Which BP/W to get?

I'm trying to decide on my first BP/W setup for single tank diving. Any help/comments would be greatly appreciated.

The two packages I'm considering are:

Hog Gear 32lb Wing + hog SS backplate + UTD DIR harness + highland cam bands from DRIS

Dive Rite 25lb wing + SS backplate + dive rite basic hog harness, 2" crotch strap and 2 cam bands from DGX

I am 6'2" 180lbs have around 50 dives and AOW cert. I live in Florida and usually dive in a rash guard or 3mil wetsuit. I would still like to have enough lift to dive a 5mil and hooded vest in the winter. Do I need the 32lb wing for this, or could I consider the hog 23lb wing?

Thanks

As long as you aren't horrendously overweighted, 23 would be fine. Although I got the 32 anyway so that I can lift more than my share just in case (and even then unless your buddy is overweighted as well you would still wouldn't have problems with 23). It is still quite low profile, and I've been quite pleased with mine. I've got a RapidDiver with 25 (a couple of which are unusable because I like it snug) and have never fully inflated it even w/ an AL80 on back plus the 20 on the front, and being overweighted because it is quick response rig that needs to sink Right Now regardless of what I have on at the time.

I think, first you should find out, how buoyant is your exposure suit. You can roll it, throw it in the pool - how much weight will it take to sink it? So You will find out the maximum buoyancy which your suit can loose during the descent. This will indicate how much lift your wing must have to offset the loss of buoyancy. Your wing should not be smaller than that. Then you can decide how big margin do you want, if any. Some divers say that an excessively large wing would increase the drag in the water. For example, my wetsuit was 14 kg or 31 pound positive, so i chose a 35 pound wing.

Deep Sea Supply makes very good rigs, too.

bendc:

I am 6'2" 180lbs have around 50 dives and AOW cert. I live in Florida and usually dive in a rash guard or 3mil wetsuit. I would still like to have enough lift to dive a 5mil and hooded vest in the winter. Do I need the 32lb wing for this, or could I consider the hog 23lb wing?

Thanks

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Depends on a couple of factors, but probably 23lbs is plenty of lift. You really only need lift to A) compensate for wetsuit compression and the weight of the gas in your tank, and B) float your rig without you in it. So unless you're using a huge heavy tank and putting lots of weight on the rig, a 25lb wing should float the rig fine, and unless your wetsuit loses more than say 20lbs of buoyancy (that's a lot for a 5 mil) plus the 5lbs or so of gas in your tank, again you'll be fine.

I use a 18lb wing with a 5 mil and steel tank frequently and I've never felt like I needed more lift.

The dive rite 25 lb wing is probably the travel EXP, right? That looks like a nice wing to me, and IMO dive rite wings tend to be a little bigger than you'd think, so maybe it has a little more than 25 lbs lift. You won't really know until you bolt it up to a tank. Then you can fill it with water until the OPV pops, then empty the water into a bucket and either weigh or calculate the weight of the water by volume. Either way, that's the actual displacement (lift) of the wing while mounted.

Do you need an STA with either of those? That might be a deciding factor.

The difference in size, taco factor and drag between the two wings is not likely to be noticeable.

bendc:

[h=2]Which BP/W to get? [/h]

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One wing to rule them all...



"We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious."

What kind of tanks are you diving typically? Is that likely to change? When you switch to the winter wear, you wont need more lift, if anything you need slightly less. I used to dive single steel hp 130 single tanks, and I would not have wanted any less than the Dive-Rite Voyager wing I was using (35lb lift). If you are only diving smaller AL80 tanks then you can definitely get by with a smaller wing. I personally would want the flexibility of using all sorts of different tank sizes. The Hog wing looks nice - I have never dove a HOG wing before so I cannot speak to it directly, I have heard good things about both. I choose Dive-Rite for a lot of reasons and was always happy with the Voyager wing. I actually have a Dive-Rite Voyager wing with the SS backplate and STA, standard harness, with Scubapro tank straps instead of the Dive-Rite ones. Depending on where you live in Florida I might be willing to make you a deal on it as I recently upgraded all my gear. Its around a year old and still looks like new. I like buying my gear from Florida companies as well. Since I live in Florida buying from local businesses makes repairs, returns, etc MUCH simpler. Its worth thinking about, especially if you are going to be diving a lot.

Right now in Fla, I'm diving steel 120's with 7mm suit and aluminum plate with 25 lb wing. I use only 4 lbs with that setup. Since you are in Fla, I found that a steel plate was too heavy for 3mm or steel tanks, if you never intend to dive steels and only 80 al's then SS will be fine. My two systems are 25 lb wings and have lifted 20lb deadweight anchors with no problem, but not fun. Hope that helps.

fdarden:

What kind of tanks are you diving typically? Is that likely to change? When you switch to the winter wear, you wont need more lift, if anything you need slightly less.

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With colder water, you typically wear thicker wetsuits which are more buoyant on the surface, then lose more buoyancy as the suit compresses, resulting in more lift needed. More lift and more weight. I think you're confusing surface buoyancy with amount of buoyancy lost at depth.

bendc:

I'm trying to decide on my first BP/W setup for single tank diving. Any help/comments would be greatly appreciated.

The two packages I'm considering are:

Hog Gear 32lb Wing + hog SS backplate + UTD DIR harness + highland cam bands from DRIS

Dive Rite 25lb wing + SS backplate + dive rite basic hog harness, 2" crotch strap and 2 cam bands from DGX

I am 6'2" 180lbs have around 50 dives and AOW cert. I live in Florida and usually dive in a rash guard or 3mil wetsuit. I would still like to have enough lift to dive a 5mil and hooded vest in the winter. Do I need the 32lb wing for this, or could I consider the hog 23lb wing?

Thanks

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Dive Rite is good. I use a 27# DR wing with SS plate and basic harness. Love it. In salt water I wear a 3mm full suit for protection and to even out my buoyancy with the SS plate. I do not require any additional weight (w/ AL80). I wear a 5mm in fresh water and have to carry an additional 4 pounds.

If you're diving a steel tank you may want to consider an aluminum plate so you can manage buoyancy better with differing tank specs.

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