wingin' it...

so i want to finally buy my own equipment and could use a little advice....

i'll probably never wear less than my Bare 5/3 (obvious www), I’ve used it comfortably in 72-85F water… even in the warmer climes I like full protection from critters and have yet to overheat. With this suit and a typical rental BC I need at least 12 lbs of lead in fw and 15 in sw (w/ rental AL 80's, which is probably what I will keep using for the time being). So I’m thinking a SS bp would be nice as it would take 6 lbs off my waist and I’ll still have some ditchable weight. Couple this with a 27lb pioneer wing and I think I’d be happy in anything above 70F. And if I ever get sick of wearing a suit in warm water I suppose I could always buy an AL bp later as its pretty cheap and still have a good rec rig for warm diving.

I also live in New England and would like to do some local stuff too, and we don’t see 70F around here too often. So I plan on buying a thicker suit for this. My limited experience w/ 2-piece 7mm suits had me wearing around 30 lbs, which was obviously not too comfy on my 31” waist! So here again the SS bp will help some… maybe I’d even add an STA for cold diving too to get even more weight off my belt. But then it looks like the 27lb pioneer will not be enough (unless I learn some kung-fu from UP as he seems to be able to do this)… so perhaps a 36 lb wing will be a reasonable trade-off: not quite as streamlined, but more versatile for the conditions I want to dive in.

Finally, my questions:
1. Does this sound like a decent plan, or does anyone have a better recommendation?
2. Will the 36lb pioneer be adequate for cold stuff (wearing maybe 24lb lead + 6 lb bp)?

Any other advice? Thanks,

Chris

I don't have much to comment about, however there is one thing you should take note of when calculating out what is best for taking weight off your belt.

I wore 28# with my BC. I wear 12 lbs now with my 9# FredT heavy, and 1.7# STA.

My point... your BC is going to have some bouyancy associated with it that won't be present with the BP/wings. Be sure to subtract a few pounds when calculating out your 'needs'.

I wear 2 suits: a shell-type drysuit, and a 7mm 1-pc semi-dry with a 5mm hooded vest. I use a 36# Pioneer wing for single (either al or steel) tanks, and a 55# Explorer for twins. I'm 5'11", 178#, and need 23# of weight for the wetsuit, 27# for the dry. If I'm using steel tank(s), I take that into account. I think that if you have a 31" waist, you probably don't need 30# with a fj wetsuit unless you're 8'2". That said, I can tell you when I dive at Ocean Journey (our aquarium), if I use the drysuit, I purposely overweight with 34# (so I can work), and with the 36# wing I can just float on the surface with a full al80 (my weight is a total of the SS bp, steel sta, p-weight, belt, and ankle weights). I only use ankle weights at the aquarium.

With my wetsuit, I think that a 27# wing would be OK with al tanks. Obviously, if you're wearing 30# of weight, that 27# wing would be stupid. The nice thing about the Halycon Pioneers is that they are the same profile; the 36# has very slightly wider side panels than the 27#. The 18# simply has no side panels.

For a quick answer to your questions, the 36# wing might be a better choice for you, at least for now. It doesn't present any greater drag than the 27#.

hth,
Joe

I think with a 31" inch waist (I am 5 9" with a 31" waist) you are probably way overweighted with 30 pounds. In a 7mm 2 pc, I carried about 18 pounds with my jacket style BC. I have not yet had the chance to dive the 7mm with BP and wings but here are the numbers that I have:

3 mm wetsuit, jacket BC - 4 pounds on belt in fresh water, 8 in salt water
3 mm wetsuit AL BP (1.5 lbs, STA 5 lbs) - 0 on belt in fresh water (maybe 1 lb heavy), 3 in salt water

7mm wetsuit, jacket BC - 18 pounds in salt water

It is hard for me to see how you would need another 12 pounds of weight.

Have you done a buoyancy check with an empty tank on the surface?

I also wear 30 lbs...I am 6"8 and 300 lbs and am diving in basically the same conditions. Full 7mm suit in the ocean.

Definitely do a buoyancy check at the end of your next dive to verify that you're not overweighted.

King Kong Matt once bubbled...
I am 6"8 and 300 lbs

Click to expand...

Okay, someone has to say it - HOLY COW! Suddenly at 6'3" and 220lb I feel tiny...

bengiddins once bubbled...
Okay, someone has to say it - HOLY COW! Suddenly at 6'3" and 220lb I feel tiny...

Click to expand...

What would you expect for someone named King Kong!

I supposed I could have started calling him Andre the Matt

bengiddins once bubbled...
Okay, someone has to say it - HOLY COW! Suddenly at 6'3" and 220lb I feel tiny...

Click to expand...

Would now be a good time or a bad time to mention that I have two brothers the same size? We're all professional jockies...

The funny part...and this is a kicker...is Dad is about 5"11. The first time I dunked a basketball on him was in the eighth grade (I was already 6"3). He docked my allowance for a week.

The height thing (blatant advertising of other thread approaching...) is why I am concerned as to whether I can get a Halcyon BP to fit on me. Check it out here. I'm not fat, just really tall...I am concerned that for me to get the waist band of BP harness actually around my waist, that the BP won't be properly positioned on my back...

my OW checkout dives (back in May) were the only time i wore a 2 piece 7mm. my instructor "checked" our weighting at the beginning of the dive by having us kneel on the bottom in 4' and then jerking us up and down by the BC to see if we 'felt right'. i never wore weight in the pool sessions so that was my first time trying to get weighted correctly. he had me add more until i was at 30 lbs. the next week he had me at 32 and i noticed i felt heavy (had a lot of buoyancy issues). so its possible that 30 was too much, i was sort of relying on my instructor there since it was my first time w/ weight.

i haven't dove in those conditions since... most recently i did fresh water in my 5/3 in a BC and AL 80 with 12 lbs, i was too light when i got down to 500 psi.

when i get back in a 7mm (hopefully soon), i'll be sure not to just throw on 30lbs and go.

all that aside... any other comments on the wings or my reasoning?

chris

30 pounds seems like a light of weight. You may want to reweight yourself on a shallow dive. That may help with some of your "issues"

Eric