What gear malfunctions have you ever had?

[Carlos Danger]

Flooded SPG
Mask strap failure
Wrist mount computer strap failure
BCD bladder bungee snapped
BCD plastic waist buckle broke
Torn primary reg mouthpiece
Cracked mask frame
Blown O-Ring

 

[Tigerman]

Happened to me;
-----------------
Broken mask strap
Broken fin strap
Brain fart (jumped in with 2lb less weight than I should as I forgot to attach it to my tank, oops that was one active safety stop)
Leaking wideangle lens port - on an expensive dslr with an expensive lens - fortunately I saw it in time and saved both.

Happened to my buddies;
------------------------
Blown hp hose
Broken mask and fin straps
Broken pressure gauge - major oops when youre at 30 meters and the gauge is showing 90 bar and you really have 9
Stuck inflator button
Blown 1st stage o-ring - at depth...
Ripped BCD, but who cares, he was in a drysuit anyways

 

[PsyWulf]

Leaky second stages - replace o-rings
Cracked HP Hose - replace hose
Massive fogging in Sealife Camera(water droplets started running inside the cover) - blast camera housing with Cylinder air from a nozzle/reg before closing
Regulator freeflow - crack back the breathing adjustment knob,clean out the reg
LPI stuck inflating - disconnect and cleaned with water

 

[Doc Harry]

-drysuit valve that would not vent
-free-flowing 2nd stage regulator
-multiple flooded UK dive lights
-torn drysuit neck gasket

that's all folks

 

[Storker]

• Was never able to get my neoprene neck seal to stop leaking, even after fitting the seal as tight as I dared. The Apollo Bio-seal fixed that for me.
• Snorkel clip letting go of my snorkel while I did a giant stride off the boat. The water was more than 80m deep, so when I discovered I'd lost my snorkel I just had time to see it sinking below the visibility limit and disappear
• BCD dump valve leaking due to crap on the seat, had to use my DS for buoyancy control. Redundant buoyancy FTW!
• Broke tank strap buckle while switching tanks
• Backup light flooded - the bulb burned a hole in the front glass

If we count my brain as important gear for diving, I've had a few brain malfunctions:

• Forgot to load weight pockets before splashing - on my second OW class dive (duh!)
• Left weight belt at home (double duh!)
• Forgot to mount weights on the tank strap - had to swim down and then collect rocks on the bottom to stuff inside my harness
• Forgot to check that the mask strap was properly tightened before doing a backroll - fortunately the water was only ~15m deep where we splashed...
• Forgot to flip up the flash before putting the camera inside the housing. On that dive it was ambient light photography only.

Some of my buddies regularly experience 2nd stage freeflow - especially for the octo - when exiting the water after a dive in sub-freezing topside temperatures. I guess I'm lucky I ended up with a fairly frost-resistant reg set.

No flooded camera housing (yet) - knock wood!

 

[Doppler]

Most of them... sometimes two or three at once... but usually only on one occasion and then I tend to fix the issues that lead up to the "gear malfunction" if possible.

Dive gear is generally speaking a pain in the arse: It breaks.

As Bill Main is quoted as saying: "Gear failure will not kill you... your reaction to it... well now!"

 

[Searcaigh]

Lost a knife from its scabbard when the plastic scabbard fell apart and I was left with a piece of plastic strapped to my leg.
Mouthpiece came off the second stage of a rental when I first started diving back in the 80s, that convinced me to buy my own gear.
Broken finstrap
Somebody (not my buddy) broke the inner zipper of my semi-dry when zipping me into my suit prior to a dive. Fortunately it was the last dive of the week in Aqaba and not my first one. Cost to repair it was minimal, but it took some time to find somebody in Dubai to do it.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Take care of your gear and it will take care of you.

One hose that had a slow leak noticed at surface. Replaced immediately.
Reg breathing wet, piece of sand under lip of diaphragm. Fixed immediately after the dive.
Sticky inflator button. Needed new pin.
Never broke a mask or strap. Keep it in the case when not in use or drying
Once noticed zip tie missing on mouthpiece but there was no separation so fixed immediately
So really, nothing.

Didn't we just have a long thread about this very subject a month or two ago?

 

[SailNaked]

* BC inflator hose leaks, dont use it that much, should probably add a little silicone.
* Lights flood, toss buy another.
* bc inflator stuck, took it apart lubed it up, no issues for a few years.
* reg needed cleaning and was making noise, had it adjusted and cleaned.
* wifes fin strap knob broke off , poked hole with knife and tied it back on with spool string (at 90ft).
* mask leak at glass joint, sealed it with silicone use as a spare, and do not buy masks with glass side windows any more.
* fin straps broke, used string until replacement.
* Wet suit Zipper broke, use only under other suit now or leave it in closet.
* Bit through several mouth pieces, replace or just tie onto mask with string or duct tape (JK).
* broken wrist computer buckle, replaced with a plastic coated paperclip, works great but not recommended.

 

[smellzlikefish]

My friend had his first stage regulator explode at 90 feet. It had just been serviced and apparently not tightened correctly. His remedy was to go to his buddy for an octo, ascend and rip the repair tech a new one.