1011ster
Registered
Hi again board, long time since my last log in, fell a little behind in my dives (thanks to work!), time to get wet again.
Soooooo, I dust off my Dragon (been sleeping for almost a year...), and decide what better than to take my 16 year old daughter for her first intro dive with my favorite diving center! She did great and loved it, during the skills with her instructor I was hovering at the surface around them, and then the time came for the 3 of us to do a little diving around, so she could really see what scuba is all about! We had decided on a max depth of 10 meters (beach dive), and while her and her instructor started cruising on by, I was left flapping with my AT, with valves opening and getting stuck open, closing and not opening again, partially inflating and basically having a mind of their own!
I managed to keep up with them (mostly at the surface), and afterwards gave the intructor (who is also a Mares tech) my Dragon to have it checked! Well guess what, he called me a little while ago and said that there are 2 tiny (diameter of about .5mm) hoses that pneumatically activate the 2 back valves, and they were both pretty much clogged (one of them almost completely) with sea salt. After hours of soaking them in tap water, he managed to soften the salt up and then let running water drip through them for about 30 mins to clean them up as best as he could.
And my question is: How the @#$%^&* did water get in there, and if water is supposed to get in there, then how the *&^%$+* am I supposed to clean it?
I love the Dragon and the AT rocks, but should I get into the habit of replacing the hoses annually? Is there some other trick?
Thanks in advance
1011ster
PS. I think my daughter liked it a little too much, now she wants the full monty (Mares of course!). OUCHHHHHH!
Soooooo, I dust off my Dragon (been sleeping for almost a year...), and decide what better than to take my 16 year old daughter for her first intro dive with my favorite diving center! She did great and loved it, during the skills with her instructor I was hovering at the surface around them, and then the time came for the 3 of us to do a little diving around, so she could really see what scuba is all about! We had decided on a max depth of 10 meters (beach dive), and while her and her instructor started cruising on by, I was left flapping with my AT, with valves opening and getting stuck open, closing and not opening again, partially inflating and basically having a mind of their own!
I managed to keep up with them (mostly at the surface), and afterwards gave the intructor (who is also a Mares tech) my Dragon to have it checked! Well guess what, he called me a little while ago and said that there are 2 tiny (diameter of about .5mm) hoses that pneumatically activate the 2 back valves, and they were both pretty much clogged (one of them almost completely) with sea salt. After hours of soaking them in tap water, he managed to soften the salt up and then let running water drip through them for about 30 mins to clean them up as best as he could.
And my question is: How the @#$%^&* did water get in there, and if water is supposed to get in there, then how the *&^%$+* am I supposed to clean it?
I love the Dragon and the AT rocks, but should I get into the habit of replacing the hoses annually? Is there some other trick?
Thanks in advance
1011ster
PS. I think my daughter liked it a little too much, now she wants the full monty (Mares of course!). OUCHHHHHH!