BillAllbritten
Contributor
I purchased a Zeagle Escape and am using the Zeagle 24lb wing. I normally dive a Ranger but wanted something lighter with less lift and much less packing bulk - headed to Bonaire on the 27th. Problem - just got the BC set up, tried in pool with camera. When I adopt a head down vertical attitude, the knob on the end of the string that activates the pull dump on the bottom of the wing drops behind the bungee cord that serves as a retractor for the wing. Happened twice and I can replicate it on shore. When I complete the rotation and go head up, the knob sometimes completes a loop around the bungee cord. When I inflate the wing, the obvious happens, the bungee tightens, the loop tightens and jams against the knob, which prevents the loop from self-unwinding. and the string partially opens the dump valve, preventing, at some point, additional inflation of the wing. I can't fix it with the BC on - tend to make it worse. Not good. The bungee arrangement on both the 24lb and 35lb wings passes across the top of the dump housing.
Any ideas? Four have occurred to me. The obvious - take the Ranger - no bungee, long strings on the pull dump, smooth wing housing for the bladder. Biggest downside - more lift than I need, small bubble rolling around in big bag.
The draconian - cut the string back to the housing, forget about the dump.
The more subtle - open the dump housing, remove the string and knob, replace with a much longer string with no knob on it. Can I do this easily? Dealers don't like to endorse end-user mods like this.
Or cut the knob and tie another length of string on making the cord longer but still having a bump that could snag, not to mention come loose. Not a good idea, I fear.
This probably has something to do with the way I move through a rotation that is unique to me as I've never seen a post on this issue; however, I recall reading on the DIR page that they require that the pull dumps on their gear have no knobs that can snag. They also won't use bungeed wings but the bungees are covered pretty well with the wing body on the Zeagle design and shouldn't snag easily - I don't do any penetrations - , not wrapped around the whole thing as some vendors do.
I'd hate to toss the Escape as a travel BC, too late to learn another system now anyway for Bonaire trip. I find the Zeagles very comfortable and customizable to fit my over 50 shape.
The Ranger's 44lb wing doesn't use bungees and has longer strings. Actually, if option three above is viable from an end-user standpoint, I'll probably modify the Ranger this way, too, so nothing can snag.
Any thoughts or suggestions? To me, a longer pull cord, maybe thicker, with no knob is the way to go if I can safely make the mod myself - no time to send things off.
Bill
Any ideas? Four have occurred to me. The obvious - take the Ranger - no bungee, long strings on the pull dump, smooth wing housing for the bladder. Biggest downside - more lift than I need, small bubble rolling around in big bag.
The draconian - cut the string back to the housing, forget about the dump.
The more subtle - open the dump housing, remove the string and knob, replace with a much longer string with no knob on it. Can I do this easily? Dealers don't like to endorse end-user mods like this.
Or cut the knob and tie another length of string on making the cord longer but still having a bump that could snag, not to mention come loose. Not a good idea, I fear.
This probably has something to do with the way I move through a rotation that is unique to me as I've never seen a post on this issue; however, I recall reading on the DIR page that they require that the pull dumps on their gear have no knobs that can snag. They also won't use bungeed wings but the bungees are covered pretty well with the wing body on the Zeagle design and shouldn't snag easily - I don't do any penetrations - , not wrapped around the whole thing as some vendors do.
I'd hate to toss the Escape as a travel BC, too late to learn another system now anyway for Bonaire trip. I find the Zeagles very comfortable and customizable to fit my over 50 shape.
The Ranger's 44lb wing doesn't use bungees and has longer strings. Actually, if option three above is viable from an end-user standpoint, I'll probably modify the Ranger this way, too, so nothing can snag.
Any thoughts or suggestions? To me, a longer pull cord, maybe thicker, with no knob is the way to go if I can safely make the mod myself - no time to send things off.
Bill
