Need Hollis Wing Help please

[DJ457]

Looking at purchasing a BP/W setup. I really like the Hollis S38 LX wing and want to use it with an Elite 2 Harness.
I dive with a 7mm wet suit in cold water, weigh just short of 200lbs, will be purchasing a stainless steel backplate, and will also purchase the STA. Will this wing have enough lift diving with OMS/Faber steel 112 single tanks? I read somewhere that the S38 only has enough lift for a 15L tank. The steel 112's are 17L. So I'm not sure what I should buy - the S38LX or the C45LX, but I also don't to have a big wing like the C45 wrapping around the tank. I will not be diving doubles at all.

Thanks for the help.

 

[tbone1004]

38 will be plenty as long as you aren't going terribly deep. Make sure you have some sort of redundant buoyancy in case of a wing failure as you should whenever diving with a wetsuit especially in open water. 50lb lift bag usually is recommended for diving like that.

 

[DJ457]

Does Hollis ever reply to any of the posts on this Hollis thread? Thought by asking a question here they would reply. Makes me think twice about purchasing their product if this is any sign of what customer service is gonna be like in the future if there's an issue with anything I purchase from them.

 

[divad]

Its not a Hollis question. Its a question about general lift requirements. Brand has little to do with it.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Not mention I'm guessing they are pretty busy in Germany at the Boot Show. If you really want an answer from any mfg about a product your best bet is to use their dealer locator. Call a couple of them. If they sound like they are blowing smoke, hang up and call Hollis. I really don't understand the reluctance of people to pick up the phone when they expect an answer right away. Email is nice but when you get several hundred or more a day things get overlooked. Same with internet forums. A mfg may have a presence but it does not mean they monitor it daily.

If you want more info on BPW set ups in general shoot me a PM with your email and I'll send you an article on them I wrote.

 

[divad]

Does Hollis ever reply to any of the posts on this Hollis thread? Thought by asking a question here they would reply. Makes me think twice about purchasing their product if this is any sign of what customer service is gonna be like in the future if there's an issue with anything I purchase from them.

I would consider that liberating.

 

[DJ457]

I would consider that liberating.

Liberating as in a Hollis wing not being a good buy?

One of the reasons I'm looking at the Hollis wing is because of the internal bungie system they have. Would this help keep the wing really close to the body and prevent drag?

 

[divad]

but I also don't to have a big wing like the C45 wrapping around the tank.

Actually, this may be brand-related.



---------- Post added January 21st, 2015 at 07:10 PM ----------

Liberating as in a Hollis wing not being a good buy?

Liberating as in having a wider array of choices.

---------- Post added January 21st, 2015 at 07:20 PM ----------

One of the reasons I'm looking at the Hollis wing is because of the internal bungie system they have. Would this help keep the wing really close to the body and prevent drag?

I would try to get as far away as possible from any manufacturer's web site to search for opinions about one of their products. Again, this has nothing to do with Hollis per se.

 

[decompression]

I have and have had many, many wings, including Hollis. Generally, they are well built and put together. The 38 will be MORE than enough (easy way to find out is to add up all the negative gear you wear). I use a 45# wing with double 120's and drysuit. As T bone suggested, if you are diving deep consider either a drysuit or redundant buoyancy incase of wing failure.


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[tbone1004]

check your pm from me and read into it, you posted in this forum so we are restricted to staying with this mfg. Most of the mfg's monitor their subforums, but you generally get generic answers. Even if Nick himself were to come in and answer, which I think he is actually the one that does, so definitely way too busy in Germany right now, the official recommendation is 15l, you are asking him to authorize you, publicly to go against the manufacturer recommendations, no offense but there is no way in f*cking h*ll he is going to do that, he can't, too much legal issues involved and it will likely end up like most of the other threads that are manufacturer specific that get ignored by the manufacturers because if they answer and say no, they are offending you and potentially lose a customer, and if they say yes, someone might die and their widow sues them because on a forum he said it's ok even though the manual says no. It has happened before....

Hollis is part of AUP, they are a VERY large corporation, they have dealers to take care of this stuff. What you did is essentially like calling up Ford and saying I want to buy an F-150, but I have a trailer that weighs 10,000lbs, I know your recommendation is 9,100, but will I be ok towing 10,000. They'll ignore you most likely, or best case they tell you in a polite fashion that the F-150 has a 9,100lb towing capacity in proper configuration, and if you want to tow a 10,000lb trailer, to look into the Super Duty trucks. If you had not posted this in the Hollis forum this wouldn't have come up btw, it is the one major downfall of having manufacturer specific forums, the ability to speak openly about things like this is just not there which is why I sent you the pm. Again, not trying to be an ass, just trying to explain why you won't get a response from them about this.