Specific help on Venture EXP vs. Travel EXP

[hueydok]

Hello. I have read lots of posts (and great responses from DR) regarding the recommendation of the Travel EXP wing for single diving. However, all of the posts (that I could find) referenced using an AL 80 as the tank. I use a steel 119 for Atlantic coast wreck diving, and would like to know advice as in the other posts, but with a heavier tank. I am 5'11", 180 lbs and dive with no weight in the ocean in a 3mm farmer john/top due to the 11lb negative buoyancy of the tank on my back (end of dive is about -3 or so, and I am perfect at the safety stop). I dive with the usual assortment of reels and lights, along with a spear gun and fish clips, etc. Even though the Travel only has ~27 lbs of lift, I am wondering if anyone has experience with this wing (or the older 30 lb Travel) on deep ocean diving with decent gear load?

Thanks for your input!

 

[fnfalman]

I dive with the Faber HP120 M-series. It's a heavy mutha. I dive with 7mm wetsuit, no reels, no cannister light, but only with a folding pocket knife, a set of trauma shears and maybe two regular flashlights (for night dives). The older 30-lbs Venture wing lifted me just fine even with a full tank, and still not at full inflation.

Calc out your negative buouyancy at the beginning of the dive and see whether or not the wing has enough lift (if you're properly weighted while wearing some sort of exposure suit, you should be plenty fine with the 27-lbs lift).

BUT if you were to harvest fish, lobsters, and especially shellfish like scallops, you should consider recalculating the dive weight. Shellfish add up the pounds quickly.

I dive with the 30-lbs wing and I calced my negative buoyancy out to be around -25lbs. Assuming that I'm ending with around 500psi in the tank, I probably shed about 8lbs worth of air from that big HP120 tank. So now I'm down to -16lbs. That means I have around 14lbs worth of reserve in lift capacity. That 14lbs worth of lift goes really fast when I throw about 5 or 6 scallops into my net bag.

So, when I go play around, I'd use the 30lbs Venture wing (older style) but when I go harvesting, I'm breaking out the newer 45lbs Venture wing.

 

[hueydok]

Hi Dive Rite. Can you please weigh-in on this post? Thanks!