How much lift does your wing have?

[rhwestfall]

30# (DSS) & 32# (HOG). Usually diving HP100/120 steel singles for tanks, but AL80's & AL100 will also be used. One rig has 10# of weight plates on a 6# SS plate for DS diving, and the other is a Kydex I will use with a WS.

My old jacket was something like 45#, and my old back-inflate was, IIRC, in the upper 30's......

 

[RTee]

I have a 30lbs donut Wing on my Express Tech (that I use both locally (cold water (dry suit and 7/14 mm wetsuit) & HP 117) and when travelling (3mm & 80 AL)). My GF has the 35 lbs Horseshoe bladder on hers for the same type of diving except she uses HP 100 locally. As a minimum, I also carry either a 3 ft (10 lbs) or 6 ft (20 lbs) SMB. There has been the odd time when I have also carried an 80 cft stage as well in that config as well.

 

[Colliam7]

those who are wetsuit divers, diving single tank to a 100 feet. How much lift does you wing have?

18 lb for AL80, 30 lb for HP steels.

I have seen some super-huge wings / BCDs on charter boats and it seems like there are some out there who feel the more lift in the wing the safer they would be.

Uh-oh, looks like I'm gonna die if I keep using what I am using now. I must sell my puny wings, and start using my old 77 lb Dive Rite Super Wing in the future.

Is there any organization/philosophy out there that teaches that your wing should have enough lift to float you and your dive buddy on surface with no air in your buddy's BCD. Meaning if your buddy is diving with 25 lbs of negative buoyancy, then your wing should be big enough to float you as well as the other fellow? Anyone ever heard of this?

I have not. But, I will have my Super Wing ready, nonetheless.

 

[Peter_C]

Peter_C, what are you diving that you need 40 lbs to float it? Are you putting all your weight on your kit?

I dive with a 7mm wetsuit and 14mm on the core (7mm tunic over the 7mm full wetsuit). I find I have to wear an additional 12 lbs to sink my wetsuit. I don't put it on my harness. I wear a weight belt. This way if I have to take my rig off under water I don't become positively buoyant. By wearing 12 lbs of lead I don't need a larger wing to float my gear. Steel plate and HP119 will float with a 27 lb wing... and I have a heavy, custom plate; it weights 8 lbs.

For cold water, I use an HP130 with an H valve and dual regs. My plate is fairly heavy on its own, but I filled the channel with lead. Throw a can light into the mix, and my original 30lb wing would float my kit with an empty tank but not full, so I upgraded to a Mach V 40lb. With heavy insulation under my drysuit I wear a 20lb weight belt to keep myself neutral if I take my kit off. In a 3mm wetsuit in the topics I need about 4 lbs, which I put on my cam band, and call it a balanced rig.

Ironically I dive a Halcyon 40lb doubles wing with my HP100's.

 

[AfterDark]

I use the same rig wet (7MM) or dry (4MM CN) doubles or single, OMS 94# lift, single bladder, bungeed. My thinking is diving with others using doubles I may need the lift someday, hope not but ya never know, besides I got a really good deal on it.

 

[Peter_C]

I use the same rig wet (7MM) or dry (4MM CN) doubles or single, OMS 94# lift, single bladder, bungeed. My thinking is diving with others using doubles I may need the lift someday, hope not but ya never know, besides I got a really good deal on it.

Plus if you wanted to recover an anchor or a canon you could just pick it up and shoot the surface!

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I use the same rig wet (7MM) or dry (4MM CN) doubles or single, OMS 94# lift, single bladder, bungeed. My thinking is diving with others using doubles I may need the lift someday, hope not but ya never know, besides I got a really good deal on it.

See. This is exactly what my buddy was talking about. Diving with someone else who is in doubles and his own wing not having enough lift to assist them during an emergency. Is this an agency philosophy like DIR, PSAI etc or are some people extra nice and buy wings intending to also float their "BCD malfunctioned buddy who would be diving doubles?"

 

[rhwestfall]

if, between my DS, my wing, his wing & his DS there isn't enough there (along with our collective "horsepower", and maybe a lift bag or 2), then the whole thing is a "cluster" and the dive plan was poor at best.....

research "neutral rig", as well as the "essential components of tech equipment kit" (just covered it in an NAUI "Intro to Tech" class last night)

Lastly, If it came down to a "life and death" condition on the surface to maintain buoyancy, the knife/shears/etc. would solve that situation quickly....

someone's life or their equipment has an easy answer......

 

[Insta-Gator]

Nah, man. One post of 94# wing on a single does not legitimize the purchase of a huge wing just in case the other guy messes up. Sounds like a pre-dive planning issue to me. Here's a suggestion. If he knows he's diving with a singles diver, why doesn't he let all the air out of one of his tanks. That should help, especially if they are AL80s

 

[AfterDark]

Plus if you wanted to recover an anchor or a canon you could just pick it up and shoot the surface!

Once anyway!

---------- Post added January 3rd, 2014 at 05:58 PM ----------

See. This is exactly what my buddy was talking about. Diving with someone else who is in doubles and his own wing not having enough lift to assist them during an emergency. Is this an agency philosophy like DIR, PSAI etc or are some people extra nice and buy wings intending to also float their "BCD malfunctioned buddy who would be diving doubles?"

The answer is contained in my post, My thinking..........In my case it was my idea not some agency, I don't do agencies. Extra nice, me? I don't think you'd get a lot of agreement on that but I do like to bring'em back.