[outlaw13]

So after 100 + dives with my ProQD BCD I bought an Apeks WTX wing. It's the comfort harness with the WTX3 single wing.

Apeks WTX3 and Harness - DIVE BCs

I dived it for the first time this week and although mostly OK there are a few things which are botherng me:

1, The Apeks inflator feels really robust but the inflator button is on the opposite side to the mouth blowy in bit. This feels awkward in the hand. If anyone uses one of these do you squeeze the inflator with the palm of your hand as you grip the hose? Or is there another way of holding your hose?

2, There are only 2 ways of dumping. One by the inflator and one by the left kidney dump. On my BCD I'm used to using the right kidney and right shoulder. To dump from the inflator I have to rotate left quite a bit and lift the hose high to get rid of all the air. I think this may be caused by the way the hose sits under the strap on the top of the harness.

3, The wing seems to sit too high up. There is a lot of the wing behind my head. I tend to rotate during a dive rather than turn my head. When doing this I can hear the air moving around the wing. It's really quite noisy! I will try and adjust the harness shoulder straps to drop it down a bit.

Any thoughts from anyone using the Apeks wing would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

 

[Druid]

I've got a WTX3, but it's on an OMS backplate with a one piece harness. Strangely enough, I bought it to replace a Seaquest ProQD.

I have the inflator turned round on the hose so I can operate it with my thumb. The hose is quite flexible so that I could orally inflate it if necessary, but I've never actually had to do so.

I have learned to use the kidney valve to dump air, as you have discovered dumping air through the inflator is awkward.

Don't lenghten the shoulder straps. The wing can be mounted in three different positions on the backplate, undo the STA bolts, lower the wing and replace the bolts. You'll probably still be able to hear the air moving around though.

 

[outlaw13]

Thanks for that. I'm pleased it's the wing not my head making the noises. I'm not using a backplate though so I'll need to play with moving the straps.

 

[GarethRJ]

I have a WTX plus comfort harness too. Try it with a backplate - even though it works fine with straps and a single without, the balance and feel is better with it

 

[outlaw13]

Do you use the Apeks backplate? Which STA do you use?

Cheers

 

[GarethRJ]

Yes Apeks backplate, nice bit of kit - interestingly the slots and holes in it have far more flexibility than the harness/wing allow but it's very solid with them

So far I've tried steel 12/15 singles, and 2x12 alu twinset plus 7 litre alu stage and its been fine, can't comment if it could do the lift for a steel twinset or more stages though

 

[GarethRJ]

PS if STA is single tank adaptor, then the cam bands that come with it have worked fine for me. I found them fiddly at first, not as easy to fit as with a dedicated single tank setup, but great once you got the knack and got them tight

 

[outlaw13]

Back to go-dive tomorrow then.

 

[GarethRJ]

Happy spending !!

If you try the weight pockets and/or normal pockets with that setup I'd be interested in your thoughts as I am tempted

 

[outlaw13]

One of the reasons I chose the Apeks was so I could use the Surelock integrated weight pockets. They are good. The mechanism works well. At a squeeze you can get 2 x 2kg soft weights in each one.

 

[Scuba Paul]

So after 100 + dives with my ProQD BCD I bought an Apeks WTX wing. It's the comfort harness with the WTX3 single wing.

Apeks WTX3 and Harness - DIVE BCs

I dived it for the first time this week and although mostly OK there are a few things which are botherng me:

1, The Apeks inflator feels really robust but the inflator button is on the opposite side to the mouth blowy in bit. This feels awkward in the hand. If anyone uses one of these do you squeeze the inflator with the palm of your hand as you grip the hose? Or is there another way of holding your hose?

2, There are only 2 ways of dumping. One by the inflator and one by the left kidney dump. On my BCD I'm used to using the right kidney and right shoulder. To dump from the inflator I have to rotate left quite a bit and lift the hose high to get rid of all the air. I think this may be caused by the way the hose sits under the strap on the top of the harness.

3, The wing seems to sit too high up. There is a lot of the wing behind my head. I tend to rotate during a dive rather than turn my head. When doing this I can hear the air moving around the wing. It's really quite noisy! I will try and adjust the harness shoulder straps to drop it down a bit.

Any thoughts from anyone using the Apeks wing would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

I also use a WTX with weight pockets. I put 3kg in each side then have two pockets either sidebof the tank on the top strap. These can be either 1kg or 2kg depending on 12 or 15 tank.