Beachman
Guest
Maybe some of you have experienced an inflator hose failure before, but this was a first for me. First dive on a wreck
called the Morgan off Virginia Beach in 105 fsw. Had a little air in my BC when I jumped in, deflated and dropped down to the hang bar, joined my buddy, and started swimming down the anchor line. At about 40' I started inflating to slow my descent....nothing happened, except I heard air escaping from the area of my shoulder dump valve! Kept trying all the way down, but the same sickening sound of a rush of air all the way to the bottom as I dropped like a rock.
I did grab the anchor line about 10' from the wreck and slow things up. Sat on the bottom, explained (showed) my buddy the problem. We decided I'd hang out on the bottom by the tie off while he went ahead and played around in about a 30' radius of me. It was just too much trouble for me to try to "swim" with my fins(but?)on the bottom.
After about 25 minutes (we were on 34%) I pulled myself up the line to the hang bar. Everyone else thought I was nuts
'cause they didn't know my problem. Since there was a fair surface current and most divers were hanging on the tag line
before exiting, I removed my weights and hung them on the hang bar at 15'....seemed better than trying to surface and wait for my turn to exit while drowning on the tag line with no bouyancy (I dive a little overweighted normally).
Found out that my inflator hose had split right at the connection to the shoulder dump valve. I use that dump a lot, and I guess all that yanking over the years just weakened the hose.
When I went to pick up another hose for repairs at the dive shop, they said inflator hoses get worn out regularly...sometimes the rubber dry rots, maybe just age and brittleness, etc. They replace inflator hoses on rental
equipment every 2-3 years. My BC is about 5 years old, so I guess I got plenty of use out of that old hose.
Just thought I'd let you know my experience. If you check out your hose, just flex it and look for little tiny cracks starting in the ridges. Easy to see if you know what you're looking for.
DSAO
called the Morgan off Virginia Beach in 105 fsw. Had a little air in my BC when I jumped in, deflated and dropped down to the hang bar, joined my buddy, and started swimming down the anchor line. At about 40' I started inflating to slow my descent....nothing happened, except I heard air escaping from the area of my shoulder dump valve! Kept trying all the way down, but the same sickening sound of a rush of air all the way to the bottom as I dropped like a rock.
I did grab the anchor line about 10' from the wreck and slow things up. Sat on the bottom, explained (showed) my buddy the problem. We decided I'd hang out on the bottom by the tie off while he went ahead and played around in about a 30' radius of me. It was just too much trouble for me to try to "swim" with my fins(but?)on the bottom.
After about 25 minutes (we were on 34%) I pulled myself up the line to the hang bar. Everyone else thought I was nuts
'cause they didn't know my problem. Since there was a fair surface current and most divers were hanging on the tag line
before exiting, I removed my weights and hung them on the hang bar at 15'....seemed better than trying to surface and wait for my turn to exit while drowning on the tag line with no bouyancy (I dive a little overweighted normally).
Found out that my inflator hose had split right at the connection to the shoulder dump valve. I use that dump a lot, and I guess all that yanking over the years just weakened the hose.
When I went to pick up another hose for repairs at the dive shop, they said inflator hoses get worn out regularly...sometimes the rubber dry rots, maybe just age and brittleness, etc. They replace inflator hoses on rental
equipment every 2-3 years. My BC is about 5 years old, so I guess I got plenty of use out of that old hose.
Just thought I'd let you know my experience. If you check out your hose, just flex it and look for little tiny cracks starting in the ridges. Easy to see if you know what you're looking for.
DSAO