Mailing List Archive

Mailing List: cavers

Message Display

"Greasy piece of shit"... or just what are bungied wings???
Besides the obvious reasons hans touched on for no bungies (yes, this has
been beat to death but it is really important) I will reiterate that you
do not want squeezing cords to deflate your buoyancy device for any reason
and YOU must be in complete control of when and how much gas leaves your
wings.  Of course another reason you do not want these bands is that they
present interuptions to the surface of the wing resulting in more drag
while swimming.  As for the lower dump, would you'all swim like a newbie
diver with your feet down causing a lot of drag pushing a lot of water out
of the way (or fighting current in a feet down position)??? In a
horizontal postion, like you should be most of the time, that lower dump
can be useful to let air out of your unbungied wings.  Being from the
midwest, we folks do have a natural suspicion of easterners and especially
northeasterners; and such tomfoolery as bungied wings only lends credance
to that suspicion. 
The first person that whines about the northeast being special because of
the deep cold water can just stick it as they are not the ony ones to dive
in such conditions. Many of these people just want to perpetuate thier
line
of limited thinking. 

Time to go back into reclusion and let the fire fly.

Sam Frushour


On Tue, 7 Sep 1999 billy@bd*.co*.au* wrote:

> Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1999 22:37:48
> From: billy@bd*.co*.au*
> To: techdiver@aq*.co*
> Cc: cavers@cavers.com
> Subject: Bungy Wings - The Awful, Horrible Truth From One Who Knows...
> 
> Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 02:26:44 +0200
> From: Hans Petter Roverud <proverud@on*.no*>
> Subject: Bondage wings
> --------------- 
> 
> It seems safe to say that opinions vary from "This is what we see dead
> divers wearing" to "These wings are the design used by most Northeastern
> wreck divers and we have no problems whatsoever". For those who think I'm
> beating a dead horse -- I am, but I'm trying to add the plausible reason
> why "bondage" is no good idea. 
> 
> I know a lot divers using "bondage" without any incidences. I also know one
> who jumped in and found himself on the bottom at 100' in no time with a
> wing that didn't hold air. What happened? A low pull dump had gotten wedged
> behind his backplate and was stuck. Since the bungee cords work as an
> auto-deflate, any minor leak will let the air out of the wing in no time.
> With a non-bondage wing a low dump valve stuck open wouldn't actively purge
> the wing -- it would just bleed air out as the wing approached full volume.
> You'd still get ample buoyancy in a horizontal, slightly head-up position.
> The same would go for any otherwise insignificant puncture or faulty fitting.
> 
> Thus, I believe the combination of bungee auto-deflate and jammed pull
> dumps to be _the_ deadly combination. I don't choose either feature. If you
> do, please get rid of the balls on the pull cords or the bungee. These
> features in combination may give you a catastrophic failure. Why not get
> rid of both? Would for instance an OMS be unwieldy without the bungee? 
> 
> At any rate, next time bondage wings won't inflate and hold air, check if
> the pull dumps are stuck in the open position. BTW, what purpose does low
> pull dumps really serve? Without that bungee assisted auto-deflate one
> would never be able to purge air by pulling a low dump anyway -- since air
> likes to float in water you'd have to swim head-down to bring the air to
> the low dumps. (OK, so maybe you do assume an inverted position sometimes
> but do we really need alternative dumps for any conceivable posture?) 
> 
> Rather, dump air through the corrugated hose and lose those pull dumps, the
> bungee or preferably both! The fact that it's all hunky dory as long as the
> balls of the pull dumps don't snag or get wedged doesn't mean it's a safe
> combination. You've got an auto-deflate wing and _any_ minor leak will
> purge it. The bungee puts a constant strain on the wing and will collapse
> it whenever the opportunity presents itself. 
> 
> If you elect to keep bungee as well as pull dumps, at least check that the
> wing holds air before you jump in. If a pull dump is jammed open you'll
> know the moment you try to fill the wing.
> 
> regards,
> 
> Hans 
> 
> 

Navigate by Author: [Previous] [Next] [Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject: [Previous] [Next] [Subject Search Index]

[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]

[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]