Zena BCD with broken plastic flange after only 200 dives can anybody help ??

[keith stirk]

 

[Jeff-F]

That's pretty impressive, actually... I've only ever seen this happen when a heavy object falls onto the RE Valve itself.


There's no way to "fix" that, the bladder assembly will need to be replaced. Contact Susan in our Service Department (service@zeagle.com) and she can give you some options. If you can, send her some pictures of the rest of the Zena so we can see the age of the unit itself to determine if different buckles are needed. I've already shown her this picture so she's waiting for your email, Keith.

 

[DiveMaven]

Excellent customer service, as always!

 

[keith stirk]

Thanks will do, the BCD is only about 2 years old its my wife's she uses it almost ever day (min 3x per week) and at least 2-3 dives per day. The problem happened when she had completed her dives of the day and was packing it away it just came off in her hand (Lucky or what)

Here in Saudi the Agent did not want to know but suggested facebook or scubaboard as a point of contact

She Loves her Zena BCD and recommends them to all her friends

Thanks most appreciated

Keith

 

[eyesglazedover]

Maybe Jeff can address my question about a brand new Zena that I purchased for my wife. The BCD was used in her pool sessions and on the first outing to Key Largo to do her OW, she put the BCD on and was pulling down on her left shoulder strap to secure it when the buckle detached from the adhesive attaching the buckle the shoulder strap. That of course ended her chance to complete her certification before we headed out on a cruise.

Is there a simple way to rebond it properly so it doesn't happen again. Makes you wonder if the other shoulder strap is bonded correctly.

 

[Jeff-F]

Adhesive? Can you email a picture of this to service@zeagle.com so we can take a look? There isn't any adhesive used in the BC vest, shoulder or front sections, did you mean the stitching?

 

[DiveMaven]

The buckle should be threaded through the webbing to attach it.

 

[eyesglazedover]

Thanks Jeff, I just forwarded your service department a picture. Maybe I was in a rush to write about the bonding failure to the buckle. The adhesive is used to secure a piece of velcro onto the buckle. Upon closer inspection, it doesn't look like a safety issue but more to just secure the shoulder strap from shifting around.

Of course when this happened on the boat as everyone was getting ready to enter the water, one plays things on the side of caution and hence she decided to cancel her OW certification.

 

[Jeff-F]

Okay, now I see what you're talking about. You're right, that velcro pad has absolutely zero impact on the fit & function of the BCD itself. We actually stopped sewing them onto our shoulder sections a few years ago because they really weren't having a significant positive effect on the BC itself. If I remember right we used that velcro just to try to keep the buckles down flush to the shoulder section, but it was hardly noticeable. After we got a rash of poor adhesive on the backing of that velcro we reevaluated the usefulness of it and decided to phase it out.

If you like I can send you another piece of velcro to attach to the buckle or you can wipe off the glue and carry on like it is, since the "loop" portion of the velcro thats sewn onto the shoulder won't hurt anything if you leave it.

 

[eyesglazedover]

OK Jeff, I'll just remove the adhesive and carry on as if nothing happened. Thanks.