Some BP/W ??? Especially DRIS single setup

[Midge907]

A few questions I havent seen answers for in my search.

1. Can a scuba pro Air2 be used as the LPI for the DRIS 28lb wing? (not sure if brands are interchangable)

2. If I currently use a Large Knighthawk with 8lbs of lead with my 2/3mm wetsuit and 80CF Aluminum tank, what should I expect in weighting with a 6lb S.S. plate using the same expousure suit, if using the DRIS 28lb single kit?

3. Im guessing the lift will be way more then adequate for tropical waters, being that I weigh 5'8 and 155lb, but will it be to much??? I try to have no air in my BC currently at depth.

4. I also dive a trilam drysuit with the large knighthawk and use 32lb, with minimal air in bcd and drysuit at depth, any speculation to my weighting on this, I know I will have to switch to a weight belt.

5. Any opinions on upgrading to the hollis Elite 2 adjustable harness system, especially if I dive both dry and wet???

Thanks for any responses.

[chrpai]

For the Air2, I'm pretty sure those require a wider, high flow LPI inflator hose to support breathing on. Another thing to realize is that the LPI hose on th DRIS is not super long and dangly. It's only long enough to do it's job so it might not be suited to breathing off of. My personal opinion is that I don't like the air2 concept and would prefer to have a bungee'd second.

2) All things equal between the two, I'd guestimate a complete removal of the need for all 8lbs. Between the steel plate and STA and elimination of alot of bouyant padding and other material. Realize this means you'll have no ditchable weight so "can you swim it up?" applies. With a 3/2 you should be fine.

3) 28lb's of lift is a pretty small wing. It's not an 18lb travel wing but it's fine bot 40 or 50 lbs or anything. I'm not sure how you have "no" air in your BC at depth in a 3/2mm. Skin/swimsuit, sure.

4) I saw you were in AK and started to wonder if this would be the right rig for you. The Zeagle Express Tech is a better travel rig. Then I saw your question about drysuits. Again, I'd probably subtract 8 lbs from your 32lb belt. Now the "can you swim it up?" is moot since you have a secondary bouyancy control device... your drysuit.

5) Don't know anything about the hollis elite 2. I was convinced by the standard 2" webbing strategy and the belive that less is more so I never tried anything more.

[Midge907]

Thanks so much for the reply back, I guess I should of stated that I like to have " minimal air" at depth, and next to nothing during my safety stop, nothing out of the usual, just dont like to dive over weighted like most As for traveling, I figure that since my Knight Hawk weighs 9.8lb, and is real bulky, I can deal with a 6lb S.S. plate, 1.7lb harness, and wing. I know that I may be better off with a aluminum plate for traveling, but I want my first BP/W to be able to work with my drysuit, and wetsuit. You know the weight on a 28lb DRIS wing? Ill check there site. I think I will just go ahead and get a standard octo for this setup, although I like not having a extra part to travel with. Thanks again, look forward to hearing more opinions.

[TSandM]

I couldn't find buoyancy data on the Knighthawk, but my husband's Balance, which is somewhat similar, is 3 lbs positive. So with the switch, you lose that three pounds positive and add six pounds negative, for a net change of 9 lbs. So I agree with chrpai -- you probably will need no additional weight at all.

28 pounds is fine for tropical diving. I dove my 32 lb DSS wing for a long time, before I got the 17 lb one; and now that I have gone to diving dry all the time, I use the 32 lb in warm water again. You may have to break trim a bit to dump the small amount of air you'll have in the wing, but in OW, that can usually be managed just fine.

On the other hand, 28 pounds is kind of marginal in cold water. As Tobin so often writes, your wing has to do two things . . . float your gear at the surface, and compensate for the potential loss of buoyancy in your exposure protection at depth. In this case, you have about 28 pounds of lift from your dry suit (assuming the Knighthawk is +3, and the steel tank is -1 empty) that you could lose in a flood. In practice, you probably wouldn't lose all of it, but in theory, you could be in a situation where you would have to add swimming energy to reach the surface in the event a dry suit failure. And obviously, you would need to carry the majority of your weight off the rig, because the wing can't float your tank and 28 pounds of lead.

I would start with the simple harness, unless you are somebody who commutes between AK and the tropics. Yes, it is a bit of a nuisance to adjust a harness, but not that much, and once you figure out the settings, you can mark them so that it's only the few minutes it takes to do the adjustments, and you have everything just right again. If you find it's more work than you want, you can spend the extra money to buy the fancy harness. Most people go the other way

As far as the Air2 compatibility goes, ask Mike. You would need a different LPI hose, but the key is whether the collar of the Air2 fits into the takeoff on the DRIS wing. I will keep my mouth closed about what I think of the change

[Midge907]

TSandM, thanks for the reply. I will plan on using a belt with my drysuit, so would end up with 20+ pounds on a belt which I would guess would be enough to ditch in a drysuit flooding situation. I'm going to take a guess that you would go with the standard octo also, it is a better idea when it comes to safety in my opinion, and a lot easier to work a lift bag with. I like the simplicity of the simple harness, as long as its just that. I didnt know how easy it would be to adjust between the different dives. Thanks.

[TSandM]

I actually don't use the standard octo -- I use the bungied backup system, because I've found it extremely useful.

[Midge907]

Checked the bouyancy of my size large KnightHawk with my small knife attached, and it took 4.1lb to make neautral. I would guess that it takes about .5lb to sink the webbing on the harness for a backplate, which the d-rings probally add up to that. Trying to decide if I should add any utility pockets now, I usually carry a flash light in one of my pockets now, and like to have a place to put any trash I find in my mesh drop down pocket.

[PansSiren]

To free up some room in your pockets, you could put the light on the shoulder area of your harness. Attach a bolt snap to the light with cave line, clip the light to a chest d-ring, and secure the other end of the light with a piece of bungee cord or bicycle inner-tube. It's perfectly out of the way, you forget they're there, and super easy to take out and put back when needed.

[Midge907]

I got my DRIS BP/W setup ordered today with a weight belt, and pockets for accesories. Not sure what I will use, but at least I will have them. I'm very excited to dive this setup. I stopped by my LDS tonight and picked up a ScubaPro R295 Octo, since i'm getting away from the Air2 system. While I was there I told them I would be eventually selling my Knight Hawk and told them what I was getting, they thought the ScubaPro Go would of been a better choice, I THINK NOT!!! I plan on building a set of weights to bolt onto the plate for cold water diving, and also plan on using a weight belt.

[chrpai]

Gotta love the advice that you get at LDS's. Let us know how it goes for you.