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Hi Simon, I've been getting a bunch of feedback that I'm probably putting too much air in the wing. I'll be trying that before I screw with changing equiment. I'm pretty anal about entanglement hazards since I've been finding more and more monofilament and trolling wire around here over the last ten years or so. I expect it is only a matter of time before I start finding that fluorodammit stuff the fishermen here have started using. They tell me that stuff is even harder to see than the mono. With the damage I have done to my eyesight by working under dim red light, the last thing I need is to be tangled in something hard to see. I've seen the stuff about a "mediated airway", (at least I think that's what it is called). If that is an issue, I think I could do something with my weightbelt to put more of the weight at my spine. I've stopped using a weighted STA and I'm being told strapping weights on tanks has very limited applications as well. Thanks, Don ----- Original Message ----- From: Simon L Hartley <shartley@sc*.ed*.au*> To: <donburke56@ne*.ne*> Cc: <techdiver@aquanaut.com> Sent: 06 January, 2002 20:54 Subject: RE: neutral AL 80's > Hi Don, > > I'm not really sure I'm game to CC this to the list... ...what the hell > I'd rather be made to look a fool than keep doing the wrong thing. > > At 07:45 6/01/2002 -0500, you wrote: >> As long as I've got you talking about weights on tanks, I have a minor >> dilemma. A portion of my diving is not technical by any stretch of the >> imagination and involves quite a bit of time bobbing on the surface >> waiting >> for something (another diver, a tool, a camera, whatever). With the >> wing, >> there is a tendency to pitch forward. > >> My old jacket BC is much better on the surface, but I'd rather not deal >> with >> it underwater. Besides, it is getting old and I'd rather not replace it >> when it dies. > > Before I bought my Halcyon Pioneer 27 a couple of years ago I experimented > a little with surface flotation (using my old Scubapro stab jacket and a > home made wing and harness). Not stringent or exhaustive by any stretch > of > the imagination but I haven't seen any work on this so I thought it was > worth playing around a little myself. If there was little air in the tank > (aluminium) then the jacket style BC would just as happily float me with > my > face in the water given half a chance. Despite appearances jacket style > BC's are not life jackets and are not, IMHO, designed to keep an > unconscious divers face out of the water. Air in a BC can stift to > balance > various competing forces (it's been a few years since I did my coxswains > and had to learn about centre of buoyancy, centre of gravity, etc), life > jackets usually have fixed foam flotation cells. > > FWIW, I feel the wings float you higher in the water even if they don't > have that armchair feeling of a stab jacket. I used stab jackets for > nearly ten years but wouldn't go back. > >> I've been thinking of using one of those exercise weights on the tank, >> but >> would rather not introduce another entanglement point. > > I got the idea for a tank weight from the Halcyon web site (Halcyon make a > couple of types of tank keel weight systems). I didn't want to spend a > fortune getting a hunk of lead sent out from the US so I used a standard > three pound weight threaded through the top tank strap (I found six pounds > annoying but may be more effective as a keel weight, the Halcyon weight is > six pounds). There is a picture on my web site (under "Putting it all > together" "Weighting and thermal protection")... > > http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/esm/staff/pages/shartley/projects/gear/ > > As far as being an entanglement risk possibly although it does fit snuggly > to the tank and no problems to date. Also increases your vertical profile > though (I have the old style wing too which requires a STA, making matters > worse). I do feel this promotes a more stable face up position on the > surface though. > > Cheers, > > Simon ---------------------------------------------------- Sign Up for NetZero Platinum Today Only $9.95 per month! http://my.netzero.net/s/signup?r=platinum&refcd=PT97 -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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