Need wing advice

[deepwater]

I'm not seeing the diff. bud. that thing looks like my Dive Rite and my OMS. This is just for the nay sayers, I've been diving a 94lb bondage wing for over a decade and have failed to be killed by it.

 

[cool_hardware52]

That particular shape should concentrate a majority of it's lift near the top of the cylinders, where they tend to be heaviest. In contrast, my Halcyon wing feels like all the lift is at the butt end of it, combining with my drysuit to have me feel like I'm balancing on a wire for trim or going overboard one way or another, and usually feet floaty . Plus my wing is a tad large; I'm diving HP100s, an aluminum plate, and 10 lbs of lead with my drysuit.

A 45 lb wing would be matched much better to my rig, but if I'm gonna buy it twice, I want something that will be a lot better, not just a little bit, or possibly worse.

Peace,
Greg

Greg,

Wings inflate and assume odd shapes when they are not constrained by a plate and cylinders.

It's pretty hard to estimate the real shape of a wing from a picture of the inflated wing alone.

That's why we provide "plan view" photos of our wings with just a bit of gas in them.

Wings provide lift where there is gas in them, and for a horizontally trimmed diver the first puff of gas will go to the high point of the wing.

Where's the high point? Where ever the wing is widest will be the high point as the wing wraps the cylinders, assuming you are horizontal.

Heads down trim is very common for newer doubles divers, and a wing that offers more lift closer to your shoulders could help.

More important is ballast placement, tank / plate position and body position.

If you feel like you are tipping forward, or about to I'd suggest:

1) Move your plate and cylinders down by lengthening your shoulder straps a little bit at a time. I see lots of newer doubles divers with their bottles too high in an effort to make valve access easier. Move them down a little at a time and you will maintain the confidence that you can still reach your valves.

2) Add ballast to the bottom of your cylinders. For most a tail weight will be lower than weight in a belt.

3) Work on body position. More time in the water and you will be able to easily tolerate configurations you now think impossible.

Only if these all fail would I suggest buying new gear. You can probably make what you have now work.

Tobin

 

[carrielsal]

I'm sure you've thought of this, but have you tried moving your tanks down and your halcyon wing up, maybe shifting weight to your hips as much as possible? If you do move the tanks, you'll still need to be able to reach the valves, but I'm sure you're aware of that.

My Halcyon Explorer only has one set of holes, so it cannot be moved up and down.

 

[Bast]

Well, I have experience to check this UTD wing in practice and realized - it is the same with my DIR Zone Stream 20L. Difference is only in logo
But I have no idea where to buy this stuff in USA. My wing came from Netherlands.

Dirzone Stream 20L-Lucas Divestore

 

[kanonfodr]

All;

Appreciate the input and suggestions for new wings. Turns out I was fighting a few issues which some water time with a very experienced tech diver helped out. The big issue was that I was carrying way too much gas in mrysuit (I wear pretty thin undies so I was concerned about squeeze) and my fins were a bit too light. I threw on a pair of SP Jets and noticed a difference on the first dive, but cutting down on the gas in the drysuit made the second dive quite pleasant.

I will still keep this thread in mind if I decide to switch wings after my Fundies class, but I'm going to let Gideon work his magic on me first before I go buying even more new stuff.

Peace,
Greg

 

[SangP]

I will still keep this thread in mind if I decide to switch wings after my Fundies class, but I'm going to let Gideon work his magic on me first before I go buying even more new stuff.

Peace,
Greg

Gideon! Experienced is an understatement LOL! He's really, really good

SangP

 

[kanonfodr]

Well, Gideon pronounced my wing as being unfit for my rig, way too big for my cylinders. I just placed an order from Dive Right In Scuba for a Hog 38 lb wing.

Peace,
Greg

 

[TSandM]

For most a tail weight will be lower than weight in a belt.

Just want to reiterate this, because at least to me, it wasn't immediately obvious.

 

[Pacific-Explorers]

UDT, Oxycheck, Hollis and old Halcyon all have something that should work for you (there are more but these are the ones I'm familiar with).
As for the "floaty feet" have you tried gators? If not, Halcyon makes a very good set (very durable).... and of course Practice, Practice, Practice.

 

[rongoodman]

I found you can do a lot with posture, but adding a tail weight made life so much easier with doubles. I was out today with a wetsuit for the first time since Playa, getting ready for the trip to Florida, and it was so nice being able to go head down to look at something on the bottom, and then rotate right back to flat trim, without feeling like the rig was going to roll me over on my head.