Aqualung Rogue BCD Review -- Major Issue

[Rick Brant]

The Rogue weight pockets -are- the Surelock system. I also read that review on LeisurePro -- I don't see how a weight pocket could pop out unless it was not fully seated.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Lugnut and I have slightly different issues, so I'll again describe mine. The waist belt I have is the optional waist belt that includes weight pockets. With this waist belt the weights are in a somewhat "traditional" location for ditchable weights -- horizontal in the waist belt when standing. The weight pockets are very secure and are not the issue. The waist belt halves each attach with one socket (with locking tab), to the BCD body. My issue is that, when putting on or removing the entire BCD -- generally out of the water -- one of those socket/snaps will pop open and the waist belt half will fall completely off. The waist belt half and the weight pocket it contains will fall off.

I understand now what your issue is based on the photos and your description, thank you.
I think the whole design is flawed. They pushed out a product that was not thoroughly tested and has a pretty serious failure point.
You could remedy this with some DIY if you wanted to.
I’m too lazy to read back to see if the BC is still under warranty, but doing what I suggest would definitely void any warranty.
I would either drill holes through the clips when they are attached, drill right through both sides and bolt the sucker together with some stainless bolts with big fender washers and use lock tight or smash out the threads on the end of the bolts so it won’t unthread past the mushroomed out end. This would be a permanent solution.
The other way to do it to make it removable would be to find a stainless hinge. You would attach each hinge side to the connection points on both the BC and the strap side, then you would remove the hinge pin and replace it with a long thin stainless bolt that would run through and become the hinge pin. Put a nut on the end with a little lock tight and run it. That would be the removable option. But once you do this you married the BC and you may as well just dive it till it dies.
I don’t know how in love you are with the unit but this would fix it.

 

[Rick Brant]

I have a couple of fixes I'm considering. The easy one I already mentioned, simply using a weight belt. That might not be a bad approach as I often pull the weights when entering or exiting. With a weight belt the whole weight drop on land thing gets way easier.

Two other things I'm considering are to simply use some epoxy to glue the two junctions together. I think the right glue would readily bond the joints and I would know quickly if a joint ever failed, as the belt would start to rotate. The other thing I am considering is putting a small square of rubber under the depressible latch / tongue. I think that latch is somehow getting depressed when torque from the weight pockets causes the waist belt to twist. If it was harder for it to depress, it would be harder for things to fall apart.

The bolt option sounds too invasive to me, but I'll take a look. The bolt does not actually have to support the weight of the belt, it just needs to keep everything aligned during any brief periods where the snap is open.

I do plan to keep the BCD since this is not an underwater issue. It's by far the most comfortable BCD I have used and it is very easy to transport. I wish the snaps were "snap once, never open" though as there are no circumstances where I would undo the snaps.

 

[Gachnar]

I understand now what your issue is based on the photos and your description, thank you.
I think the whole design is flawed. They pushed out a product that was not thoroughly tested and has a pretty serious failure point.
You could remedy this with some DIY if you wanted to.
I’m too lazy to read back to see if the BC is still under warranty, but doing what I suggest would definitely void any warranty.
I would either drill holes through the clips when they are attached, drill right through both sides and bolt the sucker together with some stainless bolts with big fender washers and use lock tight or smash out the threads on the end of the bolts so it won’t unthread past the mushroomed out end. This would be a permanent solution.
The other way to do it to make it removable would be to find a stainless hinge. You would attach each hinge side to the connection points on both the BC and the strap side, then you would remove the hinge pin and replace it with a long thin stainless bolt that would run through and become the hinge pin. Put a nut on the end with a little lock tight and run it. That would be the removable option. But once you do this you married the BC and you may as well just dive it till it dies.
I don’t know how in love you are with the unit but this would fix it.

Stainless rivets came to mind as well, but that’s a very permanent solution. Sewing on some nylon buckles might be a lightweight solution that keeps things removable. I’ve added snaps, rivets, etc to pretty much every bcd.

The Rogue weight pockets -are- the Surelock system. I also read that review on LeisurePro -- I don't see how a weight pocket could pop out unless it was not fully seated.

the pic shows a complete failure of the retaining tab that the pocket that holds the surelock pocket attaches to. The surelock system didn’t fail, the point it attaches to the bcd did, so the weakest link in the chain seems to be those little plastic retainers on the keyhole attach points.
If I owned the bcd and otherwise liked it, I’d likely fashion some webbing and nylon clips as a backup for the weight pockets and belt.

 

[Nemrod]

Are not these the same as on the Zuma? My wife used her Zuma for about five years with no issues. And it is still good for another five years, I moved her to a BP/wing finally .

These are all warm water BCs intended for aluminum 80s and minimal carried weight? If being used for temperate water diving with 5mm plus full suits and heavy chunks of lead to compensate for the rubber blubber failure is almost to be expected.

We did do the recall on hers. I have been thinking to liberate the Zuma wing from it's harness and install it on an Oxy UL plate. I did a dry run and it fits (me) and is super light, like under 3 pounds for an entire, fuctional wing/BP system and it looks cool as if it were meant to be!

James

 

[Rick Brant]

OK I took a close look at how I might fix this, and I think I see now exactly what is going on. There is a cutout in the male half of the connector, and if that cutout catches on the edge of the female half, it can lever itself out. The video below shows this happening. In the video I am applying very little torque, much less than would be applied with the 5-8lbs of weight I generally use. You do have to flex it just so, but that is probably why this only happens once in a while -- it only get positioned just so once in a while. I'm thinking now that simply taking the sharp edge off of the male cutout/notch might do the trick.

imgur.com

 

[jeffsky29]

I have a couple of fixes I'm considering. The easy one I already mentioned, simply using a weight belt. That might not be a bad approach as I often pull the weights when entering or exiting. With a weight belt the whole weight drop on land thing gets way easier.

Two other things I'm considering are to simply use some epoxy to glue the two junctions together. I think the right glue would readily bond the joints and I would know quickly if a joint ever failed, as the belt would start to rotate. The other thing I am considering is putting a small square of rubber under the depressible latch / tongue. I think that latch is somehow getting depressed when torque from the weight pockets causes the waist belt to twist. If it was harder for it to depress, it would be harder for things to fall apart.

The bolt option sounds too invasive to me, but I'll take a look. The bolt does not actually have to support the weight of the belt, it just needs to keep everything aligned during any brief periods where the snap is open.

I do plan to keep the BCD since this is not an underwater issue. It's by far the most comfortable BCD I have used and it is very easy to transport. I wish the snaps were "snap once, never open" though as there are no circumstances where I would undo the snaps.

Before you do anything, call Aqua Lung to see what they say. If they do nothing, you know to never buy their products again. I am hoping they will make this right for you. Especially since I really like this product!

 

[Rick Brant]

I have not tried calling them but have had multiple e-mail exchanges. I first alerted them in December. I last heard from them in March, they said the Product Manager would be in touch. I contacted them again in July for an update but did not get a response.

 

[jeffsky29]

Not a good example of customer service. Very disappointing!

 

[Outbound]

This is my Outlaw setup. Should clear up any confusion. There is only 1 “double socket” per side on the outlaw. So you either choose the trim pocket accessory (limited to 2lbs per pocket) or the Surelock2 pocket accessory (I run 5lbs per side since I don’t use a wetsuit).

I just want to clarify that the trim pockets have a capacity of 5 lbs each.