Want to replace "pull balls" on dump valves

Want to replace "pull balls" on dump valves
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I have a Cressi-Sub Aqualight-R BC which I love.

The only thing I don't like are the "pull balls" on the dump valves.

They are round and like a large marble have no texture. I have seen others which have different shapes and textures which make them easier to locate by hand feel.

I buy from LeisurePro and they seem to have everything but I can't find these things.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Sy

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to find out that Leisure Pro can't help you with this problem...

Once upon a time there used to be places called local dive shops. They were somewhere divers could go to get service, parts and advice, as well as purchase gear and get some training. In those days, if you didn't like your pull-ball, you went in to the local dive shop and talked to them.

The LDS guy would usually start by actually talking to you about your problem and dispensing some "free" advice, which might go something like this: Is this really a problem or do you just need a little practice finding the thing? Do you know that many divers remove the pull-balls and just leave the string so that they won't worry about them getting hooked on something and tearing loose? If you wear gloves, are you going to be able to distinguish the difference?

If you decided you still wanted to replace the ball, they often had a couple of different versions back in the repair room and would swap yours out, usually in a few minutes. If they didn't have any, they could order one from any of several manufacturers and even install it for you.

Thank you for eloquently highlighting one of the big problems associated with being an internet buyer. If you can't find a local dive shop willing to help, you might try Cressi-sub. Their US office is not far from you:


Let them know that their vendor can't help you - they love hearing stuff like that.

Wow to the above post, I did notice something similar on the OMS website last night but I think they were balls also, and I think they may have been zipper pulls but were made so they were easy for gloved hands to find.
I like the shape of the ones on my zeagle, I can find my lower one with no problems with gloves. I guess reefraff might be right about the LDS in this case, but too bad I hate the only LDS withen 1.5 hours of my home in Louisiana.
I am however looking for a LDS here in Rio and think I have found one, luckily their English is better than my Portuguese (im getting much better), but so far I feel more comfortable buying from the internet instead of Brasil and just diving with the dive shop I have found here.

Put a big button on it or a stick with a hole in it or a ceiling fan pull or etc, etc,etc. Doesn't have to be superduper DIR hi tech $30 superdelux state of the art. Look around for anything that suits your needs. OH never mind, I forgot "It's life support equiptment"

sytech:

Want to replace "pull balls" on dump valves
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I have a Cressi-Sub Aqualight-R BC which I love.

The only thing I don't like are the "pull balls" on the dump valves.

They are round and like a large marble have no texture. I have seen others which have different shapes and textures which make them easier to locate by hand feel.

I buy from LeisurePro and they seem to have everything but I can't find these things.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Sy

*

Click to expand...

If you're having trouble locating the ball then you might want to try a different way of feeling for it. To better your chances of finding it, try this: First feel for the exhaust valve with the back of your hand touching your bcd. Second, put your fingers around the valve in something like a big OK sign with the valve in the middle of the OK and third, close your hand while slipping it off of the valve. Ball or no ball you should now have the string in your hand.

Once you get good that this, then you can probably even do it with just two fingers. Either way, the the idea is to find the valve first because you know for sure that the string goes right in the middle of it.

R..

Despite your sarcastic opening line , you do stumble onto some good points. You also appear to have an "agenda" of some sort. You an LDS maybe? I went to your website and see that you are apparently highly qualified but not exactly "objective".

B.t.w., I always like the obligatory "alcohol (ic)" references. In a sport where so much time energy and rhetoric is given to safety concerns I have always been amazed at the concommitant crowing about getting buzzed (usually the night before diving) despite an avalanche of evidence from any and all sources that drinking and diving are real risk enhancers. Anyway, that's a separate book. Nothing personal. I've done my share for sure.


Getting back to my first paragraph, that's called "competition".

Let me clarify something for you:

I never said that LeisurePro "wouldn't help" I simply said that I could not find the item (at their internet site). I didn't know what the term was and couldn't find them in the search engine.

Had I picked up the phone and called LeisurePro I would have had a quick answer. Also, posting a question like this on this website is likely to get me answers which are more informed and without the conflict of interest which the LDS usually has when you purchase equipment from them. The Internet has given us a way to get answers from highly qualified personnel throughout the world and not have to rely on a particular LDS. I think that's a much better way to go. I want to thank the other posters who have answered my query.

I have bought lots of stuff from LeisurePro and find them to be extremely reliable and certainly less expensive than an LDS can be. Oh yeah, I did email Cressi about a month ago but never received a reply.

I also find your final quote (from Churchill) to be quite foolish not to mention wholly inaccurate. Save those comments for the many regimes in the world who never do "right" nor intend to.

Sy

reefraff:

to find out that Leisure Pro can't help you with this problem...

Once upon a time there used to be places called local dive shops. They were somewhere divers could go to get service, parts and advice, as well as purchase gear and get some training. In those days, if you didn't like your pull-ball, you went in to the local dive shop and talked to them.

The LDS guy would usually start by actually talking to you about your problem and dispensing some "free" advice, which might go something like this: Is this really a problem or do you just need a little practice finding the thing? Do you know that many divers remove the pull-balls and just leave the string so that they won't worry about them getting hooked on something and tearing loose? If you wear gloves, are you going to be able to distinguish the difference?

If you decided you still wanted to replace the ball, they often had a couple of different versions back in the repair room and would swap yours out, usually in a few minutes. If they didn't have any, they could order one from any of several manufacturers and even install it for you.

Thank you for eloquently highlighting one of the big problems associated with being an internet buyer. If you can't find a local dive shop willing to help, you might try Cressi-sub. Their US office is not far from you:

Cressi-Sub U.S.A. INC.
1, Charles St.
Westwood
NJ 07675 - USA
Tel.(800) 338 9143/(201) 594 1450
Fax (800) 493 2680/(201) 594 1453
Mail: cressiusa1@aol.com​

Let them know that their vendor can't help you - they love hearing stuff like that.

Click to expand...

captain:

Put a big button on it or a stick with a hole in it or a ceiling fan pull or etc, etc,etc. Doesn't have to be superduper DIR hi tech $30 superdelux state of the art. Look around for anything that suits your needs. OH never mind, I forgot "It's life support equiptment"

Click to expand...

The DIR configuration specifies a pull dump with only a knot on the line.

The DIR configuration specifies a pull dump with only a knot on the line.

Click to expand...

But it's a really nice, expesive knot.

Also, I always like the obligatory "alcohol (ic)" references. In a sport where so much time energy and rhetoric is given to safety concerns I have always been amazed at the concommitant crowing about getting buzzed (usually the night before diving) despite an avalanche of evidence from any and all sources that drinking and diving are real risk enhancers. Anyway, that's a separate book. Please don't waste bandwidth

Click to expand...

Sorry to ask this it just bothers me when I read something and can't figure out what the Author is talking about. Can you explain this. I read the response 4 times and missed the references that you are talking about.

Anyway I would look around for something that meets your needs to replace the dumpvalve balls, maybe outside of the scubaworld. If they are plastic you could drill some holes in them to give them some texture?

Thanks for the advice. That's a very good approach but I still would like to get another shape.

By the way, is there a formal name for these things? (dump valve balls?)

Thanks

Diver0001:

If you're having trouble locating the ball then you might want to try a different way of feeling for it. To better your chances of finding it, try this: First feel for the exhaust valve with the back of your hand touching your bcd. Second, put your fingers around the valve in something like a big OK sign with the valve in the middle of the OK and third, close your hand while slipping it off of the valve. Ball or no ball you should now have the string in your hand.

Once you get good that this, then you can probably even do it with just two fingers. Either way, the the idea is to find the valve first because you know for sure that the string goes right in the middle of it.

R..

Click to expand...