Fun in doubles...

[loquat149]

I have a 55# Explorer wing you're welcome to try...single bladder, though.
Dave

[Greenwood_60]

...all you do is turn your head not trying to roll your body you should always stay horizontal with your body...

Duly noted. I pretty much figured this, but it always helps to have someone reinforce it.

Go with a Hollis 55# wing.

I will keep that in mind if my classic Dive Rite wing does not work out.

...that wing will be good up to and including 2 steel 95's...

I don't know why (other than lift, which was not an issue) they would say it's good for 95s and not 104s. Lift was not an issue, but I have no concept of how full my wing was.

I have a 55# Explorer wing you're welcome to try...

Thanks for the offer. I will let you know if the classic doesn't work out.


For size comparison.

If my "weight on a balloon" theory is correct, the much wider classic wing should handle it. If not, I am possibly just more retarded than the rest of you, and I need a lot more practice. My abs are actually sore from fighting those tanks for 2 hours.

[Sludge]

Some random thoughts from reading this thread:

I don't understand "Wing X is not big enough for 104s..." My friend Ron has used a Dive Rite Wreck wing and a Scubapro RecTec wing for years with 104s. My friend Eddy has used a Dive Rite Classic with 104s for years. He's 125 pounds and can't walk and chew gum at the same time, but he can dive this wing just fine.

I don't understand the blanket statement that "Wing Y has too much lift for doubles Z." One of the best developments in diving has been wing bungees. Not the kind OMS uses, but the kind Dive Rite and Scubapro use. I've had a lot of wings over the years but my favorite was a Scubapro ProTec with 110 pounds of lift. I've used it with doubles from 80s to 104s, and the bungee design keeps it as small as it needs to be for a given application. Most people that see it have no idea it has as much lift as it does, because it's rarely inflated a lot.

You can't put Pressed Steel 104s and Faber 108s in the same category. The galvanized cylinders are WAY heavier than the zinc-sprayed cylinders.

But mainly, people are getting way too worked up over diving doubles. Just put them on and go diving. Stop thinking about it so much. It's all in your head.

[scooter]

The evolution of a diver:

First - The environment sux. I hate waves; that current is what makes diving so bad; fresh water is so much better; jelly fish, wtf.

Second - The Gear sux. I hate my mask, what a POS; My BC is causing all kinds of problems, if I just had the cool one like you have everything would be better; I wish I could back up like you, where do you get those cool fins.

Finally - Oh, its my skill level that needs improving..........

[loquat149]

Some random thoughts from reading this thread:

I don't understand "Wing X is not big enough for 104s..."

Yea, I hate blanket statements, too...especially when they don't consider the diver's body type and the buoyancy contributed by his exposure protection. I do think as the roughest possible starting point, I shouldn't have to struggle to keep my head above the surface with a fully inflated wing. In my case wearing a 7 mm semi-dry with cave-filled Faber LP-95s, a 40# Explorer wing is not large enough.

Dave

[Green_Streak]

Suppose I'll toss in my .02 for what it's worth. I figure you'll be much happier with the classic, when I first started diving I got a Rec wing and continued using it after I moved to doubles(worthington 108's) at the time I didn't know any better, today I wouldn't get in the water with that wing and 104/108/112's. It was a struggle to keep my head above the water, at the start of a dive I'd pump the wing untill the OPV went off and then I'd be neutral. I can 100% say for me that the rec wing does not work with this sized tank(I'm 6'3" and 250lbs)

[Greenwood_60]

I was just looking at a bit of the video my GF shot during the dive. It looks like my wing is around 50% full at 50-60ft down. Hard to tell, she wasn't shooting me, just happened to catch me a few times. Although the wing looks mostly UNDER the tanks.

One thing I need to correct: I started the dive with around 2400 PSI, which makes the tanks quite a bit lighter than a cave fill. I had a good fill, then ended up trans-filling one of my GFs AL80s before we even got started.

Anyways, the video of myself got me thinking. The back plate that Stairman Randy used with this wing and his 95s, has a very shallow dip in it. So shallow, I couldn't use it with the bolts on my 104's. That's why I ended up diving the ABS BP, because it has a much deeper dip. I figure it made as much as a total of 2 inches difference in the width of the wing. This would account for why Randy didn't have trouble, and I was a mess... or I could just suck.