Do You Service Your Own Regs?

[My-way]

As I said agreement is hard to reach.

Insurance coverage can be had in Australia for appropriate levels of indemnity.

Yes every one involved, is sued.

There is no mystery or magic to this because whilst as an employee you are entitled to be indemnified by your employer that is an arrangement between the employer and employee. That realtionship does not speak to the individual that is injuerd (employment injuries aside).

So in the case of customer being injured and a LDS (or charter etc.) is involved I would expect that every individual employee involved, the company and the company directors (where a small company where directors have that level of involvement in the day to day activities) would be named as defendants.

Btw nothing I have said is to say that corporate organisation is not appropriate. THe more people that seek professional advice about how to arrange their affairs both corporate and personal the better. It means more work for me.

I just don't think that sabre rattling will do it effectively.

I have managed to find someone to supply me all the parts I need for at least three different manufacturers that I need. It was not as convenient as going around the corner to my LDS. But hey, it has not taken long either.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I've now uncovered the letter I wrote the LDS in 1986 concerning their servicing of my regulator. This was the last time I had a LDS service my regulator. Here's a portion of the letter:

"A few weeks ago I brought my AIR I regulator...in for routine servicing. Several weeks later, when it was ready, I brought it home and tried it. It was breathing abnormally hard, so I took the stem out of the second stage and adjusted the spring tension with an allen wrench. A couple of days later, I noticed that the second stage diaphram cover looked loose, and so I tried tightening it by hand and it came off!...I cleaned it out, then decided to service the regulator myself as I have in the past for the U.S. Air Force. In doing so, I found a number of deviations from what I consider good practice in the servicing of regulators. These are listed below:

1. The left plug for the low pressure hose on the AIR I second stage was left capped. Some corrosion was still present.

2. The "O" rings on the hoses for the pressure guage, second stage, and BC hose showed wear and had not been replaced.

3. Dirt and sand had been left in the rubber counsole of the dupth guage.

4. A thick coating of silicone grease was found over the entire interior of the first stage...

5. The AIR I LP diaphram was dirty and had a very small hole in it...

6. The high ratio AIR I demand lever had approximately 1/2 inch play in it...

7. The high pressure guage swivel mechanism had not been opened. It had dirt and sand inside, next to the "O" ring.

"All in all, I spent the better part of an evening and the next day going through the first stage, learning about and cleaning the second stage, and servicing the pressure gauge."

I then asked that they "Immediately cease servicing scuba equipment until you have had the training to do the job correctly..."

I also wrote the manufacturer, and never heard back from either. I never took my regulators there again, and ceased buying equipment from them too. A few years later, they went out of business.

SeaRat

 

[Genesis]

in front of your life.

How nice - and typical.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Your post above is bordering on weird. I'm talking about a local dive shop who would take people's money, not do a good job at regulator repair, hand back a defective regulator that was about to cause a problem in the water, and the actions I took about it. It's not about spending money, it's about trusting my life to someone who neither know regulator repair nor cared much about it. I have been trained in regulator repair, by the US Navy School for Underwater Swimmers in Key West, FL in 1967 (probably before you were diving). So don't give me any garbage about money and life; this is about competance and incompetance.

SeaRat

 

[Genesis]

I'm agreeing with you John.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

'Sorry for the misinterpretation. How's Snorkeling under the Destin bridge? I did that in 1967, when I was stationed at Eglin.

SeaRat

 

[Genesis]

provided you do it at slack tide!

(Its only a 3+ knot current at other times!)

 

[John C. Ratliff]

We didn't quite hit the slack tide, but as I remember it we stayed behind the pilings to break the current, and snorkeled to the bottom in about 20 feet of water. Vis was so-so, at about 15 feet, so it wasn't a long snorkel swim, but it was getting wet. It was only later that we learned people fish for sharks there, or so they told us at the time.

I took my AIR I in to see what the price was to service it through the LDS, and because they are not a Scubapro dealer, they would have to send it out to a repair facility. Cost is about $60 plus parts. So, I got some "O" rings and will look at it myself. Yes, cost is a factor too.

SeaRat

 

[Genesis]

is off the Jetties.

On the east side you have a nice rock jetty that sticks out a good way and if you want you can get to close to 40' in depth. A decent variety of small tropicals and crabs are around; its a nice "get comfortable" dive.

Same deal on the tide though - do it at slack time, otherwise if you make the mistake on an inbound tide of getting a bit too far out you're going to be through the bridge before you can say "heh, what was that?!", and there is no place to hide on an outbound.

Best vis is found on an incoming tide at slack; I've seen as good as 40'. Catch it wrong and vis might be 10' or worse.

That, and the Miss Louise, are pretty much the only dives in "real" water that are within the mythical 60' "OW" limit (I don't count the bay cones as "real water", never mind that the vis there typically is horrible.) There are some decent reefs and wrecks within ~5 miles of the pass, but they're all in 80-100' of water...

I've had vis of 60' or better here in 110' at the Odyssey, and I've also seen "pea soup" where you're lucky to be able to make out your fins....

Oh yeah, anything reasonably close to shore (~5 miles or so) is bull shark territory. Haven't been molested yet but I've seen plenty of them. I usually spearfish but won't shoot if I see them down there before I start stringing things.

 

[jamiei]

Any guys out there have access to scuba pro service parts other than o-rings that you would like to sell privately? PM me