Have you ever missed a dive due to equipment malfunctions?

[themagni]

I've missed dives from equipment failures, sure. Who hasn't?

1. Bubbly rental BC. Lost a day of crystal clear diving - 60 ft vertical vis.
2. Multiple failure. Couldn't sink, wrists didn't seal, computer failed. Called due to "Murphy" rule.
3. Computer failure, had to skip 2nd dive - oh, but wait! I had a spare depth gauge and watch. I'd forgotten to replace the battery after #2.
4. Flutter found in main circulatory pump. (Heart palpitations) Had to bring the whole unit into the shop to have some pros take a look. (Not user-serviceable and no removable parts.) Last night, they told me it was fine to dive with. I missed two planned night wreck dives.

I've had multiple drysuit leaks. I've just lived with them.

 

[NOVIZWHIZ]

man show me a DS that DOESN'T leak...call mine a "damp suit"....or a Dam suit" hate DS diving... I can safely say I have never had a dive computer failure....what is a dive computer?

on that #4 thing - glad to hear that's not an issue.

 

[oceanbound]

"told my girlfriend that the gas in my tanks is good for only a short time and must be "rotated" with fresh gas or I could have a "gas event" while diving. I further explained that I couldn't just vent the gas by opening the valve. That would be bad for the valve (the thermodynamics were just to complex to go into). I had to attach the regulator. And, you guessed it, I couldn't just purge the regulator. I had to breathe the gas. This was all in the interest of safety. All this was best done in at least 20 feet of water.

The optimum "rotation" interval was about once a week. Meaning that I had to breathe all my tanks down to 500psi at least once a week. It also wasn't good for the tanks to sit at only 500 psi for very long. The tank was made to hold 3000 psi and the walls of the tank might relax if the pressure inside was to low. It could explode the next time it was filled. Safety dictated that I get the tanks filled within a day or two of being , ehem, "rotated". It may fall on her to keep me alive by schlepping my tanks to the dive shop and back if I couldn't get away to do it myself.

I was feeling rather proud of myself, pretty much assured that I could go diving once a week with the expressed blessing of my beloved. Life was good. For a while. I have four tanks. Not a bad thing in and of itself but one weekend I only got to two of the tanks. My girlfriend was convinced I would die if I didn't get the other two tanks breathed down and rotated. It wasn't possible to get back to the lake for more diving and we don't have a pool. My only option, said she, was to set up my gear in the living room. Oh what I did.

Okay, what the heck. I'll use the time to calculate my SAC rate. This is where it got strange (stranger?). She said that if I just used the regulator, that I could also breathe through my nose. Wouldn't that affect how I used the reg? She insisted that I don my mask. Fine.

She seemed convinced that I had to re-create every aspect of a dive including wearing all the gear. To do anything less might lead to that deadly "gas event" I had so adamantly warned her about. So there I am sitting in the living room in full gear making Darth Vader noises trying to decide where I went wrong."



hahahahahahaha that was good! for a second there I thought I was going to be able to use part of the excuse on my hubby but on second thought........:blinking:

 

[Dive-aholic]

Vacation in Monterey, CA. Ripped a hole on my neck seal sliding into a borrowed BP that had a bolt sticking out further than I was used to. Discovered the hole as soon as I jumped off the boat.

The captain did his duck-tape trick, and, although somewhat wet, I did make the second dive.

That reminds me of a few dives I had to call because of a torn dry suit neck seal. At that time I wasn't bringing an extra along like Bob/NWGratefulDiver. Now, I always have at least a wetsuit packed in the van.

 

[Tortuga68]

No

I did have to change a fin in the water after the clip broke - fortunately it was a shore dive and someone on shore was able to throw me a replacement fin

I have dived with a broken mask clip and a non-functioning backup second stage (both rental) though

Flame away

 

[Sas]

I haven't had any issues really other than drysuit leaks a few times, but a few buddies have had a few equipment problems but nothing we called a dive over.

-buddy's BC continually inflated, he did about 20 dives with it like that, and the only hassle was he had to dump air more frequently
-buddy had leaking SPG after someone dropped a tank on it, we still did the dive and just cut in shorter than planned due to the increased gas consumption - again was a shallow dive so he was not concerned
-buddy's BC failed midway through a dive, we finished it though as he used his drysuit for buoyancy instead (was only about a 5m depth so he didn't really need much lift, if any, most of the time)
-buddy forgot his fins, but the boat captain lend him these tiny ones, dunno how well they worked but we were doing a drift dive so he probably didn't have to use them much!

 

[gzscuba]

Our first attempted dive in the PNW was a complete disaster. We set up our kits and brought them down to the dive site (we used to do this when diving lakes & quarries). Then we put our new drysuits on. BIG MISTAKE. The tide was coming in. So, the waves were fouling our 2nd stages and the BC deflate valve. We realized this after we got the drysuits on and into the water - free-flows and difficulty deflating. And then, my wife's fin strap broke. Clearly, we were not going to make that dive. Lesson learned - we've got some extra fin straps and never leave our gear near the water now.

Second one (a near miss) - we assemble the gear - everything is fine. After I get in my drysuit and get the BC on my shoulders.... What's that hissing noise? Oh, crap. It was coming from where the LP hose attaches to my 2nd stage. As I take it apart to look at it, a tiny bit of rubber falls out. Not good. I think I can see a broken O-ring recessed in the 2nd stage around a little post. There's an LDS right down the road, so I pulled myself halfway out of my drysuit and drive to the LDS. It took two O-ring picks to get the sucker out. Once the O-ring was replaced, we had a really nice dive at the Edmonds UW Park.
Afterwards, I went back to the LDS and bought a set of O-rings and some other stuff.

 

[almitywife]

on saturday i had to call my dive due to equipment.... well had no choice really as my regs were left at home

 

[ScubaSteve2000]

Okay. All joking aside.

I've had two equipment problems but was able to "work" around both of them. On the first one my BC inflator hose started leaking at the dump valve where it connects to the bladder. It was a slow leak and more of a nusiance actually. I didn't want to waste air by hitting the inflator button every few minutes so I just orally inflated my BC as needed. Silver lining: It was a bit of an eye opener bouyancy-control wise and on the second dive of the day I made a weight adjustment and hardly had to puff up my BC. The problem was with the rubber washer that seals the dump valve. Easily fixed.

The second equipment failure happened during the first dive of the first day of Rescue class. The inflator valve stuck open. I disconnected the hose and finished the dive. On shore it checked out fine. It didn't stick open again that weekend. The dive shop replaced the valve for free as it was under recall. Now I have a pretty blue one. I told my girlfriend that it matched her eyes. She told me her eyes were green. Probably why I have two ex-wives.

Steve.

 

[vicdiver656]

Haha....I think I already told you about this, K Ellis, but just recently I had a LP inflator gromit (the part that goes inside the BC) shear off right before a dive