all the padding.

Without more specifics I can only provide general guidance, but if you are diving AL 80's you will need about 1.5 kg to offset the buoyancy of the tank, and about 7 kg for a 5 mm on a average sized diver.

With a plate and STA that's ~ 5kg and a light thats 1.3 sounds like you will be just a little underweighted and will need another 1-2 kg.

Remember I'm making a big leap assuming your suit is +7 kg positive. It could easily be more or less, depending on age, material etc.

Sounds like a great trip, enjoy

Tobin

 

[Andeee]

Thanks all.
Bismark: i know that i could probably use a 3mm suit but first i get cold easy and second i only have a 5mm suit. I don't get to dive in such warm water so often!

Tobin: thanks man , that's really usefull. more specifics: i'm 6'2" and weigh about 174ib. My jacket was a Scubapro Masterjacket and the 5mm suit is pretty new (10 dives). I'm afraid i dont really understand what 80cf is, but i normally dive with 12 litre - 15 litre ali tanks. With that rig I took 4 - 6 kg. 4kg was a bit of a struggle to get down, 6kg felt a little heavy at 5m

 

[DIR-Atlanta]

I'm afraid i dont really understand what 80cf is, but i normally dive with 12 litre - 15 litre ali tanks. With that rig I took 4 - 6 kg. 4kg was a bit of a struggle to get down, 6kg felt a little heavy at 5m

A 12L aluminum is a little larger than the 80cf tank that is common in the US, and is roughly equivalent to the 92cf tank that is available in some places. I can't find any buoyancy characteristics listed for the 12L tank, but the aluminum 92 has a buoyancy swing of -3.5 to +3.2 lbs (-1.6 to +1.4 kg). That makes it a pound or two more negative than a standard aluminum 80. I expect the 12L tank would be similar. We don't really have any tanks in this country that are comparable to the 15L, so you're on your own on that.

I think you'll probably need a couple of dives on the rig to get the weighting sorted out. The best you will get from this discussion is a first approximation. Getting the correct weighting usually takes a little trial and error, so be prepared to work on that the first few dives until you get it dialed in completely.

 

[MonkSeal]

I'm afraid i dont really understand what 80cf is, but i normally dive with 12 litre - 15 litre ali tanks.

Are you sure that those are ali tanks? I'm not sure that 15 litre ali tank exists at all. Light steel 12L that we usualy use in Europe is roughly neutral when empty and some 3 kg negative when full. Steel 15L is about 1kg negative when empty and about 5 kg negative when full. Of course this can vary e.g. I have 12L steel tanks that are slightly positive when empty.