Is a large capacity wing more suited for cold water diving

[Tigerpaw]

Follow your gut -- 32lbs is plenty.

Thanks. Based on that and the other responses, I'll stay with the 32lb wing. And thanks to everyone who commented, I'm always learning.

I use a single wing for all of my single-tank diving: 32lb. Works well in a drysuit, thick wetsuit, thin wetsuit, or just a T-shirt and shorts


To Eric's point here, yes, if you are putting all of your ballast on your rig and you have a very heavy single tank, maybe 32lb is not sufficient. But I will say that putting that much ballast on the rig is not the easiest way to do it, at all. Your goddamn rig will weigh like 80 lbs! Much easier to put your lead on a belt, use a stainless backplate for some ballast, and maybe like 2-6 lbs lead into pouches on the rig to help you trim out, if needed. Safer for your back on shore, and safer in some (admittedly uncommon) situations in the water as well

When the wing comes in, I'll do a LOT of shakedown dives and put myself in different situations to see how the buoyancy and everything else works out. I'll also see how it feels walking on land as well based on your comments.

 

[davecampbell]

I use a Halcyon 40lb wing (w/ steel plate) for cold water diving in a drysuit or 8mm semidry. I use a 30 lb DGX wing (w/ carbon plate) for warm water wetsuit diving. I dive HP100 steels for cold and local. I don't like separate weight belts, so lead (20ish lbs) is carried onboard the rig, in 2 ACB and 2 trim pockets. To be honest, there isn't really much difference in physical wing size, and I don't notice much in the way of drag or taco-ing...but the 40 lb wing floats the setup far better. The 30 floats it, but barely... for tropical diving with only a little lead and aluminum cylinders, it's fantastic.

I'm a self-admitted gear afficionado, so my wife and I have multiple bp/w setups for specific scenarios, but if I was cold water diving and was only buying 1 wing to rule them all....it would likely be a 40lb wing.

 

[Tigerpaw]

Well I went ahead and placed the order for my wing. I ended up ordering a Hollis ST35 Wing. At the time I originally posted the question, I thought it was a 30lb wing. That being said I am still very happy with my choice and am looking forward to breaking it in.

 

[Tigerpaw]

I'm a self-admitted gear afficionado, so my wife and I have multiple bp/w setups for specific scenarios, but if I was cold water diving and was only buying 1 wing to rule them all....it would likely be a 40lb wing.

I'm the same, once I got bit by the diving bug I bought gear for different dive conditions.

For diving up to 55 degrees, I use a 30lb wing with an aluminum bp
For temps below 55 I plan on using the recently purchased Hollis 35lb wing with a steel bp
The backplate and harness weighs aprox 14 pounds and I'm carrying 10 pounds in ditchable weight pockets. (Diving with a 450g undergarment, with a thinner undergarment, the bp/w by itself should be sufficient to submerge) I still need to dive it to dial in my buoyancy.
I also dive the steel HP100's for Great Lakes and cold weather, I just recently bought a pair to dive and practice with.
And for sidemount I use a double bladder wing with 40lb lift capacity.

 

[happy-diver]

Yeah, I just put a 20lb wing on my probably close to 80lb non ditchable rig

It's a one contingency rig so why would I care what it does without me in it

First test soon to 30m in a 5mm

Plenty of room for my 15l Faber

And a steel auxilliary bottle, too

Me in the front of it????????????