Diving with Murphey - aka How I learned sidemount during a dive.

[SeanQ]

Now that I am safely at home with a cup of coffee, I can reflect upon the dive I had today. It was a beautiful clear day after a week of clouds and light rain. I had just gotten my BP/W a few days before and was eager to try it on outside my living room.


The first indication that something was going to happen was The Voice this morning that said to me "this dive can wait." I've heard the voice before yet have had dives go off without hitch. Nevertheless, I packed up my gear and drove to an LDS where I needed to rent a regulator and tank.

I picked up the regs and tank and headed back to home because I had forgotten to take a towel. If The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has taught me one thing it must have been "never go diving without a towel." I grabbed a towel and was ready to hop back into the car when The Voice started to nag at me. I suddenly had a feeling and decided to check to make sure the regulator was working before driving to the dive site. Lucky thing that I did check because no sooner then I had pressurized the regs and tested the LP inflator when I heard a loud "pop" followed by a steady hiss. The HP hose must have been loose because it was not sealing to the first stage.

"Aha" I thought, "that's what the voice ment". After fixing the hose I headed for the dive site with a clear conscience. Little did I know, Murphey had a few more tricks to play.


(continued in next post)

 

[SeanQ]

I arrived at the dive site and began to set up my gear when I realized that I had forgotten to properly thread the cam bands. After threading the buckles, figuring out how high to mount the tank and apoligising to my buddies for the delay I slipped into the rig. Perhaps it was the surprising comfort of a BP/W; The Voice seemed like a distant memory. As I splashed into the water and began comfortably floating on my back I didn't have the slightest idea of the mishap that would soon follow.

The dive inself was great. I was comfortable in my BP/W but noticed that I would need to make an STA weight to transfer more weight forwards. I saw several large lingcod including one HUGE lingcod that was well over a metre in length. As I swam closer towards it another large lingcod swam out from under a dark overhang and passed by my right. I turned to look at it and then saw a third lingcod cruising past, following the trail of some other divers; hoping for a light snack, I bet.

After about 30 minutes I noticed a slight wobble that was beginning to develop from my tank. Assuming that I hadn't tightened the top cam band enough, I got my buddies attention and gestured at my tank and showed them how it wobbled. They came over to look but couldn't see any obvious problem. I shrugged and the suggested we move shallower and continue the dive.

After a few more minutes I noticed the wobble was beginning to worsen. My reg hose suddenly started to pull back so I tried to feel for any entanglements. The dive site is a popular fishing site as well so I thought it might be a fishing line. I reached back with my right hand but, to my surprise, the tank valve was not there. I grabbed the reg hose and followed it back... to my left shoulder. After pushing the tank back into place I made the mistake of rolling to the side to signal. Suddenly, the tank lurched to the side and I felt another yank on my reg hose. My buddy swam over to see why I was rolling around. I pointed to my tank again and my buddy looked back at me, wide-eyed. It was time to end the dive - pronto. I went to grab my inflator so I could dump air on the ascent but, it was not there. I looked over and saw the inflator dangling near my hip and suddenly realized what was happening. The name "wing" had become all the more accurate as the wing had turned nearly 90 degrees making me resemble some sort of underwater airplane. I began to ascend, carefully dumping air on the way up.

Fortunatly the exit point was a very short swim away. Noticing I was ok, my buddy laughed and said "your tank is sideways!" I took off my BP/W and set it on a rock on the shore. The top wing nut, along with the washer were gone. The STA, tank and wing were free to spin around the remaining bolt on the bottom of the plate. If the bottom wing nut came off I might not have even noticed. The top wing nut, however, made things a lot worse.

I'm still trying to figure out how Murphey managed to unscrew that nut without me noticing. Does this mean I'm ready to start diving sidemount? At least nobody has started calling me "wingnut" yet...

 

[Firebrand]

Glad you escaped unharmed. Maybe a course in DIR can help you resolve the issues around a PB/W configuration. (I'm not DIR, but I'm considering it if I can find the time & money).

 

[FreeFloat]

Myself, I use a Pioneer 36 single-tank wing without a STA. The camband themselves thread right through both the wing and the plate. I have actually dived the gear a number of times without the bolts/wingnuts at all (the wing and plate wobble a bit until you get them cinched to a tank however)

That said, the wingnuts will always work themselves loose over time. This happens to me both with the single tank setup as well as my doubles. I've just gotten into the habit of snugging them down before hitting the water each time.

I think I saw a thread on another board one time about some Delrin wingnut replacements that someone was creating.......these were supposed to have better "staying power".

All in all, I'm glad no one got hurt....... good job on ending the dive safely.

P.S. Always listen to the "voice".............. :11:

 

[SeanQ]

I picked up some lock washers and nylok (?) nuts on the way home from the dive to replace the flat washers and the missing wing nut. I went out on another dive yesterday and didn't notice any problems. Should I switch over to nylok nuts or will wing nuts and lock washers suffice?

I'm going to practise taking my BP/W off underwater during my next dive. I suspect I will be checking the bolts before every dive for a long time; however, if the problem happens again I will be prepared to fix it without having to end the dive.

Firebrand: I plan on continuing my education with GUE. As a student, I'm putting my rig together piece by piece. I'm guessing that I will have a complete open water singles rig by the end of next year. Once that is finished I will start looking at DIR-F course dates.

 

[Curt Bowen]

Your close to sidemount, maybe just a little more trim and stream lining

 

[Ben_ca]

I've been diving my BP&W since Nov 03 and haven't had that happen to me so far (knock on wood) I snug up the wingnuts before each dive as part of my gear prep.... Some people I know have used locktite.... YMMV

 

[Wijbrandus]

I don't use loktite, seems to me that would almost guarantee you'd have to take it all apart for some reason in the immediate future (after it sets).

I do however take a screwdriver and tighten all my screws and wingnuts before a day's dive. As part of my take-down, I check and make sure they are all still there, and still secure.

My first dive on the bp/w I lost two screws from the MC pack, and a wingnut was half off. I didn't know to check them. I sure as hell know now.

 

[Taipeidiver]

Should I switch over to nylok nuts or will wing nuts and lock washers suffice?

I'm glad everything was okay for you and that you can laugh about it now.

I use spring washers and make sure the wingnuts are tight before every dive. I have had no problems so far (fingers crossed).

Please allow me to be the first person to call you Wingnut, Wingnut :1poke:

 

[FFMDiver]

good post!