Older equipment and maintenance

[crafty]

I have a 15 year old SeaQuest ADV III BC and regulator set. I haven't had an annual done on any of it in ten years, haven't been diving since before the last inspection. Is it okay to use it all in a pool tomorrow when my wife does her Discovering Scuba class? I figure if anything breaks it's a quick swim to the top. Hoses look good, no dry rot on the outside. Haven't put any air on it yet, though. I was planning on just renting a tank at the shop so I could chill in the pool while they're showing her the basics to see how she likes diving.

 

[ams511]

You cannot tell the condition of regulators by just looking at them, they can work fine or they can free flow badly. I recommend you look here for a sticky on how to check regulators before a dive. BTW. Welcome to Scubaboard.

 

[herman]

Odds are it will work and since it's just a pool, keep in the shallow end for a while to see if it works. Not advice I would give for any place other than a pool but for the pool it should be OK. Obviously you will want it checked before any dives more than the pool.
....now some other advice. Don't go with her. You being there complicates matters for both her and the instructor. Let her go in alone or at least leave as soon as you find the instructor. You can stay out of the building if you like -plan a nice after dive meal and let the instructor do their job. Having an overly "helpful" spouce or parent is a real pain for the instructor and puts unnecessary pressure on the student. You want her coming out smiling and bubbling away about how much fun it was, the extra pressure may turn the experience from fun to torture. Same goes for the OW dives if she decides to get certified....and don't push.... go to the other end of the dive site and dive with someone else and stay away from the class. I know you want to be there but what you really want in the end is a dive buddy who loves diving. Let the instructor do that for you.

 

[crafty]

You cannot tell the condition of regulators by just looking at them, they can work fine or they can free flow badly. I recommend you look here for a sticky on how to check regulators before a dive. BTW. Welcome to Scubaboard.

That's kind of why I want to try it out before doing another annual. My reg used to free flow so often that I got tired of stopping it and used my safe second on most dives. I just want to see if it's still doing that because I'm thinking about upgrading anyway.

FWIW, I hadn't even planned on attending with my wife, but she wants me around this first time in the pool. I will definitely get the OK from the instructor before sharing the pool with them. Thanks for the advice!

 

[crafty]

Everything worked great. It's a good thing I kept everything stored in a good location, even my old regulator that used to free flow out of the box was behaving. I guess the last shop that touched it must have sorted it out after all! My wife loved the class and definitely wants to do more. Now I just have to pony up for some OW classes and a few basic items to start her out. Thanks again for the advice, will definitely get the annuals updated before doing any real diving in open water.

 

[Capt.Gene]

You might want to inspect the plastic vinyl squares of material that anchor the suspension to the vest.
They crumble and break away from the straps pulling against them.
The design was used on the ADVI SeaQuest BC's and carried over to some later models.