Travel EXP wing venting issues

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Dan G

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I am new to BP&W and own a DR Travel EXP single wing. It does not vent well, especially when not that full. If I did not have the hose at a very specific angle/location , it did not vent at all. Once I moved the hose around a bit plenty of air came out.

I have been told that the Travel wing uses the venture wing bladder and that this can lead to air pockets in the folds of the bladder.

Any suggestions for improving the venting performance of the wing? Can it be unpacked and then repacked so there are fewer places for air to be trapped?

I am going to a LDS next week and having someone take a look.
 
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I have both Travel and Voyager wings, and use one or the other depending on what I am doing. I don't notice any difference in difficulty venting either wing. If your wing is mostly empty, it's pretty hard to get the little bit of air to move around. I usually vent from the butt dump, and when it's almost empty lean a little to the right and down to raise the dump valve to the highest spot. If you're venting from the corrugated inflation hose, unless it's very horizontal and the left side higher than the right, air will get trapped in the top of the wing and/or corrugation sections. This is really obvious if you wash out the inside of the wing and then try to drain all the water out
 
use the lower dump valve. The corrugated hose is for inflating purposes and only used for deflation when vertical. Primarily for initiating the initial descent, and the last ~20ft of your ascent when you go vertical to make sure you won't whack your head on anything.

When doing that, if you have to get all of it out, the most effective way is to lean slightly right should down to get the inflator port at the highest point in the wing and then you only need to get the corrugated hose to the highest point and the air will come out. No need to get it over your head, no need to pull on it etc.

when you are diving, you should be in a flat position and if you need to dump air, you go slightly head down, slightly right shoulder down, and dump from the bottom wing dump.

I have probably 500 hours on a Dive Rite Travel wing and have never had any issues with air getting trapped.
 
Thank you for the replies. I did as both of you describe with the OPV and the hose with limited success. I don't have 500 hours of total dive time in my lifetime, but I was effective with venting from my jacket style BC both from the hose and from the butt OPV. I've only had these issues with the wing. There were even times when vertical when I had to move the hose around above my head a bunch to find a position in which it would vent. When I found the right spot a bunch of air vented, not just a little.

I am glad to hear that the wing has worked well for both of you and leads me to believe that I just need more bottom time to adjust to a wing compared to a BCD. I still plan to take it to an LDS and have them poke around it a bit. I'll probably pay for some pool time, too, and play around some.
 
I own this wing. Had similar issues as the OP. Found venting towards the end of the dive annoying but learned to live with it and happily used the wing for many years. It is a quality product, but it is not perfect. No wing is.

If the air is getting stuck in the hose, a shorter hose might solve the issue. If air is getting trapped in the bladder, the only solution I can think of is a smaller wing that has a bladder sized to match the outer shell.
 
Thank you for the replies. I did as both of you describe with the OPV and the hose with limited success. I don't have 500 hours of total dive time in my lifetime, but I was effective with venting from my jacket style BC both from the hose and from the butt OPV. I've only had these issues with the wing. There were even times when vertical when I had to move the hose around above my head a bunch to find a position in which it would vent. When I found the right spot a bunch of air vented, not just a little.

I am glad to hear that the wing has worked well for both of you and leads me to believe that I just need more bottom time to adjust to a wing compared to a BCD. I still plan to take it to an LDS and have them poke around it a bit. I'll probably pay for some pool time, too, and play around some.

wings function very different from jackets because the air bubble is able to move around. It is likely finding proper body position more than anything else to get this to dump completely. I will say I'm happier with the singles wing that I am using now, but my travel wing still gets quite a bit of use when my transpac gets loaned out
 
wings function very different from jackets because the air bubble is able to move around. It is likely finding proper body position more than anything else to get this to dump completely. I will say I'm happier with the singles wing that I am using now, but my travel wing still gets quite a bit of use when my transpac gets loaned out

This is good to know and makes sense that since the bladder is continuous the air can move around within in it more freely than a jacket BCD.
 
This is good to know and makes sense that since the bladder is continuous the air can move around within in it more freely than a jacket BCD.

the wing also "floats" up away from your body because it isn't tethered to your body and as you roll it will always move as high as it can go. Ensuring that the dump point is the highest point in the rig is crucial to adequate dumping. Just takes some practice to get right
 
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