Largest lift wing for STA?

[Caveeagle]

Just couldn’t help thinking about this reference. Apologize in advance to the OP...

 

[Aqua-Andy]

Just couldn’t help thinking about this reference. Apologize in advance to the OP...

You hit the nail on the head!

 

[runsongas]

A wing also is not intended as a life vest either. a jacket bc or the old scubapro classic stab jacket does that job better.

 

[Zef]

OP...I am not sure I understand your sentiment that it is not a good idea to use your drysuit for added buoyancy on the surface at the end of a dive. That seems like a perfectly legit practice and will help keep you warm....just screw down the shoulder or wrist dump to keep it from purging air. Using the suit to control buoyancy during a dive is often not considered a good idea...but after the dive is perfectly ok...unless there is something I am overlooking?

-Z

 

[Storker]

OP...I am not sure I understand your sentiment that it is not a good idea to use your drysuit for added buoyancy on the surface at the end of a dive. That seems like a perfectly legit practice and will help keep you warm....just screw down the shoulder or wrist dump to keep it from purging air. Using the suit to control buoyancy during a dive is often not considered a good idea...but after the dive is perfectly ok...unless there is something I am overlooking?

-Z

I don't believe you're overlooking anything. Up here they teach OW students that closing the shoulder valve is one of the things that should be done as they secure positive buoyancy at the surface.

 

[Graeme Fraser]

While I appreciate the input I guess I wasn’t really clear. I’m not so much asking whether or not I’m over weighted, let’s assume I’m not. I have enough lift with just the wing to easily control trim and a slow accent or swim the rig up in case of emergency but not enough lift to sit high enough on the surface to be comfortable without relying on the dry suits added lift for an extended Period of time like I did on the last dive waiting for the boat. Generally relying on the dry suit for lift is bad practice.
Does anyone have a good suggestion for a doughnut style wing that has 40lb+ of lift that won’t taco to badly when using an STA?
I’m worried about the taco because most higher lift wings are wider for doubles

Sorry Kevin, but I'm with everyone else on this one.

Fact 1) Unless you are rock collecting you will be lighter at the end of the dive than at the beginning.

Fact 2) if you genuinely need 40lbs ballast to descend, by definition with only 36lbs (accounting for 4lb used gas) you will be partially positively buoyant on the surface after the dive without any air in your suit or wing. By inflating your 32lb wing, you should therefore be floating comfortably. As Zef said, a small dab of gas in your suit also isn't going to hurt.

If your drysuit is quite snug with thick thermals, perhaps the air is being trapped. As previously said, crack the neck seal, crouch, squat and let go. I really think you need to redo a weight check to be sure. Also, a long shot, but make sure your wing is actually holding pressure and also isn't water logged from previous dives.

I know this isn't the answer you're looking for but I just can't get the maths to add up.

 

[Storker]

As previously said, crack the neck seal, crouch, squat and let go.

Then, after wading or jumping in and before submerging, hang in the water feet down, open your shoulder valve and let the water pressure work on your legs and your torso for just a minute or two. It's amazing how much more suit air you can expel that way, even after a thorough crouch-and-squat with a cracked neck seal. Particularly if you're wearing thick thermals.

That said, I still prefer a 40# wing over a 30# wing when I'm diving back home. A 40# wing floats me higher than a 30# wing, and besides 30# is marginal - at best - for floating my rig after doffing it, even with a full tank. I want both my rig and myself to be able to be positively buoyant, independent of each other, at every point during my dive.

 

[lexvil]

Going with the assumption of not overweighted; where does the wing sit, relative to your shoulders before and at the end of the dive? Is the crotch strap loose? Also where it the wing on the plate, high or low?

You can reach back and feel the bottom of the wing to feel how full it is at the end of the dive as you float, is it really full and does it stay full?

 

[happy-diver]

But weighting other people over the internet is impossible.

Wow this is smart, the only thing solid I have read about weighting except the lead

I've heard more than once that I have to be grossly overweighted, but I can assure you I'm not.

The wing lift calculators of the world may be a basis for starting and work for some
an idea to wrap your head around, but I can't help thinking from others comments and jibes
and when an original poster is not so firm about not being overweighted, that they must go away
completely flummoxed and wonder how they can fix what is not fixable because they are diving
weighted well and buoyancy is good
and just need to practice and get used to their stuff and the new things they are doing

That said, my wing has a 40# lift. Even pretty correctly weighted I prefer that size to float at a comfortable level on the surface.

Yeah I prefer a 40 or a 44 to float me comfortably at the surface, certainly in an ocean that is moving
however I choose to use a 32 OMS wing, a compromise because I go diving not floating
and I dive it like this, I think because it gives me more control
or so I've read on here, I just don't know I just go

but it is a compromise, as being a 6 1/2 foot guy at 255 pounds of ripply fat and muscle, before the
dive gear, I have found the 32 wing to be inadequate for a chest high stance on the surface so what I do is always hit the boat ladder from below and shoot up into the boat like the superdiver I am in my own mind, but on the odd occasion I miss or get lost or it's a drift dive

so rather than immediately ripping out my reg and blurting out all the things I saw that other people didn't, I choose when I hit the surface to cruise around like a pretend submarine by keeping my

mask on face, reg in place, fins on feet, till bum in seat

and only then do I join in on the frivolity of agreeing with all the people
that saw all the amazing things under the sea that they did but I didn't

And in spite of that, I always close my suit valve and inflate my suit a little after surfacing.

and why wouldn't you unless you couldn't

let's not fall on our faces forwards

like sodering with solder