Some Wing questions

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darylm74

Contributor
Messages
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Location
Clearwater FL
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500 - 999
I moved from a BC to a BP/W a few months ago and have noticed that I need to get a lot more water in my wing than my BC. I have an Oxycheq 45lb and love it but as said it just tends to draw in a lot of water. I have checked all of the seals and looked for leaks and everything seams fine. Anyone else had this problem?

Als I was wondering about the short hoses on the BP/W. Any good way to lock them down. My last BC was a Mares with the Airtrim and I loved that system but original was a standard inflator hose like my BP/W, it just was not near as short and my problem now is that I often lose it over my shoulder and have to constantly reach back for it. Want to keep the hose short for tec diving but then again I almost wonder if it is more dangerous to have one that drifts away from your reach so much....
 
Daryl,
Take a piece of bungie cord and make an attachment for your inflator hose and attach it to the D-ring on you left shoulder strap. This will keep you inflator in place.

As for the intake of water, once you've descended, use your BC exhaust valve to vent your BC instead of the inflator hose.

If you're properly weighted, you should have to do very little inflation and deflation of the wing at depth.

By the way, when you are in a horizontal swimming position, on which side of the BC is your vent located, towards the surface or towards the bottom?
 
It is set so that the vent is towards the bottom. Do I have this set up improperly? There is a little flap that goes around the top of the inflator hose, sort of as a brace with Oxycheq stichen into it, so I put it so that it faced forward. I guess it would make more sense for the valve to be facing towards the back so that it is facing upwards. Perhaps had my dunce hat on with this one.
 
darylm74:
It is set so that the vent is towards the bottom. Do I have this set up improperly? There is a little flap that goes around the top of the inflator hose, sort of as a brace with Oxycheq stichen into it, so I put it so that it faced forward. I guess it would make more sense for the valve to be facing towards the back so that it is facing upwards. Perhaps had my dunce hat on with this one.

Daryl,


Sounds like you have set up correctly. When the wing wraps the tank the OPV will really be facing sort of to the side, not really up or down.

Water in any BC is normal, and I'd guess your probably just "adjusting" your new wing a little more than your previous BC, just because it's new gear.

I'll bet once you dive a few times, and have your weight, and trim optomised, you will find about the same amount of water in your wing as your previous BC.

Regards,


Tobin
 
If you want to unthread your harness you can put inner tubing on the left shoulder strap above the D ring and slide your inflator hose through that as well - i find my hose doesnt really reach my chest D ring (i have big shoulders for the hose to come over or else it just doesnt seem to reach that far whatever the reason if its not that). The wing will be made standard and as long as it is the right way up (ie inflator hose tank side and lower dump body/lower side) that is how its supposed to be.

As for use of the inflator hose and rear/lower dump - there are several camps. I will only post what i do and let others chime in as willing. I usually grab my inflator hose and dump a little, going down a little vertical to start with. When my face is just under i flip face down and horizontal, let go of the inflator hose and drop a little more out of the rear dump to get me down just a little further - as well as breathing out, then pump up a little as i go down to arrest my descent (and allow time for ear clearing). What i found on my first load of dives with either a jacket or wing was that on the way up or near the end of a dive in shallow water i would dump to a little too much and stop hearing/seeing bubbles coming out of the vent (indicating that water was flowing in) and so i would get some water in my wing. I wont say it doesnt happen still on occasion, but i am getting a lot better at it now and hardly have any water in there anymore - maybe this water entrapment is the same newbie stuff i was doing so recently??? This doesnt mean that water cant slowly leak into the wing, but its going to be a lot more if you dive like i did way back earlier this year.
 
I'm wondering. Do any of the posters to this thread actually dive the Oxycheq 45, other than the originator? Doesn't sound like it.

I dive the Oxycheq 45 and love it. It does have it's issues though when it comes to managing the air and water situation. Problem is, in order to get it to dump from the inflator hose correctly, you need to be in a head up position, 45 degrees head up usually works well. To dump from the bottom valve requires one to be completely inverted, feet up.

I too get a lot of water in my 45, but mainly when I'm not paying attention to the 45 degree heads up like I should. Takes a little getting used to, but nothing to drastic.
 
It could be that I still am getting used to the wing. I love it thus far. It is very stable and with the addition of a pony bottle (getting ready for my deep dive for my AOW) and my argon for my drysuit, it is a dream. I guess I should spend some more time in the pool and working on my set-up. At least I seem to have it set up right and it isn't a "daryl had his dunce cap on" and more of I need to get used to the equipment some more. Thanks again.
 
darylm74:
It could be that I still am getting used to the wing. I love it thus far. It is very stable and with the addition of a pony bottle (getting ready for my deep dive for my AOW) and my argon for my drysuit, it is a dream. I guess I should spend some more time in the pool and working on my set-up. At least I seem to have it set up right and it isn't a "daryl had his dunce cap on" and more of I need to get used to the equipment some more. Thanks again.
The wing is very stable and superb for singles which is what it is made for. Get out of the pool and go dive. :D
 
Lol, well I've got a good handful of dives, including my first two night dives on it, I love it and I have noticed the 45 degree angle to dump air or I can roll on my right side and it drains quite well. The problem with that is, so does my drysuit from the relief valve in the arm so uhm, have to remember to tilt up instead of down. I do think that I need another day in the pool, just to fine tune. Thanks again.
 
Quarrior:
I'm wondering. Do any of the posters to this thread actually dive the Oxycheq 45, other than the originator? Doesn't sound like it.

I dive the Oxycheq 45 and love it. It does have it's issues though when it comes to managing the air and water situation. Problem is, in order to get it to dump from the inflator hose correctly, you need to be in a head up position, 45 degrees head up usually works well. To dump from the bottom valve requires one to be completely inverted, feet up.

I too get a lot of water in my 45, but mainly when I'm not paying attention to the 45 degree heads up like I should. Takes a little getting used to, but nothing to drastic.

I dive the standard series Oxycheq 45 and don't have any problems with water getting into the bladder. Not sure if it's an issue of the wing or one of the way in which it's being dived. Cheng uses the Signature series, and tends to get quite a bit of water in her wing ... but her diving style and mine are very different (she doesn't use the rear pull dump at all, and I use it almost exclusively).

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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