Killer Bungee- Myth or Fact

[Scubakevdm]

That is actually a brilliant, and true, statement that all manufacturere of non-bungee wings should use. Well, as long as it isn't a guy in a bungeed wing that discovers the cure for death.

Quite. However it wouldn't be long until the bungeed wing guys figured out that it is equally true that all divers with unbungeed wings will die. Wings in general could possibly be the problem, which may be an arguement for the elevator lever BCD's.

 

[PerroneFord]

I just wanted to find out what other people think on that specific use of bungees. I do not intend to buy or use a bungee wing ever I am just curious. Thanks

I've tried both. Never thought the bungies added anything to my dives. So I bought wings without them.

 

[Nick_W]

Quite. However it wouldn't be long until the bungeed wing guys figured out that it is equally true that all divers with unbungeed wings will die. Wings in general could possibly be the problem, which may be an arguement for the elevator lever BCD's.

But the elevator is going to kill you also.

You know what? This is all just too confusing. I'm just going to use a Hefty bag tied to my tank.

 

[rakkis]

One arguement against some of the earlier bungied wings was difficulty in orally inflating them at depth if the need ever arose for it.

The "at depth" qualifier makes that argument not rational. I will elaborate:

Having to inflate against the force exerted by the bands may have a small, measurable effect. However, the unstated assumption that is key for this argument is that it is easier to inflate the bladder on the surface.

But that elastic force is the same on the surface and underwater - regardless of depth. The elasticity of the material is not affected by the pressure at recreational depths.

But you're inflating against the water pressure, they say? That's ok. The air you're exhaling is at the same pressure. That's the beauty of fluids, hydrostatic pressure and SCUBA.

The increased air density factor is negligible as well. Even if we pretend it was not... in that case ALL BCDs share the same problem... elastic bands or not.

So as you can see, this argument is null.

QED

Please spread the truth.

Death to scuba myths!

 

[texdiveguy]

Oh don't those black bungies look 'cool' on those red wings--lol,,,,nope see no reason for them. Maybe those 2 fellows on Mythbusters should give this a go.

 

[Cave Diver]

The "at depth" qualifier makes that argument not rational. I will elaborate:

Having to inflate against the force exerted by the bands may have a small, measurable effect. However, the unstated assumption that is key for this argument is that it is easier to inflate the bladder on the surface.

The "at depth" qualifier does not indicate (at least in my post) that it is any easier or harder to inflate than on the surface.

Rather, it's an indication that if you're already bouyant on the surface then your BCD is likely sufficiently inflated.

 

[The Kraken]

Never figured out how they could be the "wings of death".

After all, wouldn't your dive buddy be able to resolve any entanglement issue.

Heck, if all else failed, he could cut the bloody bungies.

the K

 

[rakkis]

The "at depth" qualifier does not indicate (at least in my post) that it is any easier or harder to inflate than on the surface.

Hence why I said it was an unstated assumption. But, fair enough... you did not specifically say it was any easier on the surface. Your reply then, seems to indicate that you believe bungees make older style bladders difficult to orally inflate under all conditions. Has it been your experience that this effect isn't seen in newer bladders?

I don't intend to come off as combative, but whenever this issue is brought up, it reminds me of how for some, having a baby light (e.g. SL4) on a small retractor is the end of the world as far as being streamlined. All of a sudden, with a tiny small object you've become a brick wall. While certainly a tiny bit less efficient, such a small object's drag is almost negligible. This is my personal opinion of the bungee argument you mentioned.

Rather, it's an indication that if you're already bouyant on the surface then your BCD is likely sufficiently inflated.

I'm confused... I thought you just said issues at the surface where not not indicated in your original post. But yeah.. that second point is certainly true. In fact, it's almost rhetorical.

 

[Cave Diver]

Your reply then, seems to indicate that you believe bungees make older style bladders difficult to orally inflate under all conditions. Has it been your experience that this effect isn't seen in newer bladders?

I dont know that it has to dow with the age per se. I think it has more to do with the the way a particular wing is set up in regards to the placement and tightness of the bungies.

I've had the opportunity to play with wings from several different manufacturers and I've personally owned and dove with a wing with bungies. I found that one in particular seemed extremely difficult to orally inflate just standing in the dive shop.

The wing I own didn't seem to be anywhere near as hard to inflate, even with the bungies in place. I still ended up removing them because I found that wing had a tendency to trap air with the bungies and I liked it much better without them.

Keep in mind that this is my anecdotal opinion. I never actually tried using something like a magnehelix to determine how hard it was to inflate or to have statistical evidence to compare the different wings to see if one was easier/harder than the other, or if having the bungies removed made any difference at all.

 

[Colliam7]

One arguement against some of the earlier bungied wings was difficulty in orally inflating them at depth if the need ever arose for it.

I recall that another argument against them was the rapid loss of air in the event of a puncture (i.e. air being forced out of the wing by the compressing effect of the bungees). Either argument seems pointless. If you are diving a single tank rec rig, the likelihood that you would not be able to swim the rig up after a BC failure is minimal at best (or suggests that you are more than a bit overweighted, in which case you would - drop some weight). Whether you need to orally inflate, or cannot inflate because of a puncture is irrelevant in that case. If you are diving doubles, you should have redundant bouyancy, if the wing fails. As with many things, it seems these arguments are theoretical, and are not validated by objective numerical data as far as I can tell (not saying they are right or wrong, only that they remain unverified beyond anectdotal information).