Wings

[WYDT]

Hi Josh,

One thing no one here has mentioned is that you should strive to balance your rig.

If properly balanced you should be able to swim up from depth with tanks in the event of BC failure and be able to stay at 15ft with nearly empty tanks and no air in your BC.

It's that simple... if your rig is balanced you should not need a large wing. The only gas needed in the wing should be enough to offset the weight of the gas in your tanks.

DSAO!

 

[dkerr]

WYDT once bubbled...
Hi Josh,

The only gas needed in the wing should be enough to offset the weight of the gas in your tanks.

DSAO!

Just curious, but shouldn't they also ofset the boyancy loss of the exposure suit? Granted you need to be able to swim the rig up from depth, but shouldn't the wing be able to have enough lift to also deal with this?
Thanks
Doug

 

[WYDT]

dkerr once bubbled...

Just curious, but shouldn't they also ofset the boyancy loss of the exposure suit? Granted you need to be able to swim the rig up from depth, but shouldn't the wing be able to have enough lift to also deal with this?
Thanks
Doug

One should dive a drysuit with very little gas in it to begin with. The suits buoyancy shift should be minimal in the event of a flood.

I've had my DUI TLS350 soaking wet inside (bad dump valve) and didn't notice any difference in buoyancy. 400G Thinsulate is hydrophobic and will still keep some air trapped in it and still retains much of it's warmth as well so I don't think you could actually loose all the drysuits buoyancy even if you tore the leg off but it shouldn't matter as you'd have very minimal gas in it to begin with.

 

[Josh Levinson]

Thanks your input everyone.

I understand the theory behind how much lift you need from a bladder and all that. What I meant was, what do people generally use? Do you see most people doing the type of diving I mentioned above using 55 lb wings, or 70 lb wings, etc?

Also, sometimes I dive with no stages, one stage, 2 stages, and in the future I plan to dive with more than 2. I understand that your rig has to be balanced, but I'm not gonna have a set of wings for every one of those situations. Which wings would be best encompass all of them (if such a wing exists)?

Does anyone here dive a Dive Rite bungeed wing? What advantages and disadvantages do you notice compared to unbungeed wings?

Thanks again guys.


Josh

 

[diverberr]

WYDT once bubbled...


Just curious.... are you diving wet or dry? Why steel stages? What do you hate about backplates so much?

I'm diving dry. Water temperature here rarely exceeds 60 degrees at your twenty foot stop, and I've never seen it above 42 degrees at 200 ft.

It's not so much the backplates themselves that I don't like, it's the method of mounting. I don't like having to mess with nuts, bolts, wingnuts, and wrenches every time I do a dive. With my Zeagle, it's one less thing I have to do when planning and getting ready for a dive. And if I'm doing two dives that day, I don't have to mess with it on the boat either, Just release the cams, slip one set of tanks out, and the next set in.

Hope I've cleared up my earlier rant about backplates.

See you on the bottom,
Al.

 

[diverberr]

WYDT once bubbled...


Just curious.... are you diving wet or dry? Why steel stages? What do you hate about backplates so much?

Oh Yeah, about the stages. I'm diving a steel 45 and an aluminum 63. Before you ask: no, the different buoyancy characteristics don't bother me. I clip more of my gear (lights, reels, etc) to my right side where the aluminum tank is to offset it.

That is my standard rig. I also dive a 30 and 40 as deco bottles(both aluminum), a 30 and 45, a 63 and 80, or two 80's. It all depends on what dive I'm doing, and how much deco gas I need.

Al.

 

[padiscubapro]

WYDT once bubbled...


Just curious.... are you diving wet or dry? Why steel stages? What do you hate about backplates so much?

WYDT, the difference in buoyancy characteristics of a lp45 and aluminum 50 AND AN AL63, is only about 1.5 lbs at rated pressure, the 45 is a much more confortable tank to carry and just overfilling it to 3000 will give you 52 cuft.

its also only about 3 lbs more negative (full) than a 40, which for most of my dives is my favorite sling to carry.. if you are someone who needs extra weight the 40 will be about 2 lbs pos at end of dive (if you made the tank neutral at empty the overall weight would be the same as the 45) while the 45 is neutral.