Peter_C
Contributor
Well it happened to me, my scooter had a runaway. It was not scary as I was on the surface and plenty buoyant, between my full wing and drysuit with the exhaust valve closed. I believe what happened is the harness cord wrapped around the trigger and created enough force to break the lock pin out. The harness was connected to my crotch strap. I did not have the upper bolt snap connected to my chest D-ring as we were just working on the surface. My Mako scooter is weight adjusted to be slightly negative. So with the cord wrapped around the handle it held the trigger on and was not about to turn off. I started grabbing for it and stuck my hand in the prop to stop it. That did not hurt and mine has aluminum blades. After freeing the trigger I was able to continue my task sans a trigger pin that I watched sink to the murk below. The previously broken and glued prop pitch adjuster knob decided it wanted to rest on the ocean floor too. I now took the time to clip off the front of the scooter to my left chest D-ring.
Once we had our task at the surface completed we headed off doing a surface swim. I kept messing with the pitch adjustment to lessen the prop force and could occasionally get it to work. Not an easy task as the pitch adjuster was broken off and just a tiny nub. So the scooter got used some on the surface and underwater until it finally would not spin the blades any more. It spent the remainder of the dive clipped off, including the fairly short surface swim through kelp where it was hardly a hindrance. I just kept it on my belly, as I swam on my back. My singles reg did get hung up on the kelp a few times though.
A quick phone call to Curt at DPVrepair.com and the replacement parts are on their way. The trigger replacement will be a stock Tekna trigger for my already upgraded Tekna handle, and an AUL clutch with upgraded propeller blade assembly. The lost pin (I have a spare) and pitch adjuster knob also need to be replaced. Of course this is specialized dive gear and it is expensive, but Curt has it in stock and will supply great customer support.
Once we had our task at the surface completed we headed off doing a surface swim. I kept messing with the pitch adjustment to lessen the prop force and could occasionally get it to work. Not an easy task as the pitch adjuster was broken off and just a tiny nub. So the scooter got used some on the surface and underwater until it finally would not spin the blades any more. It spent the remainder of the dive clipped off, including the fairly short surface swim through kelp where it was hardly a hindrance. I just kept it on my belly, as I swam on my back. My singles reg did get hung up on the kelp a few times though.
A quick phone call to Curt at DPVrepair.com and the replacement parts are on their way. The trigger replacement will be a stock Tekna trigger for my already upgraded Tekna handle, and an AUL clutch with upgraded propeller blade assembly. The lost pin (I have a spare) and pitch adjuster knob also need to be replaced. Of course this is specialized dive gear and it is expensive, but Curt has it in stock and will supply great customer support.
