Drysuit NO Wing?

[kw_wilson]

Rainier - I dig the video, but that tank attitude is wacked! With double sidemount would it be double monkey or ape diving???

 

[Anti-Hero]

Rainier - I dig the video, but that tank attitude is wacked! With double sidemount would it be double monkey or ape diving???

What is "whack" about the bottle setup? Don't confuse a sidemount configuration with monkey diving.

 

[Jax]

All very good thoughts. Here is hopefully a complete reply. I don't use my BC at all for buoyancy below the surface. I get my weight right and my drysuit provides what little lift I need - typically only the amount needed for squeeze, and I take a fair amount of squeeze as normal. My plans are to dive single AL80 (with pony) sidemounted or double AL80s as sidemounts. I do carry an SMB that actually has the same lift as my current BC. Catastrophic drysuit fail - same as catastrophic BC fail - swim up, use SMB, lose weight at surface and deal with it.

Jax, I will be diving Lake P in April and plan on testing this out; I'll be in Lake M this weekend with my boring old BC and backmount!

Well, Lake Pleasant is chilly! But the vis is good, and wearing your gear during the surface interval warms you right up!

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/so...easant-conditions-reports-16.html#post5785356

 

[kw_wilson]

Yep, Lake P is chilly so is Lake Mohave. That is all the diving I get to do these days. Vis at Lake P will start to degrade with temperatures going up, and in May CAP will start dropping the water level.

I guess I don't really know the difference between monkey (new term to me) and sidemounting. I'm good either way, just want the bottle(s) to be a bit more streamlined.

 

[formula1mb@aol.com]

Rainer---out of curiosity, what features didn't you like about both the DSS scooter wing or the UTD wing?


Robert

 

[Rainer]

Rainer---out of curiosity, what features didn't you like about both the DSS scooter wing or the UTD wing?

DSS (which I've tried)
-Didn't like the oral inflator. Found it awkward to use. It also requires adding a zip tie to hold it down to the harness.
-Kept getting the hose from the stage reg stuck where the inflator meets the wing (behind my head). I never have this problem with my other wings when using a stage, so not sure what was causing the hang up.
-It's only 12# lift. Fine if you're diving wet with a thin wetsuit, but it could use a few more pounds of lift for diving dry (if your goal is to counteract a flooded drysuit).

UTD (which I haven't tried, but a friend has and I've seen photos/videos)
-Not a fan of the inflator coming from the bottom of the wing (non-standard placement)
-Really hate the OPV/rear dump being on the lower right (useless when scootering)

The prices involved (DSS $220, UTD $295) are also real drawbacks for me, given I only do a handful of monkey dives a year.

 

[Texas Torpedo]

i would wait for Tobin at DSS to complete the wing he is building for Steve

Now that is music to my ears..

 

[TSandM]

In monkey diving, the tank is generally slung like a stage -- clipped into the front d-ring, and hip d-ring. Sidemount diving pulls the tanks in much closer to the diver and the systems I've seen use an elastic connection at the valve end.

I don't have any issue with someone using their dry suit for buoyancy, once they have good control. I do this now for all my cold water, single tank diving. If the diver is properly weighted with a single tank, the amount of gas needed in the suit is very manageable (and I've never had it burp out my neck seal). Doubles are another story, and there I use as much gas as will comfortably stay in the dry suit, and put the rest in the wing. (This is NOT for cave diving, where I keep the suit as squeezed as I can stand and still reach my valves.)

The big issue with depending entirely on the dry suit is the amount of buoyancy you can and will lose with a suit flood. It's likely to be a lot more than a small SMB will supply. My dry suit and undergarments are 26 pounds positive, and although I won't lose ALL of that lift in a flood, I can tell you from experience that I will lose a lot of it. You need a good strategy to cope with that, and make sure whatever auxiliary lift you are carrying is a) adequate and b) something you can deploy quickly and easily.

 

[kw_wilson]

Thanks TSandM! I also have had the partial flood when I first wore my suit - bad neck seal control. However, I did still maintain my buoyancy during the dive with the suit. I would not consider sidemount/monkey with twin tanks unless they were AL80s. Through the dive the tanks become less and less of a negative burden. If I go steels I will have my BC on-board as additional buoyancy control.

Thanks to everyone for your thought input!