What Was Your Most Creative Equipment Repair on the Fly?

[Iruka]

It's a proven fact that 98% of all scuba equipment can be repaired with nothing more than duct tape & zip ties. (Just kidding!) Had the exhaust port come off my reg. The "pin" which holds it in place is supposed to have a slight bend to it...this one didn't, which allowed the pin to slide & fall out. The exhaust port isn't really essential...just keeps the bubbles out of your face....but I slid a zip tie through where the pin was supposed to be, the slid the "locking" end of another one through from the other side, and then cut off the extra. The manufacturer actually gave me a bunch of correct pins, but I'd already "fixed" a few of them with the zip ties, so that works just as well.

 

[Cacia]

I forgot my weight belt and slipped a couple lead weights on the tanks cam bands. It worked.

 

[SharkRider]

Sometimes you need a boat...

So on vacation in Roatan with a new Captain at the wheel we ran aground and tore the prop up so bad it wouldn't propel the boat through the water... so I volunteered to pull the prop off and replace it with the spare they had on board... the DM had no idea how to do it... but after 20 minutes or so... we were on our way...

 

[ShakaZulu]

Got sand in my LP inflator hose from a previous dive the morning where I got rolled on the beach exit. On my next dive, after a long surface swim, dropped down and and started to inflate my BC. Next minute I was on the surface? LP inflator button had sand in it, and got stuck wide open.

Unclipped the LP house from the BC, and unscrewed the inflator hose from the BC while water pedling with all that gear that is now negative boyent. Slammed the hose on the water surface a couple of times, and screwed it back onto the BC. Just made it, cause I could not water padle anymore.........clipped on the LP house and viola, went for the dive.

 

[Scuba Brad]

Soft weights in the swimming trunks.............not pretty but hey it worked.

Happy Diving

 

[BabyDuck]

this wasn't a repair, more of a jury-rigging, but funny.

day before yesterday, i was diving at ginnie. rented doubles. rented a reg since all i had (until i went to salvo yesterday, hee hee!) was one yoke first. they put a yoke adapter on the left post, so i put the rented din on the right post. oops, i don't have a port plug for my first...have to leave my reg on...hmm...ok!

i zip-tied my 7ft hose in a tight loop behind my head! it looked dog ugly, but i got to dive!

 

[redacted]

It's a proven fact that 98% of all scuba equipment can be repaired with nothing more than duct tape & zip ties.

Duct tape - don't leave home without it. I got stupid and punched a hole in the diaphram of my octo 2nd. The duct tape patch got me thru the day. Now I always carry a complete 2nd rig to the dive site, but the duct tape is still in the sace-a-dive kit.

 

[chip104]

This is kind of lame compared to the other stories. During a dive the STA bolt got lost on my buddy's BP/W so the tank was hanging upside down. Surfaced in a small cove to fix it. Took her weight belt and used it as a cam strap connecting to the BP and around the tank. But I was fixing it while waves were crashing into me so it wasn't as lame as it sounds.

 

[DBailey]

Non-diving related:

At a sprint car race, a rock punctured the gas tank during warm-ups. I fixed it with some Juicy Fruit. We finished second.

Diving related:

My buddy's BC webbing came undone at the tank/plate (hard plastic piece on the jacket BC). We figured out what was wrong underwater, but in a current drifting along, threading the webbing back through was difficult. I took my snap bolt (double ended one) from my finger spool and clipped the plate back to the BC. It sufficed for the rest of the dive. I just had to carry my finger spool for the rest of the dive.

 

[Scottri]

I have an old Atpac BC that has a hard weight compartment in the back and it's mounted to the harness with a long cord. The cord broke so I unthreaded it from all the holes and used about 20 zip ties to put it back together. Worked like a champ. I've duct taped damaged neck and wrist seals on drysuits. I had a drysuit zipper that had a bad tooth at the very beginning of the zipper. I got the zipper pull past the bad spot and glued that portion of the zipper shut. Worked great for about 2 months until I got the zipper replaced.