I know this question has certainly been asked before but I,m considering switching to a back plate and wing setup and can't decide on how much lift I need. I am 6'2" 170lbs. Currently diving a zeagle stilleto with 35lbs of lift. I almost always dive dry in a shell suit with a single Al80 and 36-38 lbs of weight depending on undergarment choice. I wear 10-12 in my cam band pockets 4 in BCD pockets and a 20 lb belt. Would a 30lb wing be enough or would I be better off staying in the 35 lb range. Thanks for the input!!
Switching to bp/w
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LowDrag
Contributor
I use a Hollis S-38 for just about the same setup you describe. My tanks are HP steel 120's though.
Quick scuba math suggests you'll drop a few pounds after the switch, so you may drop to 30# of lead, in which case that wing would suffice with a drysuit. HOWEVER, I personally recommend having a higher rated wing that the lead carried due to catastrophic failure (and true buoyancy of the wing). But, given the buoyancy of your suit, the most likely scenario is you may only need several pounds of lift for a wing.
Most people are somewhere around close to neutral just by themselves. If you are that, and about 5# of your ballast is offsetting an AL80, then that means you have 30-ish pounds of weight to compensate for buoyancy from your drysuit.
And that means that if you had a catastrophic failure of your drysuit (say, a user-changeable neck seal just happened to pop off), you could be on the bottom and 30-ish pounds negative. If your AL80 is full, add another 6 pounds or so to the amount you'd be negative. In your situation, I would probably want a wing with more than 30 # of lift. But, if you're willing to just ditch your 20# weight belt, then a catastrophic drysuit blowout would just mean ditching the belt and a 30 # wing is probably more than adequate. But, if you ever decide to make a change and attach all that weight to your rig, where it's not ditchable, then a 30# wing isn't nearly enough. You'd probably need a 40# wing (at least) to float a rig that has 36 - 38# of weight attached to it, in the event you needed to take it off in the water.
And that means that if you had a catastrophic failure of your drysuit (say, a user-changeable neck seal just happened to pop off), you could be on the bottom and 30-ish pounds negative. If your AL80 is full, add another 6 pounds or so to the amount you'd be negative. In your situation, I would probably want a wing with more than 30 # of lift. But, if you're willing to just ditch your 20# weight belt, then a catastrophic drysuit blowout would just mean ditching the belt and a 30 # wing is probably more than adequate. But, if you ever decide to make a change and attach all that weight to your rig, where it's not ditchable, then a 30# wing isn't nearly enough. You'd probably need a 40# wing (at least) to float a rig that has 36 - 38# of weight attached to it, in the event you needed to take it off in the water.
jfe
Contributor
I'm 6'2" and 240lb, diving with steel 100 and use the 35lb single tank wing with no hassle. I have a steel plate and 3mm suite in warm water and carry 2lb additional weight. When I do skin dives 0lb additional. Hope this helps you a little.
runsongas
Contributor
a 30lb wing is marginally enough, but a 35 to 40 pound wing would give you more of a buffer. assuming you drop to 30 pounds of ballast total switching out the stiletto (12 on the back (either 2 plates/extra thick plate or a plate and weighted sta) and 18 on the belt), the al80 puts you at a max negative buoyancy of 32 pounds. so even with a total suit flood, a fully inflated 30lb wing leaves you only slightly negative such that you could still kick back up to the surface.
i would look into getting a hp100 tank to shed some more lead.
i would look into getting a hp100 tank to shed some more lead.
That would just make less of his weight ditchable and make him more negative at the start of his dive (compared to an AL80).
runsongas
Contributor
with redundant lift between the drysuit and wing, there isn't a need to keep the majority of the weights ditchable.
assuming weighted correctly to neutral at the end of the dive, the hp100 is only going to be one pound more negative due to the slightly larger gas volume.
for a full suit flood:
30 pounds lead with al80, tank -2 full, 30lb wing: -2 pound negative, swim up
24 pounds lead with hp100, tank -9 when full, 30lb wing: -3 pound negative, swim up
assuming weighted correctly to neutral at the end of the dive, the hp100 is only going to be one pound more negative due to the slightly larger gas volume.
for a full suit flood:
30 pounds lead with al80, tank -2 full, 30lb wing: -2 pound negative, swim up
24 pounds lead with hp100, tank -9 when full, 30lb wing: -3 pound negative, swim up
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