Sherwood SR1 second stage falling apart

Please forgive me in advance for my lack of knowledge on part names and more. I'm new to this.
so, let me provide a short background. I bought an SR1 as my first regulator about 1 1/2 months ago. I've used it for about 25 dives. I really enjoy it.
I was in Pompano Beach, Florida for a week and used it for about 10 great dives. I try to take care of it well.
I was doing my final dive, a beach dive, of the trip. The swimout was 45 (yes, fourty five!) minutes to the 2nd reef. I got there and was about to descend (oh yeah, the current was pretty bouncy and I drank plenty of seawater - yuk) when I reached to my 2nd stage and went to purge before placing the mouth piece in. I felt nothing there - the plastic cover and everything it held it had fallen off. That's right, the diaphragm and all the other "stuff" inside plus the plastic screw-on cover were gone. Guess what? I have no regulator. Is this a normal occurrence? My LDS was kind enough to offer to "fix" it by replacing the parts and charging me $50 plus $20 shipping. Thanks.
Anyhow, what's the deal? How does this happen? Who would think that the 2nd stage should so easily fall apart? I have never been told to check my 2nd stage (and I did do a check of it before the swim-out) to make sure it doesn't unscrew itself - maybe it's me being naive. Please, I welcome any thoughts...it's only 2 months old!
Steve

Firstly I do hope you didnt pay the $50.00 without having it checked by the manufacturers representitive.

Secondly, it sounds odd, the 1st stage of the SR-1 has issues, but its the first time I hear that the second stage has been problematic.

thanks Widget. Unfortunately, I paid the $70 ($50 + $20 shipping) as I want to dive...I'm leaving shortly for a trip to FL for the sole purpose of diving. I'm very frustrated by this. I've since checked several SR1s and it's really not easy to unscrew this assembly. There is no reason this should have happened as far as I can tell.
Steve

To my knowledge, I am not aware of any of these coming un-screwed. My guess is that it was not completetly tightened when you went out for your dive.

Sherwood

umm, why would a brand new SR1 not be completely tightened? I certainly didn't unscrew it.

Could heve been unscrewed by a shop employee or a consumer wanting to see what the inside of the 2nd stage looked like.

The design of the SR1 second stage is similar to many other regs on the market when it comes to the cover etc... A regulator coming apart although rare does happen on occassion - I have a collection of covers etc that I have collected over the years on the bottom from this exact occurrence. Now it is probably quit true that you did not unscrew the cover- but over the course of 25 dives and the reg being packed and unpacked and handled the cover probably worked its way loose and during the long swim out water action or the reg brushing the bottom - or against your arm etc it was enough to dislodge the cover.
This most likely is not a manufacturers defect or anything wrong with the reg- this is a rare occurrence but it does happen so many instructors and store do not mention this. When we get rental regs back- we have a mix of Sherwood, TUSA and Dive Rite rental gear we always check the covers and it is not that unusual to find one a half turn or so loose. I have also seen this happen on dive boats to APEKs, Oceanic, ScubaPro and other models.
Althought this is an unfortunate occurrence the manufacturer was not at fault here. I bet checking to see that your reg cover is tight will become a part of your pre-dive checks from now on. Also if on a long swim the reg was dragging in the water - it brushing against your arm or leg can unscrew the cover- when you reg is not in your mouth on a long surface swim make sure it is clipped off somewhere where it will not be constantly brushing against something.

(I do not work for Sherwood but am a certified reg tech on all their regs)

Japan-Diver is correct about 2nd stage covers working themselves loose. We always check our regs when we rent them out and again when they are returned. It isn't uncommon to find the retainer a quarter turn or more loose.
The retainer ring isn't torqued down, it's tightened by hand. Just make it a habit to give the retainer ring a clockwise twist whenever you take it out of your gear bag and again whe you return it to the gear bag to insure it's snug.
You can also order a spare cover, retainer, and diaphragm and keep it in your spare parts kit for insurance.

thanks for that, I appreciate the tips folks. you're right, I clearly will check the cover but this seems a really unfortunate scenario. Just bought the darned thing!
the reality is that I probably would keep a spare set but I'm told it was 5 parts. I've spent a LOT of $ in the first few months of diving but $50 for these little pieces of plastic seems like a lot of $. Besides, I can't imagine this happened so easily and there not being some design that could help prevent this. I'm sure the manufacturers don't really want this type of thing occurring.

BTW, Capt. Larry, I'm heading to Key Largo today (I'm down from the cold northeast sitting in Pompano now and noticed you're there). You don't keep those parts in stock do ya?
thanks again guys...

Hmmm, In my experience these covers dont unscrew on their own.

In fact we often struggle to open some of them as salt, grit etc lodges in the threads and makes removing it more difficult.

I am not saying it cant happen, just saying I have never seen it.

Its much more likely someone opened it at the store and didnt close it down tight again allowing it to work loose over time, but, good advice to check before a dive (which I am sure you will do now anyway )