Mares SLS lock system - BAD and dangerous

[Soarhuff]

Iam an advanced diver and recently lost one of the Mares Bolt weight pockets from the BC on a dive when I am 100% positive it was correctly locked in with the green color "lock" showing in the window? It pulled me up without a safety stop because my buddy couldn't hold me down. Is their a recall on these SLS weight systems? Has anyone had similar problems with this SLS system? Will the Mares manufacture acknowledge a serious problem with htis design?

I am very disappointed with this Mares Bolt SLS BCD?

 

[Alastor]

It happened even with the previous Mares MRS system.
I think that the risk to loose a pocket is intrinsic in every system that requires you pull something to dutch weights.
You can accidentally pull it, entagle somewhere and pull, or just the system can become loose with wear.
Because dutching weights should be anyway a feature you should have (unless you dive with very little ballast) I prefer those having a sort of clasp to retain pockets. They can be easily inspected, give a positive lock and, even if they are not totally failure proof, they should break when locking being no stressed during the dive.

 

[Kharon]

You couldn't vent air to stay down?????

 

[Alastor]

I suppose the question is for the OP.
And on his behalf (hoping he'll forgive me) I'd say that it depends on how many kilos (lbs) there were in the pocket he lost.
Supposing at the end of the dive, with an empty tank and 2-3 Kilos too positive (4 - 6 lbs) could be a problem to stay down doing your safety stop.
Your buddy, if correctly weighted and inexperienced could have his trouble trying to keep you down.
I often saw people doing their safety stop in a quasi-vertical position while being slightly positive is far more easy to stay horizontal and correct the positive tendency finning.
Anyway, a weight system should be reliable and ditch-able, as every agency is teaching since OW.

 

[Rxtaylor1966]

Iam an advanced diver and recently lost one of the Mares Bolt weight pockets from the BC on a dive when I am 100% positive it was correctly locked in with the green color "lock" showing in the window? It pulled me up without a safety stop because my buddy couldn't hold me down. Is their a recall on these SLS weight systems? Has anyone had similar problems with this SLS system? Will the Mares manufacture acknowledge a serious problem with htis design?

I am very disappointed with this Mares Bolt SLS BCD?

I recently bought a Mares Dragon BCD with SLS with grey handles. After 4 dives I lost one pocket (without even realising), I bought a new set of pouches with shorter black handles (that’s all they had), those worked fine with no issues so far, tried the grey ones again and on 2nd dive lost pouch again . Can’t say for sure but think it was same pouch as first time ( I got it back from another diver), Suspect the lock was broken even though it showed green in lock. Lost confidence in product now and am going to create a 2nd lock that attaches pouches to D rings near pouch with plastic quick release. I was lucky as it happened about 20m 1st time so with a lot of finning I stayed down. 2nd time was on surface before dive started. We couldn’t find pouch either despite it being straight below in theory.

 

[Zef]

Iam an advanced diver and recently lost one of the Mares Bolt weight pockets from the BC on a dive when I am 100% positive it was correctly locked in with the green color "lock" showing in the window? It pulled me up without a safety stop because my buddy couldn't hold me down. Is their a recall on these SLS weight systems? Has anyone had similar problems with this SLS system? Will the Mares manufacture acknowledge a serious problem with htis design?

I am very disappointed with this Mares Bolt SLS BCD?

Are you an advanced diver or just certfied "advanced"?

If you were truly an advanced diver, then you would understand the inherent flaw of the type of weight pocket you were using and either avoid using it or mitigate the risk by spreading your weight out around your rig/body to guard against the dangers of an uncontrolled ascent in the scenario you described.

Either way, advanced/certified advanced....glad you survived, but you should really think about your gear configuration and how it relates to your overall safety, and make changes as appropriate....

....or you can rely on manufacturers acknowledging flaws or warrantying problems...if you survive to contact them.

-Z

 

[Jai Bar]

Are you an advanced diver or just certfied "advanced"?

If you were truly an advanced diver, then you would understand the inherent flaw of the type of weight pocket you were using and either avoid using it or mitigate the risk by spreading your weight out around your rig/body to guard against the dangers of an uncontrolled ascent in the scenario you described.

Either way, advanced/certified advanced....glad you survived, but you should really think about your gear configuration and how it relates to your overall safety, and make changes as appropriate....

....or you can rely on manufacturers acknowledging flaws or warrantying problems...if you survive to contact them.

-Z

You are replying to a post from 2018...

Nonetheless, I keep finding occasionally a Mares weight pocket here and there- I know that I'm not the only one who finds these kind of garbage. So I think there is something fundamentally wrong in the design of these things.

 

[Zef]

You are replying to a post from 2018...

Nonetheless, I keep finding occasionally a Mares weight pocket here and there- I know that I'm not the only one who finds these kind of garbage. So I think there is something fundamentally wrong in the design of these things.

It came up in "New posts" due the response this moring by Rxtaylor1966....funny enough that his/her 1st post on ScubaBoard is a zombie resurrection. All I did was respond to the 1st post in the discussion thead, thinking it was a new discussion. I guess I should pay closer attention to details in the future.

-Z

 

[Jai Bar]

It came up in "New posts" due the response this moring by Rxtaylor1966....funny enough that his/her 1st post on ScubaBoard is a zombie resurrection. All I did was respond to the 1st post in the discussion thead, thinking it was a new discussion. I guess I should pay closer attention to details in the future.

-Z

It emphasizes that there is a long lasting problem with these weighr pockets.