New BP/Wing owner

Just purchased a Halcyon BP/ 36lb. pioneer wing. Love it. Ended up purchasing the halcyon gear because a LDS had just become a dealer... they aren't even listed on Halcyon's web site yet... I just lucked out finding them while I was shopping for apeks regs.

One of the instructors spent about an hour and 1/2 with me setting up the harness, making adjustments, and setting up my regs. This was the reason I went with the local shop... they are actively diving this gear and I wasn't sure how to set everything up. Now that I see how easy it is, I think I'll be getting a FredT when my wife gets rid of her Zeagle Concept (which she just purchased a month ago, and which she is just about ready to replace after she saw my bp setup )

I love this thing. I have 6 dives on it and like it more everytime I use it. I was concerned about getting the harness on and off... no problems. Either chickenwing on and off, or set it on some type of platform and crouch down and put your arms straight up through the harness and stand up into it. In water removal and donning is even easier. And all this is with the straps fairly tight while wearing a 7mm 2-piece.

My favorite things about this setup:
1. Weight.. I was wearing 34 lbs with the 7mm 2 piece and my jacket bc. I tried to lower the weight but was always struggling to stay at 15 ft. at the end of every dive. With the bp I dropped 6 lbs off the belt (weight of the SS plate). Too heavy. I dropped 4 lbs the next dive... still too heavy. Yesterday I dropped 2 more and felt pretty good.. still slightly heavy, so next dive I'll drop 2 more.... That'll put me down to 20lbs on my belt!!! amazing!!!

2. Trim. I feel very comfortable in any position. My feet are slightly heavy and am going to try moving the tank to offset that.... any other suggestions.. If I hover motionless, my feet slowly settle down... not bad at all, but not perfect either.

3. Water 'retention'.. When I get out of the water or while rinsing the gear, I don't find the bp/wing holding 2 gallons of water and taking 15 minutes to finish dripping water like the zeagle seems to .

4. No straps dangling all about

5. no long inflator hose dangling all over the place.

6. Love the zipper pocket hanging on the waist belt... already has the convenient dring inside to clip my stuff to.


In short... the bp/wing setup has been very good for me

Sounds great! I checked w/ UPS and my BP is gonna be here today!

decide on a wing yet?

raxafarian once bubbled...
decide on a wing yet?

Click to expand...

Yep. I got a dive rite rec wing. it's a bit on the high side for singles, but it'll have a home in my future...

I'll see how it goes on my shakeout dives, and if it turns out to be to big, it'll go in my closet and the steel tanks'll get bumped to down on the priority list while I look for a smaller wing....

2. Trim. I feel very comfortable in any position. My feet are slightly heavy and am going to try moving the tank to offset that.... any other suggestions.. If I hover motionless, my feet slowly settle down... not bad at all, but not perfect either.

Click to expand...

We have been putting the top of our plates just at the break in the tank where the tapering toward the neck starts (with singles) and have had good results. Arching your back will also help your feet stay up.

just when you think the shoulder straps are tight enough and it feels good... tighten them up! i had done about 30 dives on my halcyon pioneer setup and then did the dirf. after tightening twice i can now reach the top of my backplate all geared up and turn the tank valve on and off! if you would have told me that i could reach my valve before the course i would have told you you were nuts... i'll have some salt on those words i'm eating!!!!!!!

I have two questions that I would like you to comment on.

I have only about 10 dives in my 36# Pioneer system and absolutely love it. I am continuing to adjust things however to get the most precise fit. Most of the posts that I have read on this site regarding the shoulder straps recommend that they be a bit loose and that the waist strap and crotch strap should be tight. Does the DIRF course teach that the shoulder straps be very tight? Would this hinder in water removal of the setup?

Secondly, one of the problems that I have encountered is that the top of the wings, when inflated, hits the back of my head when I tilt my head backwards. I can attribute this partly to the fact that my neoprene pocket style weight belt worn under the plate (with no weight in those pockets) pushes the top of the setup forward towards my head. I realize now that I shouldnt have purchased this style of weightbelt, but had gift certificates and made a snap decision.

To correct this I now place the crotch strap under the belt to facilitate ditching if necessary but still get some contact. I can only assume that the bottom of the plate rests on the top of the belt in this configuration causing the plate to ride high on my body creating this contact Any similar problems with the wing interfering with head movement? What do people find to be the best weight style to use with backplates?

Sorry, maybe that was four questions. Happy Diving!!

I have only about 10 dives in my 36# Pioneer system and absolutely love it. I am continuing to adjust things however to get the most precise fit. Most of the posts that I have read on this site regarding the shoulder straps recommend that they be a bit loose and that the waist strap and crotch strap should be tight. Does the DIRF course teach that the shoulder straps be very tight? Would this hinder in water removal of the setup?

Click to expand...

Shoulder straps should be tight...not uncomfortably so, but enough so you can touch the top of the plate with your hand when the rig is on standing on dry land. Since gravity yanks that sucker down, it has to be pretty tight everywhere to accomplish this. It feels great underwater this tight, BTW.

As far as removal and donning, this is easy with it adjusted properly. The only problem I have had with removal and donning is in a rescue class when someone had to "rescue" me at the surface and they were not familiar with harness systems. In a real emergency that shouldn't have been a problem since they could have cut my webbing, but they were used to quick releases all over the place and gave up and asked how to get it off. If you dive with buddies who have harnesses, it isn't much of a problem since they are familiar with the gear setup and can remove it.

Normally I carry a canister light as my only ditchable weight, so I don't have that problem. However, when conditions warrant, I dive with a weightbelt from www.idsewing.com (a soft weightbelt). I place it on before donning the rig and wear it under the harness. I find this to be the most comfortable way to wear it and I do not worry about ditching it since at most I only put 4 pounds or so in it anyway and can swim it up from depth. If you dive dry and need a lot of weight on your belt, you might look into a v-weight (doubles) or a p-weight (singles) to take some of that weight off your belt so you can wear a lower profile belt.

Does DIR have an opinion on soft weight belts?

They seem okay for recreational diving in a wetsuit. Probably okay for diving dry as well.

I'll have to check, but I think the belt is placed over the crotch strap for wetsuit divers. Under the crotch strap for drysuit divers. The crotch strap over the weight belt provides a little more insurance against accidents. It could be catastrophic if a drysuit diver lost their weight belt.