Put your Ranger Wing on a BP!

[kramynot2000]

I'm one of those that was thinking of doing the Ranger -> ebay -> BP&W dance and realized I just couldn't spend the money to do it right now. So, I decided to take the wing off my Ranger and mount it to a backplate. I took the contraption out last night to an LDS pool (sorry Scott, I would have invited you along but decided I should take the wife since it was Valentine's day...) Anyway, it worked fantastic. My trim was the best its ever been, which really isn't saying too much, but it was great. My wife also has a Ranger and I took her wing and put it on an old Scubapro plastic backpack and she fell in love with it. The difference in weight out of the water between the Ranger and the backpack with Ranger wing was incredible!

If you are thinking of doing this, you'll notice that the Ranger wing is held on by two 2' webbing straps. For my backplate (a GUTS aluminum off ebay) I threaded the upper wing strap through the upper slot in the plate that is used to hold the upper tank band. To keep the wing from shifting from side to side, I threaded a belt slide on strap like you do when you're webbing up a harness. The bottom strap of the wing threads through the bottom harness cuts in the plate. Its not an exact fit but you can get it tight so the wing does not shift at all and sits centered on the plate.

On each side of the Ranger wing are two quick release buckles that are supposed to keep the partially inflated wing from flopping around and wrapping around the tank. No, these are not bungees. Anyway, I found the same buckles (3/4" Trovato Side Release) at REI for about $1.00. I used 3/4" webbing to attach this buckle to a slide on the waistbelt and adjusted it so that it allowed full inflation of the wing without any resistance. I was watching my wife in the pool and saw that this really did work in keeping the deflated wing from flopping around.

For my wife, I mounted her wing on plastic backpack because she only does warm water single tank dives. It was pretty much threaded the same was as the plate. She absolutely fell in love with it.

I tried both the plate and the pack setups and they both felt extremely stable and trim felt excellent. With only the weight of the plate and the little Al 72 tank I sank like a rock in the pool so I had to partially inflate my wing. I noticed no airtrapping, instability, etc. When I dove the backpack it was the most comfortable thing I've ever had on. It was like there was nothing on my back. Because the pack is molded to the contour of your back and sits right down the spine, it just felt it was a part of me. For tropical single tank dives, this is really the way to go.

Anyway, we are headed to Cabo tomorrow and will be doing more testing of this setup. I'll post a report when I get back.

If anyone is interested in doing this, PM me and I'll answer questions, and maybe get some pictures.

One more thing, I made absolutely no modifications to the Ranger wings. If I do get around to purchasing different wings for my plate, which I will do once I free up some funds, I can easily reassemble the Ranger BC and ebay it.

Total cost for conversion:
Aluminum plate: $45+shipping
Webbing & harness hardware from AUL: about $10+shipping
3/4" quick release buckles and 3/4" webbing from REI: about $5+tax


Tony

 

[leadweight]

but I am all for innovation and anything that beats the high cost of dive gear. Exepnsive wings are definitely one of the rip-offs that divers have to contend with lately. In other words, this is way cool.

 

[boomx5]

kramynot2000 once bubbled...
(sorry Scott, I would have invited you along but decided I should take the wife since it was Valentine's day...)

If I would have went out with another guy on Valentine's Day... well... lets just say I may be sleeping on the couch for longer than I care to talk about!

 

[erich]

I am trying to envision how you rigged this. Could you please post a pic for us?

 

[cdtgray]

Zeagle sells a backplate (ss or titanium) specifically designed to work with their existing wings.

On each of the wings their are four ss pieces attached to the wings - essentially mini weight retainers. Normally these are used to hold the 2" webbing that is routed through their BC designs to hold the wing to the BC. With their backplate, two stainless steel bolts go through each of the weight retainers and the bp in order to attach the wing.

The bp is also designed so that you can attach tank bands for single tank use directly to the bp.

Another nice feature is the arrangement of bolt holes for mounting doubles. There are three standard sized holes at the top of the plate and a grove at the bottom of the plate. This is particularly valuable when using rental or borrowed doubles. If the tank bands are not positioned ideally for you or have shifted, you can still get them to fit.

All things considered, a good option, especially for somone switching from a ranger. Can save a lot of money and if you dont like using a bp/wing setup, you can easily switch back to your ranger.