DIY Wing Evolution

[Gone for diving]

Got mine from tsc. It's more of a farm/ implement tube.

You need one with a small inside diameter. And still big enough to orally inflate. With a powerinflater it's the ultimate bungee wing. I have run it without a dump valve no problems.
Other than once I overinflated and the bulkhead hole was oversized, and it stretched the rubber and the bulkhead came out. So any holes you put in the rubber make them quite abit smaller then you need.

 

[pizzajohn]

What size of inner tube did you use: and car or motorcycle ?

I have one wing that has been working for about 2 years, but my girlfriends wing has needed to be repaired twice. I think she may be rougher on her equipment than I am.

 

[Umuntu]

I have one wing that has been working for about 2 years, but my girlfriends wing has needed to be repaired twice. I think she may be rougher on her equipment than I am.

Amazon urls don’t copy well onto SB for some reason …

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

How did I not see this thread before????
@James79 those wings are cool as hell!!

 

[James79]

How did I not see this thread before????
@James79 those wings are cool as hell!!

Thanks!

 

[fatgeorge]

Done the wing. Impressed how light is it comparing to my old one, and the Intex tube seem to be able to take quite a lot of beating. I've also got the 480/400 tube ($8 at aliexpress) but unsure about them as they're heavier.

A few notes:

- This is not a beginner-friendly project. If you never sew a backpack before, you gonna have some tough time. Expect to screw up your first wing; get twice the materials. I screwed up the first one myself. If you did sew a backpack before, though, it's piece of cake.

- Make sure the material you use for the shell is not stretchable. As James79 says, you want the material to bear the load, not the inner tube.

- Do the slots on the main panel before you sew it to the side panel.

- Plan in advance where you want to have your holes in the panels, and sew an extra piece of materials around them for thickness.

- I sew the part of zipper to the outside part before sewing the outside part to the side panel. Easier this way.

- I used two dump valves from Aliexpress, the second one is used as bladder flange. Cheaper than a bladder flange especially when considering crazy $15 shipping. The threads are the same.

Attaching the full size template (print on 6 sheets and glue together with crosses matching) of James79 Mk4; all credit goes to him. Thanks for sharing!

 

[James79]

Done the wing. Impressed how light is it comparing to my old one, and the Intex tube seem to be able to take quite a lot of beating. I've also got the 480/400 tube ($8 at aliexpress) but unsure about them as they're heavier.

A few notes:

- This is not a beginner-friendly project. If you never sew a backpack before, you gonna have some tough time. Expect to screw up your first wing; get twice the materials. I screwed up the first one myself. If you did sew a backpack before, though, it's piece of cake.

- Make sure the material you use for the shell is not stretchable. As James79 says, you want the material to bear the load, not the inner tube.

- Do the slots on the main panel before you sew it to the side panel.

- Plan in advance where you want to have your holes in the panels, and sew an extra piece of materials around them for thickness.

- I sew the part of zipper to the outside part before sewing the outside part to the side panel. Easier this way.

- I used two dump valves from Aliexpress, the second one is used as bladder flange. Cheaper than a bladder flange especially when considering crazy $15 shipping. The threads are the same.

Attaching the full size template (print on 6 sheets and glue together with crosses matching) of James79 Mk4; all credit goes to him. Thanks for sharing!

Cool! Would love to see pictures of it!

 

[fatgeorge]

Cool! Would love to see pictures of it!

 

[fatgeorge]

I've also got the 480/400 tube ($8 at aliexpress) but unsure about them as they're heavier.

Received the 480/400 tube. It doesn't fit the wing, the inner diameter (8") is too small. Got 23x10.5-12 from Amazon to try, let's see if this one fits. The tube looks solid though; I doubt the power inflater would be able to fill it up enough to be concerned. I.e. the 23x10.5 supports 60 PSI.

 

[fatgeorge]

The 23x10.5-12 fits well, but makes the wing too heavy. This is something I would recommend to use as a bladder for those who dive in environments with a higher risk to pinch your wing - this one seem to bend the needles! Not for recreational dive though; the tire weights more than my wing and backplate combined.