School Me On Wing Taco

[Kendall Raine]

If you’re using a narrow wing like the DGX then there is no taco-ing and you have no worries. Oxycheq was the very first to come up with that micro thin design BTW. I used to order direct from Oxycheq and was on the phone with Patrick when he was telling me about this new super thin cutting edge design that nobody else had that he was going to call the “Mach 5”. Prior to the Mach 5, Oxy had their line of Razor and signature single tank wings that were about like Halcyon pioneer except better. All the other companies still have versions of that slightly wider and shorter style wing for single tank diving and some taco a little, but nothing like when we were using small doubles wings for single tank diving with STA’s. This was before any single tank wings were common knowledge or readily available. I remember using an OMS 35 lb. small doubles wing back in ‘99 or 2000 and it was terrible.
I believe Halcyon was the first company to develop a single tank wing but I don’t know the year that happened. They’re the ones who really pushed BP/W into the recreational mainstream early on.

I have a Halcyon Pioneer 18 from circa 2000 which I still use. It is a horseshoe design. I believe it was not the first since Dive Rite already had a smallish (~30 lbs?) bat wing in the early 90’s-which could be used as a redundant cell with doubles or singly with an STA.

 

[lexvil]

Ok, now you’ve had the real and serious answers.

wing taco is best when you start off with boneless wings slow cooked in taco seasoning.

 

[Nemrod]

Wing taco is really a thing of the past with most modern wings. Taco was a huge problem with the old back inflate "wings" like the SeaTec and Scubapro and several others. They were horseshoe shaped and had way too much lift for warm or even temperate water single tank diving. The tank looked like a hotdog wrapped in the dang things, taco supreme!

An 18 or 30 pounds lift Oxy or DGX or VDH are not going to have noticeable taco effect due to the cut of the fabric and the donut shape.

Halcyon was not the first to have a single tank wing, Scubapro had a single tank wing in the mid 70s. I had one. It had about 40 pounds of lift, was donut shaped and had a plastic plate with a harness much like we use for Hogarthain rigs now. Here is a similar Sportsways from the same time:



I bought this SeaTec circa 1984 and dived it up until about 2000-ish and it was used on a metal plate with a single piece harness. In fact, I split it in the back area and can use it for IDs on a conventional plate. It works pretty good with the IDs because it is not wide enough to taco appreciably (the orange and blue wing, not the black horsecollar):

 

[Gone for diving]

My dive rite 60lb classic
Has dove many singles,
There is one main modification, that makes it not taco,
for years I ran this with only the upper bungee on a single 130Hp

But adding the lower bungee, at the tip of the horse shoe makes it hug you using the waist strap, even with double tanks, kinda like newer sidemount wings.

An other modern example

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I have a Halcyon Pioneer 18 from circa 2000 which I still use. It is a horseshoe design. I believe it was not the first since Dive Rite already had a smallish (~30 lbs?) bat wing in the early 90’s-which could be used as a redundant cell with doubles or singly with an STA.

Come to think of it, I was on a boat in Hawaii in ‘99 and there was a guy on board who had an OMS plate and it had another brand wing, might have been a Diverite? And I remember being intrigued by the setup. I remember him telling me that it was a 40 lb wing, and I distinctly remember it had bungees on it, but I couldn’t tell you if it was a doubles or singles wing.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Ok, now you’ve had the real and serious answers.

wing taco is best when you start off with boneless wings slow cooked in taco seasoning.

You have to pre marinade the wings then slow cook them over mesquite charcoal, not directly over the charcoal because then they will dry out, offset. And you have to keep basting them with another special barbecue sauce which has tequila and lime in it. Then you take a fork and the meat should fall off the bone.
Now you can make your wing tacos
Add some finely chopped lettuce, tomato, cilantro, and lime.
No Cholula sauce you will ruin it.

 

[lexvil]

You have to pre marinade the wings then slow cook them over mesquite charcoal, not directly over the charcoal because then they will dry out, offset. And you have to keep basting them with another special barbecue sauce which has tequila and lime in it. Then you take a fork and the meat should fall off the bone.
Now you can make your wing tacos
Add some finely chopped lettuce, tomato, cilantro, and lime.
No Cholula sauce you will ruin it.

I bet a backplate would make a great defuser to cook them on.

 

[Nemrod]

I bet a backplate would make a great defuser to cook them on.

Only if it is a stainless steel Freedom Plate .

 

[happy-diver]

Rugged shore dives you don't need it feel it, on the surface keeps me above the ocean when its trying to kill me

 

[Nemrod]

Rugged shore dives you don't need it feel it, on the surface keeps me above the ocean when its trying to kill me

View attachment 808898

I had that one, it was Scubapro blue stripes and black. It was big enough to double as a life raft .