WTX Harness and wing configuration...First Rig

[ae3753]

Homemade plates of stainless steel (6lbs) wrapped in vinyl for added ballast when I dive dry or 7mm wetsuit. I pull it out for tropical or warm water diving and travel.

Nice!

 

[ae3753]

Does anyone have experience with Oxycheq wings? How do they compare to other vendors? Their website gives hardly any insight.

Since you're asking about the Oxycheq wing in a thread titled WTX, you might not get a lot of responses to this question. You should do a Search, as the Oxycheq wing is discussed frequently.

I have used both the Oxycheq singles wing (Mach V) and doubles wing (Signature 40#). Very good quality. The 30# Mach V wing is a good size wing for most single tank applications, and it's very streamlined. I ended up selling it since I liked DSS's single tank set-up (easy breakdown of gear + weight plates for cold water diving).

The Mach V was the fastest sold item I sold on ScubaBoard.

 

[RoyN]

However, without an STA, the wing would not work as the cam bland slots on the wing does not line up with the cam band slots of the plate.

I always use an STA for the single tanks. Usually I "kinda" expect everybody to use STA because it is so easy. For some reason, hammerhead seems to be a millimeter off, but its annoying like hell.

 

[intheair10]

The other day I went to the lds and was able to compare the Diverite Transpac w/ the Apeks WTX, and the Oxycheq, Apeks, and Diverite wings.

The WTX harness was comfortable, easy to adjust, and I like that it will accommodate a BP.


I did not have time to try on the Transpac but it looked fairly stout. The Transpac was light, less bulky and would probably pack easily. The only real differences that I could tell (w/o actually testing) between the WTX and Transpac was that the WTX has more back padding.

The Oxycheq wing seemed to be the most versatile because the cam slots were the longest of the three, plus it has an anti-roll feature which prevents the tank from shifting on your back. Granted, the wing in the pics is 2+ years old so the design may have changed. The Apeks WT3 wing had the narrowest slots.

Thanks go out to John at Scuba Center in Eagan, MN for answering all my questions. He's by far the most knowledgeable person I've talked to and it helps that he's enthusiastic about it. The best part is they stock all the gear so you can compare everything side-by-side.

 

[ae3753]

Regarding the long cam slots on the wing, while this does offer versatility on the fit for more backplates, there is a potential downside.

If the wing is not secured to the backplate, the wing will slide up. Easiest to imagine yourself on the surface. Air in the BC will lift the wing up. The backplate and diver will be pushing down. As the result, the wing will end up at the highest point possible, which may not be your desired location.

Securing the wing may be done with the cam bands alone, but I haven't seen this work. A sex bolt is usually needed. For an example of a sex bolt, see the "assembly screws"

 

[intheair10]

Regarding the long cam slots on the wing, while this does offer versatility on the fit for more backplates, there is a potential downside.

If the wing is not secured to the backplate, the wing will slide up. Easiest to imagine yourself on the surface. Air in the BC will lift the wing up. The backplate and diver will be pushing down. As the result, the wing will end up at the highest point possible, which may not be your desired location.

Securing the wing may be done with the cam bands alone, but I haven't seen this work. A sex bolt is usually needed. For an example of a sex bolt, see the "assembly screws"

Yeah, I thought about that to. Using the sex bolts, would you need a BP or do they thread into the harness itself?

 

[ae3753]

Yeah, I thought about that to. Using the sex bolts, would you need a BP or do they thread into the harness itself?

Both hard backplates and softpacks (TransPac and WTX Harness) accept sex bolts.

The sex bolts are used in the two 11" OC holes, where an STA would connect or where double tanks would bolt through.

 

[cool_hardware52]

The lift requirement of a wing (should be) dictated by what it has to lift.
A typical warm water diver in a typical 3m suit and average ballast (10-12lbs) with a full tank AL80 tank will be about 18-20 lbs negative.
So a wing will need to have a minimum of 25 lbs of lift. A typical wing with 30 lbs is more than sufficient.

Your diver will be over weighted by 8 -10 lbs.

A typical 3mm wetsuit is about 3-5 lbs positive. An empty al 80 is about 4 lbs positive.

If the diver is neutral in swim trunks, and are using a 3mm suit and al 80 they will need about 8 lb of total ballast with an empty tank.

A SS plate and harness provides about 6 lbs of ballast and a regulator about 2 lbs. 6 + 2 = 8 bingo!

With a SS plate and harness (-6 lbs ) and a Reg (-2 lbs) and a full al 80 (-2 lbs) the divers rig will be about -10 lbs.

The diver cannot loose more buoyancy than their suit starts with, in this example that's about 4 lbs.

If the rig is at most -10 lbs, and the suit can't loose more than ~4 lbs a very small wing can be used. That's why 17 lbs wing exist.

Tobin

 

[C0N3RY]

I just saw a guy divin' it today.
It made me want one.
I have no money

 

[csr]

Can a newbie diver use this BC setup? Where I come from, have not seen anyone use this. It's only jacket type BCs. Since I have not really seen anyone use this equipment, would appreciate if anyone could explain how this works and how does one get it all together. Or maybe point me to the right source where the info is already there?

Thanks.