wing for cold water diver.

[cool_hardware52]

Mossym,

To determine how much wing lift you need two values must be found, the "in water" weight of your rig without you in it, and the amount of weight necessary to sink just your wetsuit.

The weight of your rig is pretty easy to estimate, the weight of the backplate + the tank + regs. (Tank weights can be found many places on the web) For a single tank rig this weight is seldom over 20lbs, often much less. Being able to float your rig at the surface without you in it has obvious advantages

The second value is the weight necessary to sink your wetsuit without you in it. This is not the amount of weight you may now be wearing, as it is likely your current BC is positive, may be quite a bit positive. Remember it is basically only your wetsuit that looses buoyancy as you descend, it is this loss of buoyancy that your buoyancy compensator has to "compensate" for.

Even large thick wetsuits seldom require more than 18-25lbs, often less. Wetsuits aren't fully compressed until you reach ~165 fsw, so at lesser depths the suit will remain somewhat positive.

Usually in cold water it will be the weight to sink the suit that is greater, in Tropical conditions it can be the weight of the rig.

All of the above assumes that you are properly weighted, i.e. neutral at the surface with no air in the wing.

Good luck,



Tobin

 

[mossym]

given that, 30lbs should be enough, but 40 would have a bigger safety margin..why don't dive rite make a good 40# wing for single tanks!! (exactly what bob said earlier)

 

[JPG]

I have been looking at and heard some good things about the DR Trek wing (40lbs of lift). Have you heard different about this wing?

 

[mossym]

i didn't think the trek was designed solely for single tanks...i was under the impression that you were better off getting a wing designed for either singles or doubles, not both...

 

[JPG]

Sorry, forgot that you were looking for a wing solely for singles.

 

[lamont]

the two factors for sizing a wing are:

- must be able to float your gear at the surface, full tank, without you in it
- must provide enough lift to compensate for wetsuit compression at depth
- a safety factor

i played around with the numbers a lot and couldn't come up with a single-tank configuration that required more than a 40# wing for me in my drysuit.

i've also done dumb stuff in my 40# wing like overweight myself by about 10# and i still had enough lift to float myself.

for a more experienced diver, 40# might be overkill for lift, but i don't mind having a little extra lift to keep me out of trouble...

 

[mossym]

so how do people like the trek wing for single tank confiurations? am i better off going with a wing designed for singles?

 

[mossym]

the two factors for sizing a wing are:

- must be able to float your gear at the surface, full tank, without you in it
- must provide enough lift to compensate for wetsuit compression at depth
- a safety factor

i played around with the numbers a lot and couldn't come up with a single-tank configuration that required more than a 40# wing for me in my drysuit.

i've also done dumb stuff in my 40# wing like overweight myself by about 10# and i still had enough lift to float myself.

for a more experienced diver, 40# might be overkill for lift, but i don't mind having a little extra lift to keep me out of trouble...

what wing do you use?

 

[lamont]

what wing do you use?

halcyon eclipse 40#

 

[msandler]

Your wing should have enough lift to keep you (fully rigged: lights, reel, weights, tanks, 80 cuft of air is 6 lbs, whatever) off the bottom AT DEPTH. (obviously, being overweighted not only adds to the required bouyancy but also makes bouyancy control more challenging)

You should have enough weight to allow you to sink, at the completion of your dive with an empty wing, when you completely exhale. [at the end of your dive, remove weight until you do not sink, this is what you should dive with. Most Al tanks go positive when empty and exhibit a greater range of bouyancy, this is one reason steels are preferable]

This should be the case with any suit. Diving dry provides constant suit volume and thus much better weight mgt.

Do NOT get sucked in to the rumors and heresay regarding wing types and double wings vs single wings. The Trek wing WILL work perfectly on your single (and let you move into more "tech type" diving if your tastes take you there)!

Just get the trek or something in the 40+ range (since you dive cold waters) and go diving - it is that simple.