Lift Question

[BlaineAtk]

OK, I have a Dive Rite SS Backplate System, and it is my first dive gear setup. I was told by a friend/diver that i should look into getting a backplate to dive with cause they are so much better? Well, I have been diving this for awhile now and my wing has a leak around where the inflator hose meets the wing. So, I decided that I might as well buy a new wing. Now i have noticed that there are a bunch of different wing styles, types, and pounds of lift. I have no idea which one to get, and how much lift i would need out of a wing. I dont know if this plays into this or not but I am 5 foot 7 and 150 lbs.

 

[Jorgy]

What size wing are you diving now?

How much lead do you currently dive with? With a SS BP is it zero?

My sense is that for a 150 lb warm water Florida diver you can use a smaller wing....

My warm water rig is a 18 lb Oxycheq with a AL BP.....

I have seen wings in the 17 to 30 lb range for warm water rigs......

My cold water drysuit rig uses a 36 lb wing......

Hope this helps.....or at least gives you a starting point......M

 

[Jaeger45]

The short answer is that it's very dependent on the type of diving that you want to do--sport vs. technical, wetsuit vs. drysuit, singles vs. doubles, additional weight carried (cannister lights, etc).

A quick perusal of the BC forum shoud be very informative, if perhaps a bit overwhelming. Tobin from Deep Sea Supply is often recommended as an excellent resource and supplier (no personal experience). There is also a wing lift calculator which can be used to help calculate your lift needs as a stickied post at the top of the forum.

Best of luck!

 

[herman]

You need enough lift to do 2 things:
1. offset buoyancy changes due to exposure suit compression and gas use- this us usually fairly small 4 to 5 lbs per tank plus whatever wet suit compression you have....it is a buoyancy compensator after all

2. keep all you and all your gear floating at the surface. This is not to be confused with how much your stuff weigths but how much negative buoyancy it has- an AL 80 weights around 35 lbs but has a negative buoyancy of around 2 lbs so you need 2 lbs of lift for it. Proper wing selection may well require you buying more than 1 wing, one for single tank warm water diving and another cold doubles and possibly one in the middle if your diving spans a wide range. Contrary to what some like to tell you, a BP/wing is not buy one and it does it all.

For warm water single tank diving, somewhere in the 15-30 lbs is usually plenty.

 

[scubafanatic]

...additionally, whatever wing/bouyancy capacity you get, may sure that if you were to ditch your gear in the water (i.e. sometimes you take your gear off in the water before you get back on the boat and the crew lifts your 'kit' up out of the water for you) that your 'kit' is bouyant enough to float by itself without you (and your bouyant wetsuit) helping to provide extra 'lift'.

I'm the same size as you, and I use 40 / 44 lbs single wings and 42 / 51/ 57 lbs dual wings. I'm a big fan of the Oxycheq wings (also use Zeagle Ranger / DR / Deepoutdoors wings) and Tobin's DSS wings are highly spoken of here on the board. Tobin can certainly 'crunch the numbers' with you to help you do the calculations. Admittedly I use wings with perhaps a bit more lift than I need from a 'minimalistic' point of view, but I like to have some 'extra' lift capacity to cope with unforseen contingencies....but if $ was no object, I'd highly recommend the 40# Oxycheq singles wing, especially in the EXTREME super tough fabric...it's a 360 degree donut aircell and it's very streamlined!