What could have happened?

[SoccerJeni]

I've been thinking a lot about something that happened when I dove recently. When I was putting my gear together I guess I forgot to Velcro down the strap that holds the tank on the BCD. While I was in the water, my dive buddy noticed the snap or buckle (?) thing was sticking up and the strap was not tied down at all. She fixed it up for me, pushed the buckle down and Velcro'd the strap and everything was fine after that.

What I'm wondering is, how close was I to losing my tank? And if my tank came out of my BCD strap, what would have happened? Would it have sunk down yanking the reg out of my mouth?

It's really embarrassing I wasn't better put together, but at this point I really would like to learn from it.



P.S. I'm sorry if this is the wrong place, I wasn't exactly sure where to put this.

 

[captndale]

Not fastening the buckle properly or forgetting to wet the strap first can result in the tank slipping out underwater. The usual result is that the tank slips out of the backpack and the regulator gets hung up on either the carrying strap (if there is one) or the tank strap. I have seen it happen many times. I have never seen a tank completely drop away, but I am sure that it could happen. The inflator hose would probably still be attached to the BC so you would still not completely lose your breathing supply. Switching to a BC system with two tank straps would offer additional insurance but following proper setup procedures and doing a system check before suiting up will prevent many problems.

 

[TSandM]

I've had my tank slip down -- it rode on my butt for the whole dive, because my buddy didn't notice the problem. As said, the rig usually hangs up on the regulator first stage, leaving your hose perhaps a bit short, but not usually yanking it out of your mouth.

 

[porgyhunter]

Like the other guys said ''not a big deal'' uncomfortable,but I've seen it alot,usually taken care of by buddy like yours did

 

[Marek K]

If you have a loop of like 1/2" webbing at the top of your BC, behind the neck opening and above the backpack, that's meant to go around the neck of your tank under the valve -- attach it before you attach the first stage, of course. That'll keep your tank from slipping down too far if the strap loosens.

Some folks also use that loop to judge the height of the tank on the backpack.

Velcro on tank straps wears out after a time and doesn't stick right. The buckle, if it's fastened correctly, should still be extremely hard to pop open, unless you snag the strap end on something. That having been said, all our BCs have double straps.

 

[SoccerJeni]

Oh, great! Thank you everyone for all your advice.

 

[Graeme Tolton]

I remember hearing of this happening on a local deep wreck. The buddy team attempted to fix the problem at 115' and ended up both runnning out of air and drowning. Always wet the straps a couple minutes before attaching the tank and pay extra attention while assembling gear.

 

[wb416]

If I could count the times I've had to ride someone mid-water on a warm water trip to push their tank back in their BC straps.

...and usually they are annoyed 'cause they don't know what's going on or what the "stop" or "hold" signals mean.

 

[wb416]

I remember hearing of this happening on a local deep wreck. The buddy team attempted to fix the problem at 115' and ended up both runnning out of air and drowning. Always wet the straps a couple minutes before attaching the tank and pay extra attention while assembling gear.

That's a real tragedy that something that should only be an inconvenience ends up costing two people their lives. So much had to have gone wrong and been ignored, letting tunnel-vision set in to breath your last breath trying to get a damned tank back in your rig. Just hold the tank and buddy ascend to the surface for goodness sake. [/soapbox]

Again.... a needless tragedy.

 

[SoccerJeni]

I remember hearing of this happening on a local deep wreck. The buddy team attempted to fix the problem at 115' and ended up both runnning out of air and drowning. Always wet the straps a couple minutes before attaching the tank and pay extra attention while assembling gear.

Wow, how heartbreaking. Thank you so much for sharing this story and for your advice. I will definitely pay closer attention to this in the future.

I wonder if my strap was too tight? The only thing I didn't do was velcro it, so it's making me wonder if the buckle should have stayed down even if I didn't velcro? Thankfully the tank didn't move at all, my buddy just noticed that the buckle was up and not locked down.