Help - my wing gets soft!

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dcahill129

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Messages
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Location
New Hampshire
# of dives
50 - 99
Ok, I took the chance on ebay and picked up a used 30lb single tank wing. As soon as I reciepted it I did an inflation test and quickily realized that after 45 to 60 minutes the wing started to get soft. I have swapped out the dump valve and inflator assemble from a wing that holds air perfectly and after 45 minutes it lost its hard fill. So, I think the issue is in the wing itself. Now I am not sure if this is a significant issue or if it can be corrected - opinions please? Is it safe to dive a wing in this condition?
 
Stick it in the tub and see where the bubbles come out (and how fast)

BC's are usually pretty easy to fix.
 
Could be worse. If it stayed hard for over 4 hours, you would have to take it in and get it serviced.

Should be OK to dive it but that is the kind of problem that won't fix itself. Give it a bath and find the leak. Aquaseal usually does a good patch job on the material if that is the problem.
 
Take off the dump valve and pop a viagra or two in there and see what happens.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Stick it in the tub and see where the bubbles come out (and how fast)

BC's are usually pretty easy to fix.

Careful. That's LIFE SUPPORT equipment you're talking about there!
 
How long are most of your dives?

Scratch that, how long is it usually before you change your position in the water column and need to add or release air to adjust your bouyancy, or use up enough air to cause you to need to adjust your bouyancy?

As long as it's less than 45 minutes, you should be fine diving it as is :)


It's still a good idea to try and find the leak and patch it, but if it's just barely leaking (going from hard to slightly soft) over a period of 45 minutes, it's probably not life threatening.
 
A part or your potential life support system is faulty I wouldnt recommend using it regardless of how long it takes to deflate as at this stage you how no idea why and what may make it worse, Im assuming youve got more than 24 hours to live so no need to go diving right now eh take it into a shop and get it checked out/fixed properly. But as others have said its more than likely able to be fixed. Goodluck...
 
As stated earlier, pop it into a tub and see where the bubbles come from. If its a pinhole in the bladder, nothing a spot of aquaseal can't fix. You mentioned swapping hoses earlier. Sometimes, changing inflator hoses or OPVs are the culprit. The rubber of the OPVs develop a seating groove which can leak if repositioned in the wrong way. Check if they're repositioned properly.
When all else fails, I think i could survive with a leak that small within recreational depths and condirions.
when in doubt, consult your doctor... Maybe its a sign of an aging wing... :D
 
Seriously, there are some types of damage that I wouldn't try to fix. Leaks caused by seams failing, and punctures larger than pinholes are repairs that would make me nervous. I'm not an expert on BCD repair, and there may be ways to safely repair these types of damage, but I know that whenever we had a seam come apart on a Zeagle, they told us to send it back because the bladder would have to be replaced, and that one time I had to recover the bodies of a guy and his girlfriend, (not diving from my boat) and when I tried to inflate his bcd, air just poured out from a big blob of aquaseal on the shoulder. They were entangled and I believe that the bcd failure was the first in a series of problems that killed both of them.

I realize that the OP is talking about a very slow leak here, and my remarks aren't really directed at him or her as much as towards someone who is reading this, that might be contemplating repairing a serious hole in the bladder themselves.

That being said, I think it is definitely worthwhile to dunk it and look for the source of the leak, as others have suggested, because the vast majority of the leaks I've seen come from the salt in one of the dump valves, loosely assembled dump valves, a perforated corrugated hose, or a missing o-ring or gasket. Any of this stuff is easy to fix yourself.

I'm sorry for the viagra remark, which obviously is not a viable solution because of the drag that it would create.
 

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