"Transpac" Style BC Question

[halocline]

Well, my "useless crap" Transpac seems to work very well for me,

I didn't call your transpac "useless crap". Sorry if you read it that way. What I said was that high end BCs tend to have a lot of useless crap added to them in the guise of "features." That's a statement mostly directed at jacket BCs with many extra D rings, pockets, handles, all sorts of padding, anything the manufacturer can stick on there to make potential buyers think they're getting more stuff for their money.

 

[RJP]

That's a statement mostly directed at jacket BCs with many extra D rings, pockets, handles, all sorts of padding, anything the manufacturer can stick on there to make potential buyers think they're getting more stuff for their money.

 

[Kern]

Love the redundant fin.

 

[RJP]

Love the redundant fin.

And it's on a retractor!

 

[BKP]

That couldn't be me... I don't do MOF...

 

[fnfalman]

Hey, at least you carry enough redundancy for solo diving.

 

[bradshsi]

I had a Transpac with a Recwing for about 3 years and found the stability to be ok.

I was never totally happy with how the Recwing vented with a single tank, so this year as an experiment I cannibalized the Transpac harness and attached it to a DiveRite aluminum backplate with an Oxycheq Mach V wing.

On balance I much prefer this setup. It simply feels more stable underwater.

Since you bought the backplate, really your only variables are the harness and wing. There have been plenty of comments on the harness which could be:

1 piece HOG style
"luxury" multi piece/padded harness such as Dive Rite transplate
Something like I did

Wing choice is more critical IMO, especially since a lot of wings can be too big or flappy around single tanks. You can usually get most brands of wings to work with your backplate, although you might need an STA for some of them. All I can say is do as much research as you can before deciding on your wing choice.

 

[Rock2r]

Bradshsi,

I concur with you on the wing statement. I'm debating on picking up an older version (but brand new) of Dive Rite's Venture wing w/30lbs lift, in lieu of the current model with 45lbs. Another issue I don't like with my current Knighthawk is that I have to invert and use the butt dump to get almost all the air out of that big 46lb lift pillow.

Seems to me that prices are all over the place depending on branding when it comes to wings...much like traditional BC's. After looking at wings for over 6 mos, I just don't get that!

Unfortunatly, the luxury of trying a bunch of them out before purchase just doesn't exist in my world. LDS's understandably push what they sell, and the Scubatoys and LP type sites only have "customer" reviews and so-so pictures to go by.

My local LDS is Halcyon driven and although I'm sure it's a great line, I can not justify the asking price when other mfg's. equipment appears to be equally as constructed as the Blue "H".

Heading back to Kona in mid January and would like to get a new rig together by then.

 

[halocline]

I'm debating on picking up an older version (but brand new) of Dive Rite's Venture wing w/30lbs lift, in lieu of the current model with 45lbs.

The larger venture wing is a truly bizarre animal. I don't what they were thinking on that one. Right now North East Scuba supply has some of the new, much nicer travel wings (EXP, I think) on sale for $169. That's an excellent deal. One of those with either a dive rite, hammerhead, or oxy plate and a simple webbing harness will make a good, very reasonably priced set up. If you're only interested in single tank diving, you could get the wing at NESS and a freedom plate from Eric on this forum.

 

[DennisS]

I have an aluminum BP and an oxycheq wing I use with my 130, it's an OK rig.

I use my Transpac w/ travel wing and my single 80s. I have two 2 lb trim weights mounted around my shoulder blades on the transpac. I love it, my trim is just locked in. I've tried lots of combinations with the BP/wing and a single 130 but it just doesn't have the "magic" trim that the transpac/travel wing/80 with trim weights has. It's a great rig.