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Scuba Forum / General / April 2006What BROKE
Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? And, what was your most spectacular career equipment failure?  Signature"The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storms terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore." - Vincent van Gogh www.finalprotectivefire.com > Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? > > And, what was your most spectacular career equipment failure? Last time out, while gearing up, I heard a high-pressure leak. I shut the valve and found that the o-ring in the SPG line had gotten kinked. (Stoopid me - I'd taken off the hose to pack for a trip and hadn't put it back on right.) Not a big deal - especially since this happened on land. I fixed the condition (only hand-tightening the hose since neither my buddy or I had a wrench) and did a 40 minute dive. (28 ft max, 35-38 degrees). Called the dive after 40 mins 'cause buddy was cold (diving wet). Nothing too earth-shattering but Popeye's post looked lonely without a response. - David >> Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? >> [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > - David Thank you! :-) A perfect example- Extrapolate that- I make sure that I carry not only every single o-ring I may need, but all common sizes. A buddy's blown dive is just as much of a tragedy. Having blown the tiny HP o-ring in the SPG, I carry a couple pre-ringed and pre-lubed barrels just in case. First thing I ever lost was a LPI inflator hose, surprisingly new, IMA. Next day, 3 spare hoses in the bag. Now I have 5 or 6. Signature"The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storms terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore." - Vincent van Gogh www.finalprotectivefire.com > >> And, what was your most spectacular career equipment failure? > > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Now I have 5 or 6. I think my most noteworthy gear failure was a water leak into one of my strobe heads, which caused various arcs, sparks and snaps while UW. How many spare SS-200's should I carry? :-) Setting aside the cost, they weigh 8lbs each. -hh This'll take a while to come up with. I have more than 40 years worth of diving to consider: 1. The first equipment problem I can remember was a shore dive in Biscayne Bay. On the beach, I went to blow dust out of the regulator, something we always did back then, and blew the O ring away with it. I took some of the plastic that had been put over the valve the shop that filled the tank, twisted it up and stuck it in the groove as a replacement. I worked for about 15 minutes, then blew out spectacularly. I snorkeled for the rest of the day. I later learned that the dust caps we used back then had an O ring in them. I had a spare with me, but didn't know it. These days, I have several spares for both my A clamp and DIN regulators. That was sometime in the latter half of the 60's. 2. The next one I remember wasn't mine. It was a friend's regulator that failed. It simply stopped working at depth. That's the only time I recall having to buddy breath. I've shared gas since, but for convenience or practice, not out of necessity. The problem turned out to be a Scuba Pro seat/seal of some kind that had been put in backwards. It seems that a preliminary service bulletin had been taken and circulated. When Scuba Pro discovered the mistake, they fixed the bulletin before it was released, but not before people were putting the bad information to use. That was sometime in the early 90's. 3. The next problem was with Jayna's equipment. Her new BC's inflator mechanism kept leaking air into her BCD. We found the problem during a Reef Sweep event in Ft. Lauderdale, while she was trying to tote a piece of steel we found on the bottom. It wasn't pretty. She sort of bounced along the bottom the whole dive. We swapped my inflator for her inflator for the second dive. I disconnected the inflator hose. It turned out to be a defective casting in the plastic inflator valve. It took a trip back to the shop we bought the BC from to find it. That was sometime in the mid 90s. 4. The next problem was with my hp pressure hose on a dive trip to Cozumel. It developed a pinhole leak. I swapped it out for the one off the spare regulator we take on trips and popped my USD Monitor I computer into the hose mount that came with it. While I did a couple of afternoon dives, Jayna toured the dive shops looking for a hose and barrel for a USD gauge. Apparently, one was not easy to find, but she succeeded. I ought to carry spares with me, like Popeye does, but I don't learn lessons that easily. 5. On the same trip, the tip came off the shoulder pull dump on my BCD. Not a big deal. I used the manual dump for the rest of that dive. A knot in the cable let me use the dump for the rest of the trip. It was more of an inconvenience than a real problem. Back then, I used the pull dump even for small adjustments. The next year, I bought a Halcyon wing, with no pull dump at the shoulder. 6. One of the local shops, I no longer know who, serviced my USD Micra regulator before our second or third trip on Blackbeard's. I don't know how they managed to do it, but the IP pressure was closer to 240 than to 140. I found the early Micra second stages, the ones before external second stage adjustments were possible, to be hard to get just right. I always adjusted ours to prevent free flows and still breathe easily. When I went to adjust mine, it started free flowing as soon as I turned the gas on. Nothing I could do would stop it. A trip back to the shop identified the problem. My regulators no longer go to that shop. This is a pretty good example of why one should check gear before leaving home rather than after you're in the water. 7. On one dive out of Boynton Beach, my favorite mask fell into multiple pieces in my hands just after the boat left the dock. Nothing, it seems, lasts forever. Lucky for me, someone on the boat had a spare that fit. Now I have a spare that fits. 8. A very well known Tech shop, a favorite of a very well known cave diver, located next to the Southport Raw Bar, changed my Scuba Pro regulator from A clamp to DIN. The guy that did it put one of the O rings in the wrong place. The regulator had a slow leak that could have turned ugly. To this day, I don't know why it didn't. Luck, I guess. He fixed it the next day. Anybody can make a mistake once. 9. The only other equipment problem I recall happened on a dive on the Grove with Popeye. Perhaps because I never serviced my wing components (most likely) or, perhaps because there was a problem with Halcyon BC inflation valves, my wing started filling itself, much like Jayna's did so many years before. It was more annoying than it normally would have been since I was using my somewhat more negative HP 100 tanks and carrying a deco tank. I disconnected the hose and inflated my wing manually for the first two dives. Popeye donated a replacement inflator from that big a.s save a dive kit he mentioned for the afternoon dives. I still owe him a valve. Lee >This'll take a while to come up with. I have more than 40 years worth of >diving to consider: >9. The only other equipment problem I recall happened on a dive on the Grove >with Popeye. Perhaps because I never serviced my wing components (most [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > >Lee Your tank also blew the O-ring as gear up started for the second dive and Curtis was looking depressed. Rick Simms "California, the only state where a high school can issue a kid a condom then expels him for praying for a chance to use it." > Your tank also blew the O-ring as gear up started for the second dive > and Curtis was looking depressed. Not a significant enough event to register. Curtis was only depressed because he wanted us to be first in. Lee > Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? > > And, what was your most spectacular career equipment failure? Somehow my stage bottle got drained on the way to the dive. Most spectacular was when a large strobe exploded against my side in the middle of a dive. It seems water had got in, the resultant bang was like a Very good kick from a mule. My ears were ringing and there was a green haze in the water, that turned out to be residue from the explosion - but it sure looked bad right after the boom. > Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? Pin broke on my Vyper wrist mount strap. Wire tied it to my wrist for the dive... > And, what was your most spectacular career equipment failure? Signature“Striving for mediocrity” ____________________________________________________________________________ "A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences." - Proverbs 22:3 > Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? Tank valve (plugged manifold port) sprung a leak. > And, what was your most spectacular career equipment failure? My buddy's brain malfunctioned and he took off all his gear at ninety feet. >> Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > My buddy's brain malfunctioned and he took off all his gear at ninety > feet. I hear he rolled back into his gear after a pretty spectacular 90 ft (gearless) ESA and finished the dive. It's about like jumping off the boat with an empty tank... :-) Signature"The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storms terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore." - Vincent van Gogh www.finalprotectivefire.com > Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? > > And, what was your most spectacular career equipment failure? The batteries in the AI computer died on a second dive. Had to borrow a console from either Lee or Popeye to get back in the water. Now carry extra batteries for everything plus SPG, wire ties, O-rings, Ect. Rick Simms "California, the only state where a high school can issue a kid a condom then expels him for praying for a chance to use it." > Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? The AI transmitter pairing for the D9 is a real PITA. I'm used to AI computers that pair once and you're done (a la Uwatec) or don't have to be paired at all (a la Cochran). Apparently Suunto suffers from desertion anxiety and must constantly be reassured of its buddy's presence. Several times during my last trip, I'd check my air, then by the time I actually geared up and got in the water, the computer would unpair. If I was savvy enough to notice this before descending, I'd simply push a button and stick my hand behind my head to let it do its thing. It became more of a problem the several times I didn't notice until mid-descent, a little embarrassing the one dive I did with a different buddy, who couldn't figure out why I had to pop to the surface for a sec, but at least understood my direction for him to stay in place. Finally, I did one dive where I noticed on descent that the computer wasn't even in dive mode. It said "OFF". What frickin' dive computer doesn't know enough to turn itself on when it gets wet? Especially one that costs a fortune even via the Mexican grey market (my instruction manual is in Spanish). I had to do the entire dive without knowing how much air I had, which normally wouldn't be such a big deal since I know my approximate air consumption, except that I hadn't even checked before jumping whether or not I had a complete fill to begin with. (The boat was routinely overfilling the tanks, so odds were with me that I'd survive the dive). I suppose that if I had some sort of rigid pre-dive checklist, I could add "check the damn computer" to it, but I only get anal like that when it comes to important stuff like my camera housing. > And, what was your most spectacular career equipment failure? With proper attention to maintenance and pre-dive checklists (cough), nothing could possibly go wrong unless the boat isn't there when you surface. That happened to me once off San Clemente Island, when the boat slipped anchor and relocated the next cove over, a long swim against the current. The equipment failure was the fact that the chase dinghy's outboard was busted, so the boat had no easy way of retrieving lost divers. That was the closest I've ever been to suffering a "dive accident" heart attack, if not while angrily kicking my way through current and kelp for a half-hour or more in an overheated dry suit, then when I got back on the boat and started yelling. > Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? HP hose developed a bubble along a good portion of the length of the hose... I seem to remember it leaking air, but it was probably a slow leak since I didn't consider it worth aborting the dive... I did make sure that I breathed that tank all the way down before switching to the other tank though... > And, what was your most spectacular career equipment failure? Can't think of any that I occurred directly to me that were that spectacular... Had a buddy once who wasn't that experienced, bit through his mouthpiece and then attacked me for my regulator even though we were probably within 10-15 ft of the surface... The "equipment failures" that I most remember are biological in nature -- proof that Darwin sleeps... Things like, "Hey, we don't need no stinkin' cave line and markers"... >> Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >proof that Darwin sleeps... Things like, "Hey, we don't need no stinkin' >cave line and markers"... "Stupidity is a capital offense. It's just that sometimes Mother Nature doesn't catch the offender" RA Heinlein Signaturedillon I didn't climb to the top of the food chain to become a vegetartian. > "Stupidity is a capital offense. It's just that sometimes Mother > Nature doesn't catch the offender" RA Heinlein Sometimes we get to learn from our mistakes... Sometime we don't and Darwin is there with an express ticket to the big "oh sh.t"... Luckily for me, Darwin is a heavy sleeper when I'm in the "yo! check this sh.t out" mode... > Luckily for me, Darwin is a heavy sleeper when I'm in the "yo! check this > sh.t out" mode... I rather doubt that luck has a lot to do with it. I'm reminded of the saying "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots. More so than many, you are adventurous, seeking new things to experience and new ways to do things. You're confident in your own ability to figure out how to do things your own way rather than trusting completely to someone else's idea of what is right and wrong for you. That does not make you stupid, dangerous or even reckless. It just makes you, you. Lee > That does not make you stupid, dangerous or even reckless. It just makes > you, you. My equipment has worked well over the years. Only major problem was last year off Cayman Brac. Was at or near my no- deco limit, on a deep dive when my computer shut down completely. Had a watch but didn't know how long I had been under, nor did I ever keep track of how deep I went (computer does that right?). No real problem, ended up hanging around at 20 feet until my air just about ran out. Probably spent longer at 20 feet that I did underwater prior to the computer crapping out. Have been carrying 2 computers since then. > Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? > > And, what was your most spectacular career equipment failure? We were in Spain at the Costa Brava, and Quim briefed us"... into the cave at 11m, wall at left shoulder, and come out after 45'. Mat, will you make the taillight? I stopped at the entrance of the cave with a bad feeling. The LED on my charger hadn't been blinking normally, and the cave dive hadn't been made known the evening before. Quim sensed something and asked me the thumb, which I gave. So my GF and I only did a relaxed dive at the cliff. Back in the boat, I missed my Poseidon's secondary's Membrane housing, and seconds later, my knife. One french guy in returning group had found my knife, and Quim handed me the reg housing with a deep grin. The day before we'd paid a visit to the "Fighting Cocks", a bar run by a never aging english lady. Must've been the strong brown ale... That was kind of funny, and told me to follow my feelings when diving. Another one , decades before, near letal was at the same place. My Buddy asked me to follow in into a side passage near the end of La Vaca cave. Never with a problem in narrow passages, I agreed, though I knew my torch had only minutes left. Midwithin it stopped shining, and all sorts of evil thoughts flooded my brains. Like going into a bigger section, and not finding the way out. With this, I felt my breathing pattern accelerate and go into inspiratory reserve till bottoming there, and all of a sudden I felt I was going to rip off my mask and reg out within the next 30 seconds, if not some wonder happened, the air tasted diabolically sweet, like aspartam,figs, with vanilla... I remembered what my french Instructor had dyed us in... hands to the chest, hands lead breathing, in...., and ouuuuuut, in, and ouuuut... some seconds later, with a clear had, I banged with my torch against the rocks, and my buddy shone his light between his legs, so I could see where I crawled. There was rock only inches away from every point od my crossection. In blue water a minute later, I never felt so relaxed in my whole life... Matthias > Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? Camera quit working half way through the trip. Camera shop said a 12 year old camera was just "too old" and they were surprised to see an MX10 that old. > And, what was your most spectacular career equipment failure? Not mine, but Carol's. The hose to her octo blew off at the first stage. She reported looking at her SPG and seeing it go down to 0 with each breath and then bob back to a level about 50-75 psi lower. Huge stream of bubbles, she reported being pushed forward and everybody on the dive saw it. I stuck my octo in her face and turned off the air. They (Dive Makai) had a hang bottle, so we did 5 minutes with no problems, then she bitched on the surface when she had to orally inflate (shut up, dudes). If she hadn't had the second stage clipped to her BC, it would have been in about 75 feet of water. Biggest brainfart (everybody's done this one). Snorkeled out to the site, deflated BC and took a huge breath of seawater. Signaturedillon I didn't climb to the top of the food chain to become a vegetartian. > Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? On a trip to Ocotal in Costa Rica 1: "O" ring on autoinflator failed on the first dive; slowly inflating BCD disconnected it.. ( fixed that night by Ocotal Diving) 2: Batteries on Dive Computer.. did not indicate " Low Bat" but display suddenly failed at depth.. (did very long hang, Borrowed another one for the rest of the trip got new batteries when back stateside) 3: Deflator hose tore during rough treatment on a shallow shore dive ( getting another BCD, retiring ten year old one ) > "O" ring on autoinflator failed on the first dive; slowly inflating BCD > disconnected it.. Glad to see I'm not the only one that ignores BC service. > 2: Batteries on Dive Computer.. did not indicate " Low Bat" > but display suddenly failed at depth.. Combination of poor design of computer and poor planning on your part. My Oceanic and Genesis computers don't give me much, if any warning of inpending battery failure, definitely not enough to finish a week of diving once I get the message. I do two things to guard against this: 1. If I'm going anywhere it's likely to matter, pretty much any dive trip, I replace the batteries before I go. 2. I carry a spare set of batteries for every dive computer we own in my dive bag. I carry two sets for mine since I have to comptuers. Lee >> "O" ring on autoinflator failed on the first dive; slowly inflating BCD >> disconnected it.. [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Lee Seems to me that quite a few of the equipment problems in this thread were hose, O ring or battery related. I was OK on packing spares for the O rings and batteries, but sure will have to get a couple extra spare low and high pressure hoses. Good information! Dan > 2: Batteries on Dive Computer.. did not indicate " Low Bat" > but display suddenly failed at depth.. I'll tell ya, for all the discussions we've had about computer failures and repetitive dives and whatnot, I can't believe some of you go on the more exotic trips without having a new battery put in. That's not meant as a criticism, I'm guilty of it myself, I think I went 4 years before I finally did mine. But if I was gonna kick out 3-5 grand on a trip I'd damn sure have that thing done. > That's not meant as a criticism, I'm guilty of it myself, I think I went > 4 years before I finally did mine. > > But if I was gonna kick out 3-5 grand on a trip I'd damn sure have that > thing done. It's sure a lot easier when you can do it yourself. The Cochran eats 4 AAs and 2 Ns, so it's a few bucks and a few minutes and they end up getting changed before every dive trip, even if the last trip was only a few dives. I always bring spare batteries. For the Suunto, where I'd rather not get new batteries before the 1.5 years or so that they're supposed to last, I'll probably end up bringing a backup for my "really expensive trip" coming up in July. > Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? No biggie. My BC inflator would continue to let in a little bit more air from time to time, after I had finished pressing the button. Since I rarely add air to my BC anywhere but the surface, not that big a deal. I took it in for service upon my return and the shop cleaned out a bit of gunk from my button mechanism. They didn't even charge me. > And, what was your most spectacular career equipment failure? Hardly spectacular but I was at around 90' on a Belize Atoll wall dive. I noticed I was also getting water with my inspirations. Thinking it over, I thought mayhap I wasn't getting water but the tiniest bit narced and so ascended to 70'. At 70', I evaluated again. Still getting water with the air. I switched over to my octo and took a look at my primary. The cover was kinda hanging off on one side. I realized that one of the cover screws was no longer holding one corner of the cover in place. While I was looking at it, the screw actually came right out. I managed to recover it and kept it in the palm of my hand until back on the boat. Being aware that it isn't usually just one problem that will getcha, I decided to finish the dive shadowing the group from 20' breathing off my octo. When I got back to shore, I immediately took my regs to the dive shop service. The service tech took it apart, looked over the diaphragm, etc. and couldn't find a thing wrong with them. It was suggested that there may have been the smallest of wrinkles in the diaphragm that righted itself when the service tech had completely removed the cover. That left me wondering. If it had been the smallest of wrinkles, how could that have occurred. Damn! That was when I remembered that it had been that very morning that I had chastised a DM for walking on my primary. No major equipment break down cept 4 years ago while diving at Bonaire the o ring in the SPG gave it up. Teck at Buddy dive replaces it for a beer at the bar. This year the same thing happened, same price to replace it. I bought two spindle and O rings for the SPG, not going there any more. Apparently it is not one of the parts that gets looked at on an annual. >> Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? > [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] >that have occurred. Damn! That was when I remembered that it had been that >very morning that I had chastised a DM for walking on my primary. > No major equipment break down cept 4 years ago while diving at Bonaire > the o ring in the SPG gave it up. Teck at Buddy dive replaces it for a > beer at the bar. This year the same thing happened, same price to > replace it. I bought two spindle and O rings for the SPG, not going > there any more. Apparently it is not one of the parts that gets looked > at on an annual. One time that was fun, a tank took off like a rocket around the deck. We did some pretty lively dancing and all of us squealed like little girls. My foot, after the dive boat came down on it in Cancun. Al Bottoms Up Divers > Or didn't work on your last dive trip or two? > > And, what was your most spectacular career equipment failure? |
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