Wing choice for cold water tech diving

[Dimitriy_E]

Dear all,

I am normally diving in dry suit with Weezle extreme plus undersuit (required for 5-6C water in quarries) and double 10L 300bar tanks with alu back plate and Dive Rite Rec wing.

I am now taking IANTD Adv Nitrox class. While training I discovered that my double-tanks (2x10L 300bar) with Dive Rite Rec wing alu back plate, canister light, stage 11L alu tank and 6kg of lead weight in the pockets on the wing harness simply sink like a stone when detached in the water from my very buoyant dry suit body. Though I can still dive using my dry suit as primary buoyancy device, if it fails (flooding), I will not be able to get to the surface without dumping stuff. Also when I will be doing dives from Zodiac in the sea I will not be able to take it off while floating on the surface as it will sink. So basically I need to get this fixed asap, otherwise I cannot complete all Adv Nitrox drills. My instructor also sends me to the shop for a new wing.

Now dilemma I've got is that I need sufficient lift, but I don't want extra large thing with 50kg of lift as it will be huge, wrap around my reasonably small sized 10L tanks (300bar though) etc.

Counting my lift requirements:
each 10L300bar bottle weights 15kg so 5kg negative in the water, so its 10Kg for 2 bottles, plus 4 kg of gas in the bottles at the beginning of the dive, plus 3 kg of aluminum 11L with gas, plus 2 kg for my aluminum backplate and battery, 6kg of lead weights on the back plate harness. So all together we arrive to 10+4+3+2+6=25kg.

Would it be sensible to buy Dive Rite Classic wing with 27kg of lift for the above configuration ? My current Rec wing gives 23kg of lift so I am in doubt if 4 kg of gain with Classic is sufficient. I could however remove 6kg of lead from backplate harness and attach it to my body with either weigh belt or weight harness. Then I would have 19 kg of gear to lift with the wing.

Other option I consider is to go for Dive Rite Super One wing, but I don't see a lot of it on the forums and 38kg of lift it provides sounds like an overkill.

I am sure there are plenty of tech divers on this forum. Could you please share what lift you find sufficient when diving in dry suit with doubles and stage bottles ?

Thanks!
Dimitriy
Belgium

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I have a 55 lb explorer wing (25 kg). With double 100 cu ft tanks (X-7-100's), an 8 lb v-weight (when I have heavy underwear in the dry suit), cannister light, reels, lift bags, 80 cu ft stage and a 40 cu ft deco bottle, it can get pretty full on the surface but is still adequate.

The major differences are the can light (2-3 lbs neg in the water) and the X-7-100 tanks are only about -1.5 lbs when empty and only about -7.5 when full. With very negative tanks like yours, I'd probably need a bigger wing.

One thing that is probably also happening is that your Rec Wing is not fully inflating. My former wing was a Rec Wing and the issue was not lift as much as the narrow profile. I found it was getting restricted between the tanks and plate so it could not fully expand and achieve it's rated lift. If that is the case, the Classic wing may be enough as it is both larger and wider in profile so the air cell is not restricted.

The other issue is with those really negative tanks, do you really need a full 6kg on the harness or would a couple less kilos do the job? I am not a big fan of weight belts, so I am suggesting not needing it rather than moving it.

 

[MSilvia]

I personally dive Genesis/Asahi HP100 doubles on an aluminium plate with a 40lb (18kg) wing when diving dry with a Weezle Extreme undergarment. I don't use any integrated weight pockets on the harness, but I do wear 5kg of weight on my belt, and 1kg in each thigh pocket. It helps to keep me from being too buoyant or the harness too negative when I remove it. I can dive with multiple aluminium stage bottles without them having a significant effect on my buoyancy.

I started with a diverite rec wing too, and found that it lost a significant portion of it's lift capacity when I used it with my al80 doubles, as quite a bit of the bladder was sandwiched between the tanks and unable to inflate.

 

[jimdiverman]

I am diving in a wetsuit, but it is an Aqualung 8/7 mil SOLAFX, very buoyant. In fact, this suit is so buoyant, I needed to add an 8 lb v-weight to my ss backplate to offset the buoyancy when my tanks Twin HP130s) get more positive. I am using the DR Dual classic wing since I am not using a drysuit. I made 16 dives with this configuration last week, and I was always heavy enough to not float up at the shallow deco/safety stops. I am finally happy with my rig like it is.

 

[Dimitriy_E]

Many thanks for your responses. Will try Classic wing and weights away from the back plate harness.

Have a nice day!
Dimitriy