Researching BP/W

[Daggnabit]

I'm looking into buying a BP/W setup that I would like to start with single tank use and later turn it into a double. If that is not possible or not recommended I would go with the double tanks since that is ultametly what I want for wreck diving. I was also checking out your website and was a little confused on the thumbwheel choice. I dive with a 6/4mm wetsuit and will be buying 100 al tanks to start with and later switch to steel. I have 7mm booties and gloves. I'm 6 ft even and 170 lb and with the rental bc and regulator I put 24 of lead but it seem a little heavy and was thinking of dropping 2-4 lb. If you need any more info please ask and thank you for the help.

 

[cool_hardware52]

I'm looking into buying a BP/W setup that I would like to start with single tank use and later turn it into a double. If that is not possible or not recommended I would go with the double tanks since that is ultametly what I want for wreck diving. I was also checking out your website and was a little confused on the thumbwheel choice. I dive with a 6/4mm wetsuit and will be buying 100 al tanks to start with and later switch to steel. I have 7mm booties and gloves. I'm 6 ft even and 170 lb and with the rental bc and regulator I put 24 of lead but it seem a little heavy and was thinking of dropping 2-4 lb. If you need any more info please ask and thank you for the help.

Daggnabit,

I need a couple more puzzle pieces.

When you are diving now with 24 lbs or lead (soon to be maybe 20?) what are you using for a BC and cylinder?

I can answer a couple of your other questions. It is routine to use the same back plate and harness for singles and doubles. What changes is the wing. Without knowing what you will be using for an exposure suit and tanks for doubles it's way too early to try and pick out a doubles wing. Most divers find that by the time they are ready for doubles their ideas about exposure suits have changed.

The thumbwheels we offer are used to secure doubles and are not required for single tank diving. Double tanks use bands and bolts to mount and different tank bands use different size bolts. Much better to have your tanks before you buy the thumbwheels.

Get me the info above and I'll make a recommendation on wing sizing.

Tobin

 

[ligersandtions]

Glad to see you made it over here, Daggnabit....Tobin will take good care of you!

 

[Daggnabit]

Glad to see you made it over here, Daggnabit....Tobin will take good care of you!

haha, thanks

I'm using 24 pounds of lead on a belt and thinking of bring it down to 20 lb because I'm finding that I'm too heavy, sorry I wasn't clear enough. The BC that I was using was a standard rental from the dive shop and the cylinder was an aluminum 80. I know I'm going to use aluminum tanks for awhile since steel is much more expensive. When I upgrade tanks I can upgrade the wing and other parts if needed, correct?

 

[cool_hardware52]

haha, thanks

I'm using 24 pounds of lead on a belt and thinking of bring it down to 20 lb because I'm finding that I'm too heavy, sorry I wasn't clear enough. The BC that I was using was a standard rental from the dive shop and the cylinder was an aluminum 80. I know I'm going to use aluminum tanks for awhile since steel is much more expensive. When I upgrade tanks I can upgrade the wing and other parts if needed, correct?

With a littel work we should be able to pick out a wing that will work with you current al 80's and a future steel cylinder.

Back to the numbers. If we assume that you need 20 lbs of lead, a regulator, and a jacket bc we can estimate the buoyancy of your exposure suit.

20 lbs of lead and 2 lbs of regulator is about 22 lbs of total ballast. You need a bout 3 lbs to offset the al 80 at ~500 psi, and another 2-3 lbs to offset the inherent buoyancy of the rental bc. 22 -3 -2 = ~17. I'd estimate your wetsuit to be about 17-18 lbs positive.

Your wetsuit cannot loose more buoyancy than it starts with, so we know you need ~ 18 lbs of wing capacity to be able to compensate for a fully compressed wetsuit.

How negative will your rig be? A medium SS plate and harness is about -6, a reg is about -2, and a full al 80 is about -2. That makes your rig about -10 lbs with a full tank, and about -4 with an empty tank. You need about 18 lbs of ballast, so 18 -4 leaves 14 lbs in a belt. If we assume you will be using the DSS 8.1 lbs bolt on weight plates your rig would be ~-18 with a full tank, and about -12 with an empty cylinder. That leaves 6 lbs in a belt.

If your rig is -18 lbs and your suit is +18 lbs the absolutely smallest wing would be a LCD 20. I'd suggest a Torus 26. It's a bit larger, but it will allow you to use heavier more buoyant suits in the future and will easily accommodate large negative steel cylinders.

At 6' and 170 you can use a Medium Plate.

My recommendation is:

Medium SS Plate
Torus 26 Wing
Hogarthian Harness

You may want to wait until after you do a careful weight check with your new gear, and play with your trim a bit before you decide on the weight plates.

Tobin

 

[Daggnabit]

I was looking at your web site and only found the Torus 26 for single tank, was all of the above for a single tank rig? Thank you for your time.

 

[cool_hardware52]

I was looking at your web site and only found the Torus 26 for single tank, was all of the above for a single tank rig? Thank you for your time.

Take a look here https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?page=rigs

Tobin