Tom, did'nt think I'd reel *you* in...

Anyway-

Sender: Thomas A. Easop  Date: 7/14/98 12:39 PM


>Complexity? Some rubber straps? Are you afraid of your mask strap? Didn't 
>you post
>a while back about irrational fear? I'm not afraid of my bondage wings, 
>never had a
>doubt about their performance. I've heard only heard stories about bondage 
>wings
>problems and death implications on techdiver. In real life, I've never 
>witnessed a
>problem with bondage wings. The wings have never been proven to cause 
>anything but
>for a diver to maintain buoyancy. The day anyone, real or virtual, offers 
>third
>party (aka prosecutor's office, ME, USCG) proof that they caused an 
>accident I will
>be the first one to study it.

I agree with Al the only proof that is needed around here is proof that 
all of OMS claims are true. Not a bunch of unsubstantiated marketing 
bullshit. And I also predict that OMS will either- 1) Go belly up or 2) 
drop or redesign the stuperwings and discontinue the current "perfect" 
unit.


>
>> It looks like you all have agreed that the setup of the bondage, the hose
>> storage and routing, training, maintenance of the overpressure valves are
>> extremely critical to keep these from killing you. What justifies this?
>
>All tech dive equipment must be maintained and configured for maximum
>effectiveness. Relax. I did performed inspections and fine tuned my 
>configuration
>even with my old regular wings.

Tom, hold up a pair of stuperwings next to a pair of standard wings. You 
tell me which has less failure points.

>
>> So you have 2 bladders? How would you puncture one of them, by ripping
>> the outer shell, correct? If the outer shell is ripped, what exactly
>> keeps the other bladder contained?
>
>> How many of you have had standard wing failures which drove you to using
>> bondage wings? What was the nature of the failure and how do bondage
>> wings mitigate that failure point?
>
>A friend of mine working on removing a cage light at about 270 fsw noticed 
>that due
>to his prying motion  he had sliced a slit in the back of his wings. Would 
>a tire
>tube have protected it? No one knows. He said the way it was cut an inner 
>bladder
>would have been functional, if he had one. With maximum gas in the suit he 
>said he
>still needed to drop something: all his tools and artifacts or his weight 
>belt to
>get buoyant. Now he has the double bladder.

Sounds to me like even though his buoyancy was completely fucked up from 
the get-go he still made it to the surface with his setup. Again, if you 
saw the cover open with stuperwings and hole a bladder, what keeps the 
other bladder from poping out of the hole in the cover and bursting? 
Answer: nothing.


>> And how many were talked into these by a diveshop salesman or instructor?
>
>Don't know. I wasn't.
>
>> And how many bought these things because you wanted to look cool, just
>> like the other bondage technecule divers?
>
>I think if I just wanted to look cool, I would buy a really cool car. Or 
>maybe dive
>a total hog rig. In FL, your not cool if your not totally hog.
>
>> How many of you are just stubborn brick-heads who are keeping their
>> stupid bondage wings just out of mulish principle?
>
>I am. The mulish principle being I do my own thinking based on real world
>experience of mine. I know what I do works for me.

hey, what works for you works for you. But that still does not give you 
the prerogative to defend the indefensible. Listening to you defend 
stuperwings is like listing to Barny Frank defend our Fearless Leader on 
Sunday morning talk shows.

>> How many of you have tried standard wings and rejected them for the
>> bondage? What was the reason for this rejection, really?
>
>I have. For one thing, what you all muse as the bondage straps keeping the 
>bubble
>stable is absolutely correct. Do a free floating hang in a wing. At the 6 
>msw stop
>roll a bit, or change from a prone position to an upright one. See how your
>buoyancy does change. If your not paying strict attention, you start 
>sinking or
>ascending. Now do it in a bondage wing. The change in buoyancy due to 
>movement of
>the bubble is gone.Also, when not at max inflation, since the bungees keep 
>the
>bubble distributed throughout the wing, I can use my low pull dumps to 
>dump gas
>from the wing. So when I am a little light and am adjusting a stage bottle or
>camera I can just go to the nearest dump down there and pull.

This one here I really can't figure out. I have found that the standard 
wings are far more stable than bongage wings. For example you are digging 
out a lobster, you roll over to your left side, the air gos to the right 
and you stabilize perfectly in that position. When done, you roll up, the 
air rapidly equalizes in both wings and you are good to go. With the 
stuporwings I felt like I was fighting them all the time.


>> How do you explain the constant stream of bondage wings for sale on this
>> and the cavers list? They are by far and away the most popular item for
>> sale on these lists.
>
>Irrational fear. And in this market, there is a buyer for every seller. I 
>got some
>good deals on bondage wings thanks to this list.

No, Tom, it's people who have "only 50 or so dives on these wings" and 
have figured out that OMS stuperwings suck. But I am sure that they are 
eternally grateful for you to buy them and keep the used stuperwings 
market price point stable.

>> Lets get to the bottom of this issue once and for all.
>
>I don't know that that will ever happen.

Sure it will, when 1 or 2 happens.

 Jim

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