Wing, Plate and exposure suit choices for new guy

[Omb]

Hi

New guy here in my OW course. Will live in Germany for next few yrs. Scuba plans include Canaries in April, Croatia in summer, Mallorca late summer, Red Sea for next winter. Want to do some of the local lakes as well as the lakes in Austria. Soo...those are my plans. Most are already in motion so they are going to happen. . I’m huge into photography but don’t have $10k to drop on a rig yet and I want to work on fundamentals for now and just use the ol point and shoot and GoPro solution for the first year or so. I am a lean(mostly) 200 lbs

I’ve done a tone of searching and reading and want to bounce my gear ideas off you guys. Read all the bouancy threads and plate threads I can find. My goal is to keep things as simple as possible

What I already have
Regulator: Mk17 EVO and G260
Computer: Cressi Leonardo. Eventually end up with Teric probably
Wetsuit: Waterproof 7mm
Mask, snorkel, fins of course

I have decided to just start off with the BP/W setup. This is what is have decided

SS back plate as well as single tank adaptor
Simple one piece harness

I will probably use the AL80 on my trips but do have access to steel tanks for local German/Austria stuff
Probably not getting a dry suit this year. Will spend that money on trips. I will probably dive my 7mm year round at the above locations.

Here is my big question: What are your thoughts on the Scubapro X-Tek 40 SINGLE tank wing for this setup. Setup=leanish 200lb dude, 7mm wetsuit. It feels like it is a little more than I need most of the time but will it be a huge issue? Seems the consensus is that wing lift required is a function of the exposure suit required. Really, it seems like 99% of singles diving can be done with the 18 pound or the 30 pound wing. What is the situation where the 40 pound single tank wing is the wing of choice? Dry suit single tank in cold water? I’m at least 4-5 years away from double tank dives.

 

[RainPilot]

Wetsuit compression means that you will be heavier at depth, thus more lift required for the wing. Drysuit needs more weight to sink but that stays constant throughout the dive. Add in the ability to add gas to the suit and you can get away with a smaller wing when using a drysuit.

A 7mm suit will be around 25 lbs positive at the surface and lose around 80% at depth so that would be around 20lb lift required from the wing, plus the gas weight (around 6lbs for an AL80) so you can run out of lift pretty quickly with a thick wetsuit on deeper dives.

I would not go below 30lbs lift in a 7mm and probably 40 as a minimum for me. The wing needs to be manageable when empty as well.

 

[1atm]

I dont know the scubapro wing, but most 40lbs wings are too large for a single tank. Dont get me wrong, you can dive with it and probably be safe, but a too large wing has three problems:

- excessive drag in the water, meaning its less efficient
- can be harder to vent gas, harder to manage air that shifts around
- doesnt look as good (ok just kidding ;-)

You didnt mention how much lead you use, but with the 7mm suit and single tank, a 30lbs wing is probably a good choice. If you had a thinner wetsuit for tropics (say 3mm) and use very little lead, you might think about 25 or 20 lbs, but the difference to the 30 will be small, so 30 will be more versatile. Also look into how the wing is cut, some cuts offer less drag in the water than others.

The 40lbs wings are what you want for steel double tanks. I have a 40lbs halcyon evolve that I use with steel doubles. It has enough lift for steel doubles and two stages+. With a 5mm wetsuit and Al80 I use a Halcyon eclipse 30 (and am thinking about getting an eclipse 20 just for the fun of it). The 30 will also work for a drysuit with single tank setup - use ditcheable weight if in doubt.

 

[1atm]

Another question: have you dived your 7mm in Germany/Austria already? I live in Munich and theres no way Id use a wetsuit in the lakes around here, especially outside summer. Drysuit all the way ... but different people perceive temperature differently so you may very well be ok. All Im saying is, make sure you are comfortable in your suit, before buying a lot of gear to go with it.

Oh and if you want to dive locally you may at some point need a second set of regs, ie two first stages. If you stay with the single tank, that would mean an H valve.

 

[Divectionist]

I have the Scubapro X-Tek with pure hog harness, SS plate and STA, but with 30lbs wing for my 5mm, great piece of gear, so my thoughts on this are good. Your reg is a nice combo too, so just grab that bp/w and get yourself a Perdix or Teric and you are set!

Viele Gruesse nach Stuggi

 

[Omb]

Thanks for the replies. 30 pound sounds like what I want. I’m just kinda wondering what place the single tank 40 has. It looks like the same width as 30 for the tank mount so less likely to taco?

Regarding diving in Germany/Austria, I’m guessing my 7mm won’t cut it. Maybe in summer with an additional hooded shorty for a bit more insulation? I’m hoping to get the drysuit in a year or so.

So....double tanks sounds like a lot more everything. Seems like I could get a pretty good bump in bottom time going to a higher capacity high pressure steel single tank. Perhaps the 40 pound single tank wing is designed with the drysuit and high capacity steel tank in mind? Which is probably where I am going to end up at some point.

So..that said, anyone have experience with the x-tek 40lb SINGLE tank wing? Does it really have that much of a performance hit compared to the 30? The only other threads that could find on this talked about the pitfalls of using the double tank wing with a single tank. Reason I ask is that I see myself in a drysuit large capacity steel tank in a year or so.

Thanks!

 

[Omb]

Or maybe the 40 pound single tank wing was designed with the dude in a 7mm full plus the ice vest? That sounds like a lot of bouancy on top and lots of compression at the bottom.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

OP...how large of a steel tank are you thinking?

The reason that I went to a HP100 rather than a HP120 or larger is that the feedback I was getting is that you’d need a larger wing (I’m running a 32lb) to go up past a HP100 safely.

 

[Omb]

Either HP100 or 120. I don’t have any experience with them so cannot say for sure. I’m tall so the HP120 is def a possibility.

 

[runsongas]

xDEEP ZEOS - the best diving equipment - COLOR set

golem gear has a decent setup, but importing it may not be worth the hassle.

Golem 35 Lbs SS Combo