Uncontrolled descent

[Bert van den Berg]

Hi doctormike,

Yes, I can put the pony into the d-rings with gloves on but not nearly as easy as without the gloves. The gloves themselves are Kevlar coated for crayfish (lobster) diving. Been diving for 48 years and kind of set/comfortable in my ways.

To answer seeker242, I always put air into both the BCD and drysuit before stepping into the water. Off my sailboat I put the gear into the water first and put it on in the water because the 5 foot drop off the deck with full gear on is a bit much for me at my age.

 

[EricTheDood]

Pulling the gloves off the hose had caused the low pressure inflator hose to become disconnected.

Is it possible the hose wasn't properly secured to begin with?

The ball locking sleeve on the hose end coupler has a pretty weak spring. Salt buildup makes it stick. When was the last time you replaced your inflator hose, and do you soak your regs?

 

[Bert van den Berg]

The hose was definitely secured and I used the power inflator to put air into the BCD before stepping into the water. I was the last diver into the water and the skipper checked me out. Everything gets washed after returning home from a dive and the regs, knife, computer, etc. soak for the night. I only replaced the inflator hose once when it started to look weak near where it screws into the first stage.

 

[doctormike]

Been diving for 48 years and kind of set/comfortable in my ways.

I don't understand - the whole point of this thread was that you had a potentially serious problem so you changed one of your diving practices. That doesn't sound set in your ways, that sounds like the action of a thinking diver who realized that "this is the way I have always done it" isn't a good reason to do anything.

So if you can change where you put your gloves, maybe you can change the size of the bolt snaps on your pony, maybe you can inflate your wing before you splash, maybe you can get geared up before you enter the water. Who knows, you might find a better way of diving...

 

[MaxBottomtime]

In a drysuit you can go very negative, very fast, if you start to drop without putting in air.

Only if you're overweighted. I dump my wing and begin my descent with no air in my drysuit. I puff it a bit beginning around 25-30 feet to relieve the squeeze and only again if needed. I still don't descend fast enough to need my fingers to equalize.

 

[northernone]

Only if you're overweighted. I dump my wing and begin my descent with no air in my drysuit. I puff it a bit beginning around 25-30 feet to relieve the squeeze and only again if needed. I still don't descend fast enough to need my fingers to equalize.

I'll pop in again with a reminder of how, while I'm sure this is true for you, this isn't common experience for all of us. Particularly those with thick thermals and/or carrying lots of gas.

For example, if I begin a dive weighed to account for 20lb of gas and, as you describe, empty my BCD + minimal air in my suit (1" thermals) I will sink like a bullet and very rapidly accelerate as the suit crushes me. It all depends on the suit volume required by the thermals.

I do appreciate your post how over weighting can cause this situation. Only pointing out it isn't the sole contributor.

Regards,
Cameron