Bill Toler
New
Hello,
I'm new to diving and encountered a BCD failure that quickly became an emergency.
I had my brand new BCD modified by a dive shop. They changed the hose out to make it longer for me given my height. I lightly inflated the BCD before jumping in from a boat and was positively buoyant in the water for a few minutes. I noticed that I was quickly becoming negatively buoyant and began struggling to stay near the surface. I was pressing the inflator button and nothing was happening. I wasn't sure what was going on but was getting exhausted kicking my flippers to stay near the surface. I then looked down to see what was below me if I sank and then saw that the hose had separated from the inflator section and seawater was pouring into the BCD. I was able to get the attention of my Instructor before sinking and he and I both began working to unstrap the BCD from my body. We got it off and it quickly sank to the bottom. The Instructor towed my back to the boat.
The dive boat operator rescued my rig from the bottom and examined it. He noticed that the 2 clips that securely hold the hose and inflator together was missing and he'd never seen that before. It's likely that connection was only hand tightened by the repair shop and he commented that without those clips it was going to fail at some point soon. He also said that it is virtually impossible for those clips to come off in the water if attached correctly
Questions (1) has anybody seen this before? (2) best guess on how much water a BCD would hold if full of water? (3) can a BCD become permanently damaged when filled with water?
I'm new to diving and encountered a BCD failure that quickly became an emergency.
I had my brand new BCD modified by a dive shop. They changed the hose out to make it longer for me given my height. I lightly inflated the BCD before jumping in from a boat and was positively buoyant in the water for a few minutes. I noticed that I was quickly becoming negatively buoyant and began struggling to stay near the surface. I was pressing the inflator button and nothing was happening. I wasn't sure what was going on but was getting exhausted kicking my flippers to stay near the surface. I then looked down to see what was below me if I sank and then saw that the hose had separated from the inflator section and seawater was pouring into the BCD. I was able to get the attention of my Instructor before sinking and he and I both began working to unstrap the BCD from my body. We got it off and it quickly sank to the bottom. The Instructor towed my back to the boat.
The dive boat operator rescued my rig from the bottom and examined it. He noticed that the 2 clips that securely hold the hose and inflator together was missing and he'd never seen that before. It's likely that connection was only hand tightened by the repair shop and he commented that without those clips it was going to fail at some point soon. He also said that it is virtually impossible for those clips to come off in the water if attached correctly
Questions (1) has anybody seen this before? (2) best guess on how much water a BCD would hold if full of water? (3) can a BCD become permanently damaged when filled with water?