BC life expectancy

[billmosel]

Tonight my wife asked me how long can we could expect our BC's will last. I did not have an answer. So i have looked all over this board and can't find an answer. I have a ScubaPro Knight Hawk and she has a Scuba Pro Lady Hawk. We got them about 12 years ago and each have a little over 500 dives with them. All have been in salt water. I take very good care of our equipment, rinse every day after diving and wash thouroughly after every dive trip, inside and out.

Sooooo... What is the life expectancy?

 

[Superlyte27]

I have bcd's in my garage that look and work perfect and are at least 25 years old. If you take care of them, keep them clean and out of sunlight when not in use, they should last a very very long time.

We often have people come into our dive shop with bcd's that are 1st generation after horse collar flotation.

The real question is... how long will you have your bcd before you upgrade to a BP/W? That might be considerably less time

 

[KeithG]

They will eventually wear out. My first bcd developed a patch of very small pin holes in an area were the material had worn due to abrassion from normal use. Over 700 dives in about 20 years. I think I got my money's worth.

Up to that point all other bits were original and still in great working shape.

So you may have many years left in yours...

 

[billmosel]

Excuse my ignorence Superlyte but what is a BP/W?

 

[moody s]

Back plate and wing.

 

[diversteve]

Backplate and wing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I bought an At-Pac (anyone remember those?) in 1981. I sold it to a guy in 2004. Afaik he's still using it. And I'm not one for scrupulous maintenance although I did replace the inflator valve once in the 90's.

 

[toddthecat]

I've got a Mares Dragonfly BC I've used for 12 years for recreation AND teaching. It used to be black. It's a light orange now from the thousands of hours it has in the pool due to chlorine. Not a single problem with it minus the integrated weight flaps that are velcro have lost their sticky. Don't use em anyway so no big deal. Figure I can get quite a bit more out of it but I'm retiring it to pool only. Put on some weight recently and it's getting a little tight. Got a more accommodating size for out in open water

 

[bergersau]

The real question is... how long will you have your bcd before you upgrade to a BP/W? That might be considerably less time

:lol:​

 

[graham_s]

One of the guys in my dive club has an AP Valves Buddy Commando that has around 10,000 dives on it.
The company wants it back, he won't part with it.

 

[BoltSnap]

My latest Scubapro Classic is about 13 years old and has around 1000 dives on it and it look like almost new even though I don't rinse after each diving day all the time. I have been trying to find an excuse to buy a new BC but it has been difficult to come up with one. Perhaps when I start using a drysuit again I'll have an excuse.