My Blacktip Leaked Yesterday

[MrChen]

They are essentially rebuilding the tail at my expense when something in the tail failed.

 

[justinthedeeps]

I've had three of these Blacktips.

The first one served me super well in cold messy waters for a while, I set it down prop first on rocks and sand no problem etc. I took it to the tropics, and it has continued to perform flawlessly there for years, including deep dives to 60+ metres, and up to three hours underwater. Easy cleaning, minimal maintenance, shaft seal got replaced once maybe, with no signs of rust etc.

The second one I got lasted a month or two of very active diving, then started to give a grinding sound. Opened it up and a bearing was rusty, needing replacement. Seawater had made its way into the tail cone somehow. No vacuum testing possibilities where I was. Presumably it had passed vacuum tests in the factory. Getting even small parts into the country was a job. It was easy to suspect the shaft seal, but hard to prove. Other possibilities could be tail cone o rings, battery/speed indicator, or somewhere else.. water will follow gravity to the lower bearing. I replaced some parts, but I haven't been around enough to thoroughly re-test.

My third Blacktip is with me now. Cruising AFAIK, but the adventures continue. There is no way to notice water in the tail cone without taking it off, risking possible compromise of an assembly that was leak-free. So I don't check. The vacuum add-on sounds smart, but I don't have one.

Like you, I prefer to just dive the thing 'stock' and not have to worry about anything. That was certainly how it went with my first one.

The lightness, quietness, power, and obviously much lower price of the Blacktip compared to $7k+ 'tech' DPVs is what really got me and many others into DPV diving in general.

I guess we should still expect that it has no defects or weaknesses, and $2k is not free. It's hard to know whether there were lemons coming out of production, or if there are just weaknesses in some units when exposed to real diving conditions.

Underwater camera housings flood too, sometimes seemingly without explanation. And also hard to diagnose in those cases.

 

[cfberry]

I'm super bummed. I got a good dive in without any indication something was wrong. I purchased my BT in Sept 2023, so it's less than a year old. I drop in for dive 2 and it won't turn on. I immediately surface and hand it back up to the boat. After the dive, I open it up and see moisture on my batteries. The batteries look fine after pulling them out. There's definitely water at the bottom in the circuitry. I dump out maybe a 1/4 cup of water.

Just to note, I do a lot of photography and am religious about cleaning o-rings. My o-rings for the BT were cleaned and lubed before this dive. I haven't inspected them yet, I was pretty tired after getting home.

I sent a message to DiveX, let's see what they say. Wish me luck.

good luck

 

[lostsheep]

I purchased my BT in Sept 2023, so it's less than a year old.

Just to note, I do a lot of photography and am religious about cleaning o-rings. My o-rings for the BT were cleaned and lubed before this dive.

Sub’d.

Please keep us updated on how they throw you under the bus.

How do they justify billing someone for what in my opinion is a not my fault and within the warranty period?

DiveX is a terrible company and no one should ever support them.

I wish I was surprised by this outcome but it was predictable.

Sorry to hear this @MrChen.

 

[Wibble]

I read this and think, then it isn't something I did. I cleaned the o-rings prior to the dive like I clean my DSLR camera prior to every dive. The unit failed after 8 months of use.

How do they justify billing someone for what in my opinion is a not my fault and within the warranty period? If a warranty item fails and causes the flood, then it's no longer covered under warranty?

"due to water intrusion the unit doesn't seal"

Cringe.

Mine took 3 years to realise it was leaking through the LED screen. A tiny leak that left a little water inside which, as it was my first DPV, I didn't know was a leak***. Obviously now out of warranty so had to pay.

My local dealer was impeccable with helping solve this issue, lending me a vacuum tester and spending time to compare it with a non-leaking Blacktip. Eventually proved that my tail leaked slowly, 30 mins to loose the vacuum.

Dive Xtras repaired it and now I know what "not leaking" looks like. Dry.

They said it was leaking through that LED window and replaced it, plus servicing the unit.

We suspect that deeper dives (about 30 over 60m/200ft) would seal the window with the pressure, but it would slightly leak in the shallows.

End result was a knackered DeWalt 9AH battery and the repair bills including return transatlantic shipping.



*** How dumb is me that I couldn't tell between wet and dry. However, have you tried getting the nose-cone off a Blacktip without water flying out from between the O-rings? Even laying it on its side is a tough challenge.

Before it always seemed to have a teaspoon or two of water inside. Now it doesn't, just the splashes from opening the nose cone (on its side).

 

[justinthedeeps]

If my third one leaks I'm upgrading to a CudaX!

 

[MrChen]

"due to water intrusion the unit doesn't seal"

Cringe.

Right? It leaks because it leaked... It makes no sense and feels like a rouse to not service the unit under warranty.

 

[MrChen]

If my third one leaks I'm upgrading to a CudaX!

I wouldn't give them any more money if that happened to me. As it stands, I've already replaced this with a Tusa Evo3. I want a repaired unit so I can sell it.

 

[lostsheep]

I wouldn't give them any more money if that happened to me. As it stands, I've already replaced this with a Tusa Evo3. I want a repaired unit so I can sell it.

I don’t think you should give them any money, get it back and part it out.

Screw diveX

 

[justinthedeeps]

I wouldn't give them any more money if that happened to me. As it stands, I've already replaced this with a Tusa Evo3. I want a repaired unit so I can sell it.

Will Tusa repair or replace free of charge, for leak issues?