Failed BCD pressure relief valve

[TGreene]

Now, while hanging there, take your pack off an put it back on.

Pack no, but rack yes and many times! I've also had to anchor in and re-tie a slipped harness a couple of times.

The very first thing that came to my mind is something that has not been mentioned...

What about removing the BC and opening the valve to see if it's a simple matter of reseating the spring or pressure plate..?

If it is a broken spring, then I would imagine that a small object of some sort (rock) could be placed between the cap and the pressure plate to force it shut. Once you've regained the capability to adequately hold air, you can obviously vent in the normal manner.

-Tim

Keep in mind that I never once said anything about doing this on a 2nd dive, at 50' and weighted to #30 like the OP was... I was simply commenting in terms of potential solutions to keep from having to abort a dive.

While my perspective and opinion was/is coming from a n00b, I'm perfectly confident that I could do this "skill" if necessary, and just for fun I think I'll try it next time I have a 50' bottom. The issue is having the ability to solve problems under duress, which is where people either "sink or swim" to parden the expression.

Being a former WFR, we were taught to use whatever means is available to do whatever is necessary in whatever environment we happen to be in. Skiing, xc-skiing, hiking, biking, rafting, kayaking, climbing , etc all require different elements of "on-the-fly" repairs with little to nothing available to do it with, and common sense and logic would dictate that options will nearly always exist if you're creative enough to be looking for them.

-Tim

 

[Thalassamania]

Pack no, but rack yes and many times! I've also had to anchor in and re-tie a slipped harness a couple of times.

Anchoring in first is cheating.

 

[scubafanatic]

OP, I don't think you should leave decisions about proper weighting entirely to your instructor.

Here is one approach you might use to get an initial idea about the weight you should be wearing. (This approach was taught to me by my OW instructor in '86; he had taught this approach since the mid 1960's, and he still teaches this approach today.) Of course, it depends on your using a "reasonable" cylinder (e.g., steel 72), a "reasonable" BC (one that is approx neutrally buoyant when completely empty) and a full 2-piece 1/4-in wet suit (with boots, hood, and gloves/mitts) made of a better quality neoprene (i.e., small bubbles).

Dress in your complete gear, with your tank completely full, but with your BC completely empty and no air trapped anywhere in your full wet suit. Wear a weight belt. Breathing through your snorkel, take a deep breath, and hold it. Relax. Don't fin. Be heads up, fins down in water only deep enough to permit this. OK. You should be floating at eye level. When you exhale, you should slowly sink beneath the surface. Someone should be assisting you when you're figuring out your proper weight; that person can hand you weights or take weights from you as required. When you've got your weight figured out, put all (or nearly all) of your lead on a weight belt. That's all there is to it.

One of the open water skills we were required to do was called the Three Mile Swim. Weighted as above (with a completely full tank and a completely empty BC), we would have to surface kick, in the prone position, a distance of three miles while breathing through our snorkels and towing a substantial dive float with flag--through wind-driven waves, boat wakes, currents, etc. Actually, we had to surface kick 1 1/2 miles one-way, complete some surface skills (e.g., weight belt removal/replacement), and then surface kick the 1 1/2 miles back while doing other skills (e.g., buddy tow). One of the things this skill is meant to reinforce is that with proper equipment and weighting, you really shouldn't have to be overly concerned about a BC failure, for you can always swim yourself up from recreational training limit depths to the surface even with a failed BC (since your "reasonable" tank and BC can never be too negatively buoyant), and, once on the surface, you can always surface kick back from a considerable distance--all this without having ditched anything! (And you can always use your surface float, if you need to, to stop and rest.)

I hope this helps.

CAVEAT: I am NOT a scuba instructor.

...so let's review.......back in 1986, your OW training included a 3-mile-swim...including a 1 1/2 mile buddy-tow.......while, guess what T.V. series had just begun in 09/1985 ? ...wait for it....... MAC GYVER .....I see a pattern here !

 

[scubafanatic]

The very first thing that came to my mind is something that has not been mentioned...

What about removing the BC and opening the valve to see if it's a simple matter of reseating the spring or pressure plate..?

If it is a broken spring, then I would imagine that a small object of some sort (rock) could be placed between the cap and the pressure plate to force it shut. Once you've regained the capability to adequately hold air, you can obviously vent in the normal manner.

-Tim

....getting into MAC GYVER 'mode' I'd have disassembled the reg 1st-stage, removed the 1st-stage main spring and swapped it out for the defective spring in the OPV...and voila...go to go!

 

[jeckyll]

To the OP: First, great job on solving a problem, the best way you knew how, while underwater and not panicking.

Second, it sounded from one of your posts like you had weight in "bunches" i.e. some integrated, some separate. Could you have removed a small amount of weight and then tried to swim up? I think that's what I would have done in this situation.

And yes, I would have dropped the rest of the weight at the surface, without a doubt. Surfacing and establishing positive buoyancy are high on my list of "things to do to end a dive"

Again, good job on keeping it together, sounds like you'll make a fine diver.

 

[Thalassamania]

Swiss Army knives are not DIR so we'll have to jump off that bridge when we get to it.

 

[TGreene]

Anchoring in first is cheating.

I was once accused of cheating a move on a 13b on Devils Tower when I dropped my body horizontally with both hands on one side of the flute, and both feet on the other since there was no way in hell I could get enough leverage with my limited wing span... It was also probably a 14a move just to get back vertical, so my buddies didn't deduct too many "style points" since they had never seen anything quite like it done before!

My point is that often we face difficult situations which either require expedient problem solving measures, or aborting.

-Tim

 

[Thalassamania]

I'm not disagreeing in theory, just in practice because your suggestion has too many potentialy bad consequences if you take a failure mode analysis glance at it.

 

[TGreene]

I'm not disagreeing in theory, just in practice because your suggestion has too many potentialy bad consequences if you take a failure mode analysis glance at it.

Ehhh, if you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space!

-Tim

 

[Ayisha]

Only slightly less ludicrous is the idea of removing the BC, turning it upside down, and hugging it. There's no way a brand new student could be expected to have that kind of understanding of the details of the BC function. I think the BC in question was weight integrated loaded with 30 lbs, which means guess what happens as soon as you take it off? And this is a student who is on his 2nd dive ever.....

I couldn't agree more. In fact, a student who understands their BC function and could remove it and fix it at depth should also know to not overweight themselves in the first place let alone overweight themselves even beyond the lift capacity of their BC. Being correctly weighted would have made this a non-issue in the first place since the diver could swim up without the BC holding air. It would be an exceptional new diver who could do that manouvre even without the added danger of doing this with a full 7 mm or 2-piece 7 mm wetsuit. Without a weight belt, they are putting themselves at extreme risk of an unnecessary rapid buoyant ascent if they happen to lose contact with the BC at opposing forces.

The OP seemed to handle the situation well in the circumstances and has probably become much more aware of all the relevant factors in this incident, such as severe overweighting, BC lift capacity, BC failure, buddy contact, instructor negligence and overly deep second certification dive. Kudos to him for being receptive to all the suggestions offered and analysing them.

There are much safer, easier alternatives to that McGyver move, as have already been mentioned. Why take the riskiest move when safer alternatives are available?