Critique my BP / wings setup

[DiverAnderson]

Thanks to much great advice from people on this board, I have finally come up with an adaptable BP / wings setup. I'd like feedback on it before I buy.

For Monterey 50 degree water with a 7mm full suit 5mm hood/vest gloves/booties and aluminum 80 singles: A 0.188 SST long Fred T plate, a 7lbs custom p-weight (channel weight), a Halcyon 27# Pioneer wing and a weight belt with 6-8 lbs ditchable weight.

Pros: The 27# wing can easily lift the 16# plate/weight. Streamlined.
Cons: The p-weight looks a bit ugly.

For Florida ~80 degree water (?) a shortie 2mm single 80s lots of hunting equipment: Same as above without the weightbelt and the p-weight.

Pros: Simple, clean.
Cons: 27# wing is a bit big for tropical. The 9# BP is a bit heavy.

Overall pros: Easily adaptable, quality gear.
Overall cons: Without a STA I may lose some tank stablity. The wing is a compromise, big for tropical and not suitable for doubles (which I don't need anyway).

I plan on getting the wing from fifthd.com and the harness/plate/p-weight from Fred T. Fred's harness is $40, is that too much?

 

[Wendy]

How do you figure that a con to the 27# wing is that it is too much for tropical diving? That's what every diver I know in Florida uses with a single tank. I'd figure that it would just about perfect for tropical diving.

 

[DiverAnderson]

I only know one BP / wings diver in FL so I was basing that conclusion on poor statistics. He commented that he'd bought the 27# wing for lifting lobsters but in retrospect he'd rather have a 18# (when Halcyon still made them). The OMS travel wing was another option.

I'm glad to hear 27# is an appropriate size! Woo! Should I order it from FifthD?

 

[Scubaroo]

Is the backplate a 9lb plate (ie heavy plate)?

Just make sure you're not going to be overweighted in Monterey, and pushing the wing's limit - once you're at depth and your wetsuit has compressed, at the beginning of a dive you're going to be "backplate + channel weight + ditchable weight + full tank weight" heavy - which for the combination you've described, is 9 + 7 + 8 + 2 (I picked 2 for an average full AL80), which is 26lb, plus maybe another pound from your regulator (for some reason people never figure those into their calculations), and you're right on 27lb - which means you could find yourself needing to have the wing fully inflated at depth say at the beginning of a deep dive. Do a boat dive off the Monastery Express, and you'll find yourself using LP80 steel tanks, which are 6lb negative - this puts you around 31lb negative at the start of a dive - and you're using a 27lb wing. You'll be fine at the surface... but descend to depth and what happens? You might find you haven't got enough lift in your wing to get neutral.

Honestly I'd either be ditching the channel weight and putting an effort into either buying or renting steel tanks (they make such a difference, and an LP80 weighs 4lb less than an AL80, and you need 4lb less weight to dive it, so your rig is 8lb lighter on shore immediately!), or look at a larger 36lb wing. I'd go for the LP80 option - if you're diving enough to warrant buying your own BC or backplate, you're diving enough to warrant buying your own tank. You can get a new PST LP80 for under $200 if you snoop around.

Going the LP80 route, you can dump the channel weight, and just add another 3lb to your weightbelt. Your rig will weigh 8lb less on shore or the boat. Your total negative weight will be back to 27lb, all the time (9 + 11 + 6 + 1 funky regulator pound). Put the money from the channel weight towards the tank, and stick with the 27lb wing, which costs less than a 36lb wing, and doesn't have the side gussets which are introducing more seams to fail (I've had a 36lb wing replaced because the gusset material wore through where it creases, in little over a year of use). Get some practice in diving the rig, and you can work on reducing the 11lb weightbelt by a few pounds, and you're golden.

Just my thoughts. I get away with just the 6lb backplate, 10lb lead, steel tanks (heavier LP95s) and no channel weight, in both 7mm wetsuit, or drysuit, in Monterey.

 

[Wendy]

You know a 9# bp sounds a bit much. Remember when you travel to Florida you have to bring the plate with you, how much you want your luggage to weigh? Also you mentioned that in Florida you woulsn't use a weight belt....where is your ditachable weight at? Do you really need this p-weight thing too?

 

[DiverAnderson]

Thanks Scubaroo,
That is some good advice. I have considered most of those things and there are personal reasons I haven't gone with them.

First, I love the steel tank idea but I wanted to design a system that could handle rental aluminum 80s first, which is a harder system to design. I could always modify an aluminum 80 system to go steel but the reverse is difficult.

Second, in a month I move to Boston to begin a grueling PhD program at Harvard so my diving may (will) suffer. Since I am selling my BC to buy a BP, I'm not really spending money just yet. If I buy a steel tank, I'd be invesing in a sport I'm going to be doing less.

Third, I follow your buoyancy calculations but I wonder, does the wetsuit really lose all it's buoyancy at depths above 100 feet? Also, I'm a buoyant guy. In the lab they measure our lung capacities, among other things, to see if the prototype drugs we are working on are affecting our bodies (no, i'm not making that up, alas) and I've got 115% of the normal lung capacity of a person of my build.

Fourth, my dive buddy and I often get tanks in Monterey and drive down the semi-deserted coast south of there to scout new dive sites. If we wanted to do two dives, I'd need two steel tanks, not one, or I'd have to drive all the way back to Monterey.

These are just issues associated with my personal style of diving. I aspire to the setup you have described in your post, I just am not quite there yet.

FYI, Fred T makes steel plates in four thicknesses (11 gauge. 0.188, 1/4" and 3/8"). The one I am considering is a 9# 0.188 thick plate so it is heavy but not the 17# beast.

 

[ElectricZombie]

Just make sure you are not overweighted with the channel weight.

The 27lbs wing is really nice. It is more than adequate for tropical diving.

Sounds like a solid setup.

 

[DiverAnderson]

Thanks Wendy and Zombie,

You are right, I may end up not using the p-weight but it is only $25, I could trim it down to something less than 7lbs, and Fred T custom makes the weight so I either do it now when it is easy or I do it myself later and get accidentially enbalmed in lead somewhat like Han Solo.

I worry that 9# isn't optimal for tropical diving but that just means a little extra air in the BC right? I can easily swim up a 9# rig so is ditchable weight that important? I hear differing opinions on that subject.

9# in my luggage isn't so bad. luggage weight calculation:
BP 9
wing 2
mask/fin/regs/comp 1/4/3/1
a pair of shorts 1
a pair of shorts my girlfriend actually likes 1
flipflops and tshirt 1
speargun 10
stringer/lobster hotel 3
personal hygiene supplies 0

Total 36lbs but i can bring two 50lbs bags. I'll be fine.

Also, i only hunt once a year in FL and maybe twice a year in CA. I'm no Predator. I'd like to think I have less of an impact on the ecosystem than a guy who has five tunafish sandwhiches a year.

 

[GreenDiverDown]

...that Fred's big 'un is too big for use with a shortie if you have average weight requirements.

But then again, it might work out pretty good...especially if you don't use an STA.

The 27# wing will be perfect. But you know that Koplin's 30# single is just around the corner.

You'll like Fred's stuff...BTW.

SA

 

[DiverAnderson]

I can't quite decide if it is better to get a heavier plate and have some air in the wing or if it is worth running the risk of having to wear a weight belt. In cold water that means three more on my weight belt which means I'll definitely be feeling it. But if 9# is really heavy in the warm water, it's not like I can trim down the backplate. But I'd like to keep my coldwater weightbelt less than 8lbs. But air in my wing might slosh around and be annoying. You see how I go back and forth on this? It's like I should just flip a coin or something.