Double bladder for a Halcyon back plate/harness??

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mos11b1p

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Location
Slidell, LA
# of dives
200 - 499
Halcyon does NOT make a double bladder "doubles" wing because (i have been told) they believe when diving doubles, one's drysuit is the single-bladder-BCD's redundancy. However, what is your option if you're diving in a wetsuit? You have no secondary inflation capability should the inflator fail in a single bladder type BCD. I dive a 7mil Henderson Instadry and it's plenty warm enough for me. My Tec instructor wants me to get a double bladder BCD wing. Since Halcyon doesnt make one, will ANY OTHER BRAND of double bladder fit onto my Halcyon backplate and harness? (I really hate the idea of having to invest in a completly new setup. I'd rather buy a different brand of double bladder and bolt it onto my Halcyon rig. Can I??)
 
Practically any doubles wing will bolt on. No need to buy a new rig for that.

I might suggest that you look at balancing your rig though so that should your your bladder fail, you can simply ditch your weightbelt to get back to neutral buoyancy. If you're diving wet, then AL80s make nice doubles.

Best of luck with your class.
 
Wetsuit the accepted phylosophy is that with double ALUMINUM cylinders you should be able t swim your rig.

And yes, most if not all dual bladder wings will fit a Halcyon plate.
 
No, that is the accepted DIR answer, others dive steels while wet. Double 80s is only 160 cuft, double 120s is like having a 3rd 80 in the mix. The older way was to run a second wing, or use a lift bag for emergency bail out lift. Most decent makers of tech gear allow interchangability between wing and harness. Just take some measurements on the holes, call a shop that deals in other makers. Personally, I am not a fan of Halcyon stuff, shearing inflators, just recently I saw a sticking inflator on one of the new ones. Just my opinion, everyone likes one brand or another more for this reason or that.....figure out what you like, and use it. You may find you prefer the Halcyon wing or your new wing.
-J
 
JayJudge... you are SO RIGHT about the sticking inflator! I dive the oil rigs off Louisiana regularly bcause spearfishing is my passion. I dive a Halcyon Eclipse and an AL80. I had about 60 dives on it when just before reaching my safety stop, i tapped the inflator and it STUCK. I wasn't close enough to grab a pipe on the rig, so inverted, dumped and kicked down HARD to overcome.... HA! No chance! My dive buddies back on the boat 30 feet away saw me BLOW out of the water FINS FIRST. It was a lil frightening to be honest. Changed my WHOLE THINKING about power inflators and how when to use them. (Also inspired me to take it apart and see ***? It had microfine sediment in it and needed to be cleaned with a q-tip...and it did NOT clean "easy." That sediment was almost like a paste...it took a while to get it all out.) I NEVER touch that inflator now once I reach depth and nuetrality.

Thankyou guys for your kind input in answering my question.
 
It was on an instructor's wing that I saw it. We thought we heard a gurgling on the surface, but, then we didn't hear it. There have been a few other things I have heard of or seen with Halcyon stuff, the SMB that is a closed bag originally came with a nipple end, brilliant, and the new ones don't, but, a bit of vertigree and the same problem will arise. I already know that the gurus of a certain group will soon be flaming me, so, I'll just point out that is what I have seen-personal experience-your experiences may be different.
Back to the original poster's query, check out the Dive Rite line. Its been around, time tested with very few changes.
-J
 
Flaming you for what? For saying that the some of the stainless steel inflators are garbage? They are. Mine is sitting on the floor next to me. With 12 freshwater dives it began to leak, but it never stuck. I got rid of it and got something else. George Irvine had his stick and popped to the surface while he wad doing an underwater boat cleaning in a busy marina. He tossed his out too.

As for the double bladders, I've used them. Frankly they area nightmare. I used the double Dive Rite for cave class since I did it wet. I'll NEVER do that again. When I had to use double steels and dive wet, I used two wings. I didn't care for it much, but it was better than the double bladder. It didn't screw with my muscle memory as to where to find the inflator and the OPV.

All of Dive Rite's wings are time tested. That's why I sold mine and went with something with a modern shape that works twice as well. That has zero to do with DIR and everything to do with using gear that works well in the water.

No flames here, just actual dive experience with different solutions. But I still say dive the right tanks and this won't be an issue. Double bladders, or two wings is a kluge and it might get you bent, hurt, or killed if things do go well.


It was on an instructor's wing that I saw it. We thought we heard a gurgling on the surface, but, then we didn't hear it. There have been a few other things I have heard of or seen with Halcyon stuff, the SMB that is a closed bag originally came with a nipple end, brilliant, and the new ones don't, but, a bit of vertigree and the same problem will arise. I already know that the gurus of a certain group will soon be flaming me, so, I'll just point out that is what I have seen-personal experience-your experiences may be different.
Back to the original poster's query, check out the Dive Rite line. Its been around, time tested with very few changes.
-J
 
I'd go with the lift bag, cheapest/'easiest/best soulution unless your in overhead. People will say that you could drop to the bottom before you could deploy a lift bag but for that to happen you'd have to be WAY over weighted anyway and have a really bad failure as in exploding BC.
 
Double 80s is only 160 cuft, double 120s is like having a 3rd 80 in the mix.
-J
If I need more gas, I can either add an AL80 stage when diving wet with double 80s or dive steels dry with minimal thermal garments in warm water. No big deal either way.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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