Leaky ScubaPro BCs and Search Engine

[JamesBon92007]

Hi Everyone,

I have a couple of old ScubaPro BCs, one is an orange vest-type and the other is a wing. Neither will hold air for very long. I located a leak along the seam of the orange vest and applied some black silicone to the outside which turned out to be a very neat-looking repair which almost completely stopped the leak. The wing is a bit more difficult because it seems to have multiple leaks along the seams. Is there a product such as Green Slime, liquid latex, or silicone sealant that I can use safely? It's unlikely that I would ever actually attempt to breathe from a BC but ya never know. Neither BC has a replacable bladder.

Is there a way to do a search on the web site so that it will only search DIY?

Thanks.

James

 

[diversteve]

From the sub-forum thread listing use the Search Forum drop down in the blue menu bar.

 

[redacted]

I use neoprene cement or Aquaseal (the cement remains a bit flexible) for small leaks. The real problem is the interior waterproof coating will eventually break down and it starts to look more like a screen door than an air bladder. The silicone repair may not last. Good luck.

 

[Wolfie]

First, there is so much bacteria inside a bc that you shouldn't take a breath off it.
Just a thought for anyone with and old stab jacket they are about to throw away.(I already threw mine out). West marine has a liquid sealer for inflatable boats. You dump it in and swish it around coating the interior surface. Wonder if that would work?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Seam leaks were the death of many of the old Stabilizing Jackets and Buoyancy Control Packs (wings). The mid 70's to mid 80's orange jackets and wings (with black or blue tape) and the orange and black wings (blue tape) were constructed of heavy nylon fabric with neoprene calendared on the inside surface of the cloth. This was done on the roll and it's pretty much permanent. The later (mid to late 80s) double blue and double black stab jackets had a another neoprene layer calendared on the other side of the nylon, so it became a neoprene/nylon/neoprene trilam material and was even more durable.

The problem with all of them however was the seams. They were double taped inside and out, but over time (at least a decade and more usually two decades) the seams would develop leaks. This was especially common on the front edge seam of the stab jackets where the cloth tape made a fairly sharp bend from one side of the bladder to the other.

My preferred technique was to use Aquaseal in a syringe with a long plastic tube to apply the glue to the inside of the seam working through the inflator and OPV holes on each side of the jacket. It left a very durable layer of Aquaseal on the inside of the jacket where the repair was not visible.

Wing repairs can be made the same way, working through the OPV and inflator holes to get at the seams on each side of the wing.

In either case, the only real caution that is needed is to ensure you keep the bladder separated and don't glue one side to the other. You can use a short piece of blue styrofoam or something similar that will fit through the hole to hold the bladder apart while you glue a section of seam. I generally recommend doing about a 1 foot section at a time to keep any mess to a minimum.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Seam leaks were the death of many of the old Stabilizing Jackets and Buoyancy Control Packs (wings). The mid 70's to mid 80's orange jackets and wings (with black or blue tape) and the orange and black wings (blue tape) were constructed of heavy nylon fabric with neoprene calendared on the inside surface of the cloth. This was done on the roll and it's pretty much permanent. The later (mid to late 80s) double blue and double black stab jackets had a another neoprene layer calendared on the other side of the nylon, so it became a neoprene/nylon/neoprene trilam material and was even more durable.

The problem with all of them however was the seams. They were double taped inside and out, but over time (at least a decade and more usually two decades) the seams would develop leaks. This was especially common on the front edge seam of the stab jackets where the cloth tape made a fairly sharp bend from one side of the bladder to the other.

My preferred technique was to use Aquaseal in a syringe with a long plastic tube to apply the glue to the inside of the seam working through the inflator and OPV holes on each side of the jacket. It left a very durable layer of Aquaseal on the inside of the jacket where the repair was not visible.

Wing repairs can be made the same way, working through the OPV and inflator holes to get at the seams on each side of the wing.

In either case, the only real caution that is needed is to ensure you keep the bladder separated and don't glue one side to the other. You can use a short piece of blue styrofoam or something similar that will fit through the hole to hold the bladder apart while you glue a section of seam. I generally recommend doing about a 1 foot section at a time to keep any mess to a minimum.

I've also thrown out several old stab jackets. i would use aquaseal on the outside, but eventually it became obvious that i was trying to repair a seam rather than a leak. I would just throw the thing out at this point. I personally think it is ridiculous (and dangerous really) to go to this level of effort to repair a seam on a BC. What if it just blows out completely when you really need it?

I have no problem patching small punctures in BC's, primarily because a failure of the repair will be an annoying small fizzing leak. Large scale remediation of BC seams is different. You can buy another used SP BC that is only 5-8 or 10 years old for maybe $150 or less, why screw with something that it over 25 yrs old and is well past it's (safe) service life?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I'd generally agree with this logic, except normally the calendared fabric itself on the old Scubapro stab jackets is sound, as is the structural integrity of the seam tapes - the seam tape just leaks, and that's in the range of the fixable.

That said, I have not bothered to fix one in at least 10 years, so it's something a diver has to have a solid reason to do.

 

[redacted]

I've also thrown out several old stab jackets. i would use aquaseal on the outside, but eventually it became obvious that i was trying to repair a seam rather than a leak. I would just throw the thing out at this point. I personally think it is ridiculous (and dangerous really) to go to this level of effort to repair a seam on a BC. What if it just blows out completely when you really need it?

I have no problem patching small punctures in BC's, primarily because a failure of the repair will be an annoying small fizzing leak. Large scale remediation of BC seams is different. You can buy another used SP BC that is only 5-8 or 10 years old for maybe $150 or less, why screw with something that it over 25 yrs old and is well past it's (safe) service life?

I can't think of a situation where I ever really needed my BCD. Granted, I am a WWW (warm water wuss), but I have done a week in Bonaire with duct tape cover the hole where my reardump valve should has been.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Thanks for the replies! The wet suit glue sounds good to me. Now, if I can just find my syringes...perhaps they are with my Ink Jet refill kit....

The wing has blue seams, just like you (DA Aquamaster) said. The orange vest BC has black tape, of course (I used black silicone).

I have had good results using Green Slime on tires but it does ooze out a bit sometimes. Once I bought some bicycle inner tubes that were pre-filled with the Slime and had a terrible time letting the air out because the tire wasn't situated on the rim correctly. No more flats though.


When I was certified in 1969 it was suggested that the inflatable vest could be used as a sort of rebreather while making a free ascent. Things being as they are I never had occasion to need it or try it. Heck, I never even had a vest until the late 80s.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

When I was certified in 1969 it was suggested that the inflatable vest could be used as a sort of rebreather while making a free ascent. Things being as they are I never had occasion to need it or try it. Heck, I never even had a vest until the late 80s.

"Bag breathing" was still discussed when I got certified in 1985 and as i recall you could buy a BC sanitizer/rinse to reduce the risk of a lung infection if you did that. But most people I knew you considered that to be an option just used Listerine as a rinse every now and then.