Share your experience with 18 lbs Wings & Alu Backplate...

[Restart]

Hi to all members in this forum:

May anybody want to share their experiences diving using an Alu Backplate & a 18 lbs lift Wing, with a single Alu tank?

For examples:

I am 75 kg, wearing 3mm wetsuit diving with the above-mentioned gears. Will i encounter difficulties "Ascending" and "Staying on Surface"?

Any additional weights are needed? etc.

Because i always heard of divers going aboard, with their Alu backplate & Travel Wing.

Best Regards,
Kit.

 

[RTodd]

Hi to all members in this forum:

May anybody want to share their experiences diving using an Alu Backplate & a 18 lbs lift Wing, with a single Alu tank?

For examples:

I am 75 kg, wearing 3mm wetsuit diving with the above-mentioned gears. Will i encounter difficulties "Ascending" and "Staying on Surface"?

Any additional weights are needed? etc.

Because i always heard of divers going aboard, with their Alu backplate & Travel Wing.

Best Regards,
Kit.

For open water, I use an 18lb wing, stainless plate and AL 80 with no problems. Properly weighted with a 3mm suit, the 18lb wing is fine. However, it won't float you high in the water like a larger wing. As long as you are comfortable in the water, this is not an issue.

 

[herman]

I use a 18# bladder on a BC I have with around 3 to 4 kg of weight, AL-80 and no wetsuit for warm water diving. It's perfect underwater and I find it adaquate on the surface in calm water but for use where the surface can get rough I like a little more lift just to get me higher on the surface.

 

[Restart]

For open water, I use an 18lb wing, stainless plate and AL 80 with no problems. Properly weighted with a 3mm suit, the 18lb wing is fine. However, it won't float you high in the water like a larger wing. As long as you are comfortable in the water, this is not an issue.

Hi, thks for sharing your experiences. :10:

By the way what's your body weight in kg?

 

[herman]

Hi, thks for sharing your experiences. :10:

By the way what's your body weight in kg?

You would make me drag out my calculator.... around 72kg


By the way, my BC is not a BP/wing but similar in design so take into account that I do not have the extra weight that the metal BP adds. I have not compaired the 2 but I suspect my BC is somewhat more buoyant than a BP would be. I do know that my BC weights in at 4 lbs (1.8kg) with the 35# bladder and a 35# wing on a AL BP weights slightly more, maybe 2- 2.5 kg. The original wing was a 35 lb and if I had to choose only one, I would use the 35 instead of the 18.

 

[divad]

Hi, thks for sharing your experiences. :10:

By the way what's your body weight in kg?

I weigh 75 kgs. and use no weight with a SS BP and 3 mil in salt water. I'm as close to neutral as I can get, so with an 18# wing I would have something like 18# of extra bouyancy that I might not even use. Mmmmm..... I have to go look at wings now.
Thanks a lot.

With an AL plate I would need to add 1.4 to 1.8 kgs of weight to STAY DOWN.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Hi there Kit -

The rig you describe is very compact and would make a great travel kit.

Assuming you start off weighted so you are neutrally buoyant with suit on and empty tank, then with a 3 mm suit you're only going to need around 1-3 lb air at depth to compensate for suit compression and 5-6 lb air at the start of the dive to compensate for the weight of air in your tank. So you have plenty of air to maintain correct buoyancy during the dive.

After the dive a 18 lb BC won’t lift you very high out of the water – but it will be fine if you’re diving relatively sheltered waters and are not planning to do any long swims in big swells.

Fully inflated the 18 lbs will only just float with a full tank if you decide to add integrated weights to your harness rather than use a weight belt – so adding weight pouches to your BC is probably not recommended.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[Restart]

Hi Rohan,

Thk you for your advise. I think i must use a 27 or 36 lbs inorder to achieve a better lift.

Just wonder is there any good dive sites in Mongolia?

Regards,
kit.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Hi Rohan,

Thk you for your advise. I think i must use a 27 or 36 lbs inorder to achieve a better lift.

Just wonder is there any good dive sites in Mongolia?

Regards,
kit.

Hi there Kit –

Given the dives you wil be doing out of Singapore (Similans, Sipadan, Java Sea, etc) I recon you could probably get away with a 18 lb wing. However a 27 or 35 would be more comfortable on the surface if you encounter rough conditions, and would offer more flexibility should you decide to change your style of diving in the future. Both the 27 and 35 wings are quite streamlined underwater. The posters above have no problems with a 18, I have no problems with the 30 I use - so maybe flip a coin?

Since you asked Mongolia is 2000 km from the ocean – so I’m not aware of any diving that’s been done here before. There is one large lake in the north of the country that I’m going to explore later this year with some friends - after the ice melts. Lake Baikal, which holds 1/5 of the worlds fresh water and has its own seal population, is just over in the border in Russia and has a great dive operation. There’s also a hydroelectric scheme in China that flooded an entire city in the 50’s thats also making for interesting exploration. Having said that I do most of my diving out of Singapore, branching out during stopovers on my way back home from mongolia. I’m trying to snap out of my warm water wuss phase – but there’s just something about warm clear water and white beaches…

Safe Diving,
Rohan.