Well, no one could have ordered a better day for diving at Gilboa on Saturday for the Oxycheq wing demo. I'd like to thank Chris & his wife Ute for coming out and giving all of us the opportunity to try these wings.
We (myself, my brother, and my buddy) pulled in around 9 and set-up a demo of the "all-koplin" (bp/wing/sta) rigs for noon. This would be my brother and buddy's first time in a BP/W and my second...the first time for me was Fundy's in June, and I dove a Halcyon set-up that weekend.
Noon rolled around, and we picked up the rigs (1-45 and 2-30's)....I decided to share with the Scubaguys, who were there teaching a fundy's class, what the oxycheq wing looked like. In all honesty, it is a damn nice wing, and well constructed. The 45's profile is almost identical to that of the 30 (we laid the two on top of each other). The Scubaguys and extended family (Detroit Diver, WJL, Diveski, and maybe a few I missed) oogled and and just played with it for a few minutes. The general consenseus is that the wing is very well built and should be very reliable. The only things on the wing they would have changed were 1 - the outboard inflator button, and 2 - the plastic ball on the dump valve...other than that, the wing is very nice.
Personally, I like the Koplin BP. It fit very well to my back, and the other two in my group thought it felt comfortable as well. The finish on it was nice, it had a matte finish appearance...I prefer that over the glossy ****....I'm not a glossy kind of guy.
Well, after getting the "crew" all adjusted and ready to rock, we hit the water for our dive. I for one, felt that the rig trimmed me out quite nicely, Dan and Brian (brother & buddy) also looked like they weren't fighting quite so much to stay horizontal. As soon as I hit the water I said to myself, "how much is this damn thing again....oh yeah...more than I have right now" I am sold on a BP/W.....and I'm going to get one soon enough....I just love the way it trims out compared to my stab jacket. Anyway, as we continued on, about 15 inutes into the dive, I looked over at Brian....and there's his tank floating next to his head. Long story short...no one checked the wing nuts on the BP & STA to be certain they were secure....I don't remember his tank being loose when he geared up, but I wasn't wearing his BP....so I can't say for sure what the problem was, but we had it, dealt with it.
We called the dive and decided to take back the rigs. Both Dan and Brian agreed that the BP/W is a much better set-up than their stab jackets. Even in the short amount of time we were in the water, they both were able to feel a night and day difference between the wing and their BCs.
In conclusion...the oxycheq is a damn fine wing. The onyl thing I don't like is the outboard inflator....Construction = good, Inflator length = good, bouyancy characteristics = good, and it fits nicely with the Koplin Plate and STA.
Thanks again Chris (aka COVCI) and I hope to see you at gilboa again one day (sooner rather than later of course).
We (myself, my brother, and my buddy) pulled in around 9 and set-up a demo of the "all-koplin" (bp/wing/sta) rigs for noon. This would be my brother and buddy's first time in a BP/W and my second...the first time for me was Fundy's in June, and I dove a Halcyon set-up that weekend.
Noon rolled around, and we picked up the rigs (1-45 and 2-30's)....I decided to share with the Scubaguys, who were there teaching a fundy's class, what the oxycheq wing looked like. In all honesty, it is a damn nice wing, and well constructed. The 45's profile is almost identical to that of the 30 (we laid the two on top of each other). The Scubaguys and extended family (Detroit Diver, WJL, Diveski, and maybe a few I missed) oogled and and just played with it for a few minutes. The general consenseus is that the wing is very well built and should be very reliable. The only things on the wing they would have changed were 1 - the outboard inflator button, and 2 - the plastic ball on the dump valve...other than that, the wing is very nice.
Personally, I like the Koplin BP. It fit very well to my back, and the other two in my group thought it felt comfortable as well. The finish on it was nice, it had a matte finish appearance...I prefer that over the glossy ****....I'm not a glossy kind of guy.
Well, after getting the "crew" all adjusted and ready to rock, we hit the water for our dive. I for one, felt that the rig trimmed me out quite nicely, Dan and Brian (brother & buddy) also looked like they weren't fighting quite so much to stay horizontal. As soon as I hit the water I said to myself, "how much is this damn thing again....oh yeah...more than I have right now" I am sold on a BP/W.....and I'm going to get one soon enough....I just love the way it trims out compared to my stab jacket. Anyway, as we continued on, about 15 inutes into the dive, I looked over at Brian....and there's his tank floating next to his head. Long story short...no one checked the wing nuts on the BP & STA to be certain they were secure....I don't remember his tank being loose when he geared up, but I wasn't wearing his BP....so I can't say for sure what the problem was, but we had it, dealt with it.
We called the dive and decided to take back the rigs. Both Dan and Brian agreed that the BP/W is a much better set-up than their stab jackets. Even in the short amount of time we were in the water, they both were able to feel a night and day difference between the wing and their BCs.
In conclusion...the oxycheq is a damn fine wing. The onyl thing I don't like is the outboard inflator....Construction = good, Inflator length = good, bouyancy characteristics = good, and it fits nicely with the Koplin Plate and STA.
Thanks again Chris (aka COVCI) and I hope to see you at gilboa again one day (sooner rather than later of course).
