What if...? Equipment Issues

[Cave Diver]

The following post is one of a series of threads resulting from a collaboration between [user]Bubbletrubble[/user] and myself.
We have divided the What if...? idea into a series of topics and posted the main thread as a sticky here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...514-what-if-what-do-when-things-go-wrong.html

Please Read The Following Bullet Points Carefully!

• Our intent for this discussion is to get newer divers thinking, not spoon feed them the answers.
• We're going to ask that the more experienced divers don't just jump in with responses to every scenario.
• Instead, we want this to be a two part exercise for newer divers by doing the following:
  • Quote a given scenario and
  • (1) discuss what they would do given the situation
  • (2) talk about how to avoid getting into that situation in the first place.
• Then the more experienced divers can give follow up comments on insights on those answers.

Anyone is encouraged to a post new scenario for discussion, but please follow the instructions above when answering and keep it relevant to the topic.

Equipment issues
* What would you do if your buddy kicked your reg out of your mouth?
* What would you do if your mask strap broke and you lost your mask?
* What would you do if a fin strap broke during your dive?
* What would you do if your inflator/dump valve pulled out of your BC?
* What would you do if your only light went out on a night dive?

 

[TexasKaren68]

* What would you do if your buddy kicked your reg out of your mouth?

check for broken teeth, then slowly breathe out (small bubbles), find my reg and put it back, . I did this numerous times in OW training and didn't have a problem with it. I might grab my alternate if my primary wasn't as easy to grab as it was in class.

* What would you do if your mask strap broke and you lost your mask?

Swear through my regulator and then hope my buddy can find it. If not I'd hold on to my buddy as we surface.

* What would you do if a fin strap broke during your dive?

Well, according to the fine folks on SB, as soon as I get my spring straps this weekend I'll never have to worry about this I guess if one did break I'd make do with one fin and head to the boat/shore to get my spare.

* What would you do if your inflator/dump valve pulled out of your BC?

Um, don't know because I'm not exactly sure what this means

* What would you do if your only light went out on a night dive?

Hope that someone close to me (my buddy) has a light and we can hang on to each other and most likely cut the dive short.

 

[Cave Diver]

* What would you do if your inflator/dump valve pulled out of your BC?

Um, don't know because I'm not exactly sure what this means

There have been a few instances where people have had their BC break where the inflator hose goes into it, or the rear dump valve pulls loose. It could be due to the plastic piece that actually attaches breaks, or in some cases it unscrews.

 

[TexasKaren68]

There have been a few instances where people have had their BC break where the inflator hose goes into it, or the rear dump valve pulls loose. It could be due to the plastic piece that actually attaches breaks, or in some cases it unscrews.

So in other words you can't get any air into the BC? I guess this would be where hanging onto a line to ascend could be handy, or hanging on to your buddy. It's my understanding though, that we're supposed to be neutral with NO air in the BC at the end of the dive, so I should be able to swim up to the surface and then ditch my weights if necessary to stay afloat.

 

[Cave Diver]

So in other words you can't get any air into the BC? I guess this would be where hanging onto a line to ascend could be handy, or hanging on to your buddy. It's my understanding though, that we're supposed to be neutral with NO air in the BC at the end of the dive, so I should be able to swim up to the surface and then ditch my weights if necessary to stay afloat.

Here's an incident report of a similar scenario for reference. I disable the link and removed the poster name so you can't easily cheat and read the suggestions.

My significant other, Lee, and I just returned from drift diving in the waters off Jupiter, Florida. Lee is a Master Diver with over 200 dives under his belt. In his entire diving career he has never had a major incident underwater... until yesterday. Upon descent, his BCD inflator hose gave way. He heard a pop as he tried to discharge the air from his BC.

He sensed that something was wrong but his descent continued until he landed on the bottom on his knees with 80 feet of water above him. He then tried to inflate with no lift response. Little did he know but his bladder was quickly filling with water. One of the other divers on the drift dive saw what happened and came over to show Lee that his inflator hose was detached and broken. And then the diver swam away and continued with his dive.

Yes, you read this right... the diver saw a fellow diver in distress and he swam off and left the distressed diver! Nice diving "etiquette." (Good thing Lee didn't tell me this while we were on the boat or I would have had some choice words for this idiot.)

But I digress...Lee then decided he had to bale out on the dive due to the emergency situation. He made an attempt to swim to the surface. But his weights and lack of buoyancy worked against him.

 

[TexasKaren68]

Here's an incident report of a similar scenario for reference. I disable the link and removed the poster name so you can't easily cheat and read the suggestions.

You can search for text. It took me about five seconds It's not cheating because I already gave my answer, so there :tongue2: Now I can go read the 210 responses to the other thread

 

[rubixcube]

* What would you do if your buddy kicked your reg out of your mouth?
Recover and purge the reg, no hard feelings about it, just be careful when ya get behind me .
* What would you do if your mask strap broke and you lost your mask?
If unable to recover and my buddy is unable to recover I would signal my buddy and have them direct my ascent/safety stop.
* What would you do if a fin strap broke during your dive?
Signal buddy, ascend having buddy help pull me up if necessary skipping safety stop if too difficult to ascend.
* What would you do if your inflator/dump valve pulled out of your BC?
Pretty much same as above, signal, ascend with aid, skip safety stop if too difficult.
* What would you do if your only light went out on a night dive?
Swim to buddy and get their attention, ascend with safety stop.

Prevention involves good gear maintenance and pre-dive inspection, as well as having a buddy who knows what to do in said situations.

 

[TexasKaren68]

Now I can go read the 210 responses to the other thread

OMG What a thread! I'm sure there were helpful answers in there somewhere, in between the bickering, finger-pointing and CSI Scubaboard. I especially liked the suggestion to turn yourself head down so the air in your BC goes to the rear (with the shoulder dump broken open)

 

[Cave Diver]

I especially liked the suggestion to turn yourself head down so the air in your BC goes to the rear (with the shoulder dump broken open)

That's actually a viable solution, as well as rolling to one side so that the broken dump is on the side that's down. Since air is going to seek the highest point you dont have to be very heads down, or on your side for it to work enough to get you to the surface.

But now you get the idea why we structured these threads this way and put it in the New Divers section.

CSI: ScubaBoard...

 

[k ellis]

* What would you do if your inflator/dump valve pulled out of your BC?

Believe it or not this happend to me. My hose deflator house cam off right at the BCD. I had to surface and luckily was properly weighted to where this was no issue. Cave diver was correct though that when I noticed the air leaving the shoulder dump I tilted my left arm down and saved what little air I could save in that right corner. This actually was not a fun scenario.