bp/w choices need help

[fishi]

Hi, I am thinking of switching from a jacket bc to a bp/w. I was thinking of

1. oxycheq travel bp with oxycheq 18 lb. travel wing.

2.oxycheq SS medium bp with mach v wing.

I will be using this for trips to the Caribbean in winter 3mm some times 5mm wet suit. In the summer around here in fresh water with a 5mm. I am 5'11'' 200 lb.
I have never seen a bp/w but like the streamlined idea of it so Any thought's or advice would be grate.

[navyhmc]

The better questions are:

How much wieght do you usually add for you set up?
How deep are you planning to go?
What type of tank set up will you use?

A steel tank requires less weight as most are 5-8 lbs heavy full and near neutral when empty.(LP 80's are 1 lb bouyant empty) Aluminum 80's are a 2-3lbs bouant when empty so weight is needed to stay neutral. So there is lift you need consider. Both the lift needed for full tanks and the weight needed to stay neutral.

The deeper you plan on diving, the less bouancy your suit has so you will need to add that as well.

If it were me, I would consider about a 25#-30# lift wing. It will cover most of your needs with a safety built in.

[jbres1]

How much lead do you dive with in a BC ?
I am 5'-11" and 209#'s
I dive a BP/W with a SS plate and Oxycheq wing or Dive Rite venture ( 30#) wing. and 6# of lead when I dive in a 3mm shorty and a steel hp100.
For me the 18# wing just does not seem to be enough lift.
I have 6#'s for the plate 1# for the bands, 1# for the STA, 1# for the reg, 6#'s lead and the tank is -8#'s at the start of my dive and -1 at end.
So for me if something went wrong with a full tank the 18# lift wouldn't be enough fom my set up.

Jim Breslin

[cummings66]

For me, in cold water, 30 lbs of lift seems to be fine. I wouldn't go much less. On vacation without wetsuits and such the smaller lift values are fine.

[No Misses]

I dive a Diverite SS BP w/Venture wing

With my 3 mil one-piece wetsuit and an AL80, I carry 4lbs of lead
With my 3 Mil Farmer John and an x7-120 HP Steel cylinder, I carry no additional lead.
With my 3 mil farmer with 7 mil hooded core warmer and x7-120, I carry 8-10 lbs of lead (I am still fine tuning this setup)

[fishi]

Thanks for the help. When in the Caribbean for weight in my jacket bc I have 14# well using a 3mm wet suit. If I add a 3mm vest or 5mm wet suit then I use 16#. Thats using a AL 80. I dive to 130 ft once in a while but usually go 80 to 100 ft. Thats what I will be using it for on vacation.

At home I don't dive much just go out in lake Ontario or Cayuga 3 or 4 times a year and have not been deeper than 20 ft. but in the future I may want to start diving deeper here so if that happened getting the 30# of lift would be the better choice.

I guess my question is if I got the 30# and used it in the Caribbean will I notice a big difference between it and the 18# or is it something I would not be able to tell the difference between?

As for the bp is there any advantage to not getting the traveler? I want it just because it is smaller and easy to pack.

[Chad]

Since you haven't dove a bp wing before you will not be able to tell the difference in the 18# vrs. the 30#. The 18# will have less drag in the water but the 30# is more versatile IMO. The 18 # is great for warm water dives with thin thermal protection. Perfect for going to the Bahamas and diving a skin or shorty. I think that for your first bp/wing you will be very happy with a 30#.

[medicdiver]

I agree with everyone about the 30# wing. What you might consider, if it is possible, is try out the different wings and set ups and then make your choice.

[cummings66]

To be honest, the diving you've talked about so far would work with the 18 lb lift wing, but the diving you're thinking of getting into might not work with it and then you'll be buying a second wing. The differences will be pretty small as far as perceived drag, not worth the money IMO.

The wing needs to float the rig including the regs. Figure 5lbs for the plate, 1 lb for the regs and the tank will be about -2 lbs so you've got to float about 8 lbs of rig at the start of a dive, and about 4 at the end of a dive. The interesting thing is your rig will be a bit negative at the end of a dive. That means that you can probably drop some lead because most traditional BC's are a couple lbs positive with all the floaty materials in them.

You're going to carry the lead on a belt and not attached to the rig so that weight won't really count towards what the wing needs to lift, but you could figure a loss of some lift of the wetsuit which means the wing needs to lift a bit more to be neutral however it's not as much compared to a 7mm because you go deeper with those, generally speaking.

The math all says you should be able to do it, but you're not going to have a lot of excess lift. Excess lift isn't really needed either, if you're going to lift something you're going to be using a bag anyhow. A small amount of excess lift in a BC in consideration of a rescue situation of another diver would be nice however and this small wing would work in the warm waters I think, but might be marginal in cold water. It wouldn't work very well with steel tanks, it's mostly an AL tank and thin wetsuit wing. Thats why there is the 30 lb wing.

[Splitlip]

The 18 will work with an 80 AL. But when you move into steel, you probably would be better off with the 30.