Preparation for Cavern and Intro

[FW]

Yes, we tried moving both wings and tanks to different holes just in case our perception of how they affected trim was scewed. If we moved the tanks to the lowest hole towards my hips and the wing up closest to my shoulders, that adjustment is maxed out to correct head heavy trim, right? One thing we didn't try was moving the backplate lower and raising tanks up close enough to manipulate valves.

I think my fins are on the heavy side already. They are SP Jets. Are others out there more negative than them?

Ok, I will admit that I considered removing the bungees from the OMS wing. I am glad you stopped me from trying that one.

Jets should be fine. What you said about having the wing high should make you head up. Moving the bands higher up will help too. Generally, the top band should start right where the tanks become straight (just below the "shoulder" of the tank).

[tflaris]

A buddy and I are wanting to take cavern and intro. We are both comfortable with the gear we currently use, but I am pretty sure it will have to change for cave usage.

The primary item of concern is the dreaded oms bungied wing. We are both using that wing style when diving doubles and need to change over to something else. The problem we ran into was trimming out any other wing. With the oms, everything happens nicely even when head down. Each of the other wings we tried had unsavory results and massive trim swings if I approached horizontal. Is this a training issue we solved with equipment?

We want to have the trim issues corrected and be proficient with any equipment changes before starting further training. As part of our adjustments with alternate wings, we moved the tanks down as low as possible and moved the wings as high as possible. I was diving dry, SS backplate, no additional weight, xsscuba lp 108's

I would hate to end up spending days of cave training classes on something I can fix at home. Should we bother trying to deal with this issue before class, or let the instructor correct it then?

Are there any other suggestions on modifications that we missed to help with this trim issue?

Thanks,
John

Contact your Instructor.


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[JamesK]

Moving the bands higher up will help too. Generally, the top band should start right where the tanks become straight (just below the "shoulder" of the tank).

This makes a HUGE diffferenc IMO...

[Slüdge]

I have found that the people who jump up and down about how horrible bungeed wings are have never dived with a bungeed wing before. I've used about a dozen different wings (dive shop employee) and the ones I like the best seem to have bungees. I like the way they stay un-tacoed when not full. This nonsense about "have you ever tried to orally inflate a bungeed wing" is just that, nonsense. I orally inflate them after every trip when I rinse them.

The thing is, you only tighten them enough to control the taco. And if you have a wing failure, reach back and release the tension.

[DA Aquamaster]

I have found that the people who jump up and down about how horrible bungeed wings are have never dived with a bungeed wing before. I've used about a dozen different wings (dive shop employee) and the ones I like the best seem to have bungees. I like the way they stay un-tacoed when not full. This nonsense about "have you ever tried to orally inflate a bungeed wing" is just that, nonsense. I orally inflate them after every trip when I rinse them.

The thing is, you only tighten them enough to control the taco. And if you have a wing failure, reach back and release the tension.

That's a good example of drift from criticism of the original OMS bungee wing of death (accept no substitutes!) and any wing using a bungee. I liked my DR Rec wing just fine and I like my Nomad wing. Those wings, along with some others, use a single continuous bungee routed on the perimeter of the underside of the wing. As you know, it's easy to release tension on the wing with that system, at it leaves the upper surface fairly smooth so in addition to reducing a taco effect with a single tank, it does not create any potential for air trapping.

The issue with the BWOD is that it uses several bungees / rubber tubing lengths routed from front side to back side of the air cell so it's not easy to release tension, and if they are adjusted too tight they can be a potential problem. But even then, adjusted in moderation it really is not an issue.

[john844]

I appreciate all of the information provided - both public and private. I have a few new things to think about and try. I also have some new questions to ask my instructor.

[shagyluke]

I did my cave training, all the way through full cave in an OMS bungied wing. I still use it.

[roguediver]

I to still dive my OMS bungeed and have done so for many years.