26lb or 30lb wing?

[scuba_mc]

Having trouble deciding lift requirements for a single cylinder wing, had a look at the lift calculator but couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Wing will be used for warm water holiday diving but I'd also like it to give enough lift for local (colder) diving when I'm not diving doubles.

For local dives I use a 7mm wetsuit + 3mm hooded vest + 5mm booties + 3mm gloves

Cylinders - 15l 232 steel or 12l 300bar steel + 5l ali cylinder

I guess the safe option would probably be to go for the 30lbs but would like to go for the smaller wing if I don't really need the extra lift.

Can anyone advise if 26lb lift would be enough for this configuration?

Thanks

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Would you rather have 26 or 30 lbs of lift if you also had to temporarily support another diver at the surface? People get too wrapped up in trying to get the smallest wing. For what? Less drag? It's scuba, not a race. I don't recommend less than 30 lbs of lift unless you are diving al tanks with an al plate in warm water. I used to use a 23. It worked with AL 80's. Not so good with steel tanks of any size.

 

[NAM001]

do the 30#
if you take off your 7mm then you will need more. i dont know your tanks but if you ever use 8" tanks the wing may not inflate fully and loose 1/4 of the lift. as doubles goes you will most likely not be able to use the same wing. they are advertized but I would have a single and a double wing. probably a 50-60 for doubles and the 30-35 for single.
how much lead are you using with the 7mm. cause when you lo0ok at wet suit compression at 100 ft you loose most all your suit lift. if your suit is 20 light then it will be 3-4 light at 100 ft.thats 16# of your wing lift right there. then there is the full tank at the stsart of the dive. so another -8. thats 24 min lift. your rig alone will be probably be -16 with bp and harness so that number wont change. so worst case you will have kit of -16 full tank -16 suit compression at 100 ft. you need enough wing to float the kit without you in it. (-16) and float you with the kit on with your 10# head out of the water. so if your lead cancels out the wet suit(surface) then the 16# kit and 10# head will need 26# lift min. The streamline wings fit very tight and are often limited form filling up completely with larger tanks. i am guessing you are using 7 inch tanks so a 30 may actually give you 30. but an 8" tank will only give you 25. here are the streamline wings OxyCheq - Single Tank Wings - BCD's - Sport Dive Equipment
here are wider sings https://www.divegearexpress.com/bcs/aircells.shtml?gclid=CMicjZ_jwMMCFY-JaQodNDoANw

i found out the 8" tank thing the hard way. with 3/2 shorty my 32# wing was fine then I changed into the lavacore and it was not enought o keep me on the surface with a full tank. found out the suit change was about 7# change in buoyancy. The 8" tqnk would only allow about 25 lift becaues the way the streamline wing is squeezed between the plate and tank only allowing partial inflation.

 

[MRadke]

Jim, I wish I had talked to you before I bought my 24. If a diver winds up a few pounds heavy for any reason, a tiny wing is overtaxed. My first dive with it, I was overweighted by 6 pounds, which made waiting for the boat at the surface less comfortable than it needed to be.

Bottom line, get the 30.

 

[scuba_mc]

Ok thanks all very sensible advice.

I worked out if I integrated all my ballast to the backplate 26lbs is roughly only just enough lift at the start of a dive, I could get round it by moving some lead to a belt I guess but those extra 4lbs of lift might come in handy some day.

Ok 30lbs it is... I was swinging in that direction anyways.

I've been looking at two 30lb options:

Frog Indigo - STA, Donut, locally available
DSS LCD - No-STA, Horseshoe, import to Europe

Once delivery charges are considered, price difference is minimal.

I've never used a bp/w on a single tank before, so no idea how the STA will feel. Logic tells me that having a tank closer to your back is going to feel better in water. I really like the DSS solution (windowed wing) in order to make the STA redundant. Shame DSS don't make a 30lb donut wing... however I'm not really bothered by the whole horsehoe vs donut argument too much.

Decisions, decisions...

 

[NAM001]

DSS makes some good stuff. i dont care fo rhte fill hose being center in front of hte tank valve. over teh left sholder works better for me and makes the hose seem longer by 3 inshes or so. i do like the no sta aspect of it. my oxycheq 's are no sta and that makes the tank fit closer to eh plate and ends up restricting the amount the wing can fill. so you need a 30# min wing

Ok thanks all very sensible advice.

I worked out if I integrated all my ballast to the backplate 26lbs is roughly only just enough lift at the start of a dive, I could get round it by moving some lead to a belt I guess but those extra 4lbs of lift might come in handy some day.

Ok 30lbs it is... I was swinging in that direction anyways.

I've been looking at two 30lb options:

Frog Indigo - STA, Donut, locally available
DSS LCD - No-STA, Horseshoe, import to Europe

Once delivery charges are considered, price difference is minimal.

I've never used a bp/w on a single tank before, so no idea how the STA will feel. Logic tells me that having a tank closer to your back is going to feel better in water. I really like the DSS solution (windowed wing) in order to make the STA redundant. Shame DSS don't make a 30lb donut wing... however I'm not really bothered by the whole horsehoe vs donut argument too much.

Decisions, decisions...

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Go for the 30.

Putting a 30 next to a 40, you can barely tell the difference (its about an inch or so longer), a 30 next to a 26 is nothing. As soon as you mention cold water and wetsuits, the 26 is on the edge depending on your size and tank.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Go for the 30.

Putting a 30 next to a 40, you can barely tell the difference (its about an inch or so longer), a 30 next to a 26 is nothing. As soon as you mention cold water and wetsuits, the 26 is on the edge depending on your size and tank.

I would agree with that. What I was going to say is that if you're considering a DSS wing, call or email Tobin George, the owner of DSS, who will gladly run you through how he determines optimal wing size. For my diving which is mainly in a 5 mm suit with Al 80 but occasionally a steel 100, Tobin explained why an LCD 20 or a Torus 26 would be sufficient. Once you go to a 7 mm suit and steel tanks, you're clearly in 26-30 territory. But if you call or email Tobin you can get it straight from the horse's mouth.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

With a 7 mm suit and hooded vest...I would be looking at more lift than 30 lbs.. That will leave you very little excess lift when you get deep. For me, the issue would not be surface lift (I can ditch some lead at the surface).. Getting off the bottom with a bag of lobsters or the ability to help a buddy up from a 100 ft dive would be my concern. Especially if you are using a big steel tank that hold 8 lbs of air in it.

 

[ams511]

I agree with Grumpy and Dumpster on this. There is really not that much difference in size between 30 lb and 40 lb wing. Cold water, steel tanks, thick wetsuits and less than ideal seas really ask for something in the 35 or 40 lb range.