Cozumel equipment failure

[ianr33]

So, what are the lessons learned?

Errr...................

1)Overhead environments with a single,rented,tank are a bad idea.

2)Long hose and bungeed backup just makes sense.

Such radical concepts!

 

[*dave*]

I would suggest that very few people are going to have the opportunity (or take the time) to turn their tank upside down and check it on a dive boat crowded with people on the way to a dive site. Particularly if you happen to be bouncing across the waves on the way to the dive site!... And, I think the boat crew would seriously frown upon having unsecured tanks at this stage of the ride. It has been my experience that most folks are hurrying to get their equipment rigged prior to arrival at the dive site while still keeping it secured in the tank holder.

And chances are you may very well not hear the dip tube rattle around during the dive. Even if you did you might not realize at depth what that "unusual sound" was that you thought you heard.

All true, but if you are trusting someone else regarding the contents and purity of the gas you'll be breathing, is that really assuming personal responsibility for your safety on any level?

If my gas supply is suspect, I'll make the opportunity to inspect the valve orifice, smell the gas or even strip it from the rack and turn it upside down to check for water. Now, I've never had need to upend a tank, but I certainly would.

As for the long house, this is the method that has long been promoted by the DIR/Hogarthian dive crowd. I have been diving this configuration for several years and though I have never had to actually donate my primary (long hose) regulator to an OOA diver, I do indeed feel it is a far safer and more effective way to handle these situations. This is a technique that should not require any additional "instruction" outside of reviewing how to route the hose around your body to keep it streamlined and yet readily accessible.

"Give them a long hose and they'll be much safer". This is what I'm hearing, but 60% of the divers I see on vacation shouldn't be diving and it wouldn't matter how long a hose you gave them.

How many divers experience an OOA incident at 130', while in a restriction? No doubt, a LH will help facilitate the egress, but if the donor and the recipient don't have the minimum level of competence, which only comes through experience and usually training, they stand a pretty high chance of making a mess of things.

For the other 99.999% of the time divers spend immersed, training and experience will trump gear selection or configuration every time.

What happens when the donor's tank plugs because of the same contamination that resulted in the initial OOA? The answer in this scenario is not a long hose, it's knowing what you're breathing.

 

[farsidefan1]

In lieu of testing the tank in the bouncing boat wouldn't it work to just turn head down as you begin your decent? I usuallly do this to get down the first 15 feet or so anyway. An OOA at 5 feet is pretty manageable. You could still switch tanks and join the group - although if there was such a problem I doubt I would continue diving with that operator and certaily I would not trust the second tank they gave me. It would end my dive day.

 

[DandyDon]

In lieu of testing the tank in the bouncing boat wouldn't it work to just turn head down as you begin your decent? I usuallly do this to get down the first 15 feet or so anyway. An OOA at 5 feet is pretty manageable. You could still switch tanks and join the group - although if there was such a problem I doubt I would continue diving with that operator and certaily I would not trust the second tank they gave me. It would end my dive day.

That was my thot. Easier than turning a tank upside down on a boat and survivable.

This could happen anywhere tho. How to prevent or test? Do we need to breath the reg upside down at shallow depth first just in case?

 

[flots am]

So, what are the lessons learned?

Don't do overhead dives without overhead training and appropriate equipment?

And for those following my prior rant, this is Yet Another A&I entry that wouldn't exist if people followed their training recommendations.

flots.

 

[boulderjohn]

Don't do overhead dives without overhead training and appropriate equipment?

And for those following my prior rant, this is Yet Another A&I entry that wouldn't exist if people followed their training recommendations.

flots.

And there would be no unwanted pregnancies if people only had sex when they were trying to have a baby.

Many thousands of people dive the swim throughs of Cozumel and elsewhere throughout the world every year without incident. Some are only a couple of feet long. Some are longer. They are extremely popular attractions. Do you really think the solution is to tell everyone to just say no?

 

[buckeye_jeff]

The bad tank risk could happen anywhere tho, water, CO, etc. The lack of the dip tube goes back on whoever did the last Viz and that could be traced, but that doesn't help much.

That's assuming the tanks were ever inspected. By the amount of corrosion between the neck and the valve, a lot of the tanks I've seen on Cozumel have never had their valves removed ever.

 

[Scott]

In lieu of testing the tank in the bouncing boat wouldn't it work to just turn head down as you begin your decent? I usuallly do this to get down the first 15 feet or so anyway. An OOA at 5 feet is pretty manageable. You could still switch tanks and join the group - although if there was such a problem I doubt I would continue diving with that operator and certaily I would not trust the second tank they gave me. It would end my dive day.

In reality you won't be at 5' when you go OOA unless you stay there and 'test' the tank.
Many divers could easily be at 50'+ when those 6 or 7 breaths off of the hose run out, even deeper if you're using a 7' hose.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

Another good reason to stop at 10 feet to regroup with your buddy. If you wait to 50 or 100 feet to look around OOAs are going to be harder to manage.

 

[scubafanatic]

...all my recreational regs use Apex Egress 'flat' octos on 4' Miflex hoses, that way, since the octos work upside down as well as right side up, they don't have to be the 'traditional' 5 or 7' 'techie' long hose lengths....and they are sufficiently long enough for 2 divers to traverse a restriction/swimthrough single-file, without the extra bulk/complexity of the 'traditional' long hose.