OldNSalty
Contributor
And if the SMB had failed or you let it go?
Malfunctioning BCD at depth
- Thread starter Freewillow
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That wasn't relevant to my decision. I had lost one layer of security in a situation where I wanted to have two layers, and that's a good enough reason for me to thumb the dive. That we could repair the valve was incidental. Besides, when we were underwater and decided to thumb the dive we had no idea of whether or not we would be able to fix it.
The ocean would be there the next day, the next week, the next year and long after I've quit diving and started to push up daisies instead. If something goes sideways underwater, I either fix it completely or thumb the dive. I have a healthy respect for the incident pit.
OP
3 alternatives:
1. remember I could finish the dive and go to the surface because I was not overweighted, even with an empty BCD.
2. My buddy wife has also a large SMB.
3. Ditch weights or give weights to my buddy wife.
OldNSalty
Contributor
Clearly you survived. I think anytime a primary system fails that you needed for a dive it is time to switch to the backup and safely end the dive until corrections can be made.
Just gonna leave this here...regardless, pretty dangerous stuff. Depending on the situation I might have done the same, but only because I use drysuit only for buoyancy underwater so wouldn't notice in most situations. The SMB for redundant buoyancy is for emergencies and as such you should have thumbed it as soon as you realized you needed it.
[video=youtube;rNV2Iz4ydgI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNV2Iz4ydgI[/video]
[video=youtube;rNV2Iz4ydgI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNV2Iz4ydgI[/video]
I like that. Because of my gear, I am always over weighted, even on recreactional dives. A failed wing is big a concern to me. I have gone over scenarios in my head to deal with it if it ever happens but never thought to tuck the SMB under me.
Forgive me if this is a stupid question as I am still new to diving, but wouldn't your BCD have made a "hissing" noise when you first entered the water if air was leaking out your dump valve?
I recently had an issue where I did not tighten the oral inflate hose on my BCD securely enough after taking apart my BCD for cleaning. When I went into the water and tried to inflate for the surface swim, I noticed that I kept on sinking. I tried to inflate my BCD and then heard the "hissing" air nose, similar to when you have a free flow or blown o-ring. I would have thought that the experience would be similar with the dump valve as they are similarly positioned on the BCD (oral inflate hose was on left shoulder, OP said his dump valve was on top right shoulder?). Is this not the case?
I recently had an issue where I did not tighten the oral inflate hose on my BCD securely enough after taking apart my BCD for cleaning. When I went into the water and tried to inflate for the surface swim, I noticed that I kept on sinking. I tried to inflate my BCD and then heard the "hissing" air nose, similar to when you have a free flow or blown o-ring. I would have thought that the experience would be similar with the dump valve as they are similarly positioned on the BCD (oral inflate hose was on left shoulder, OP said his dump valve was on top right shoulder?). Is this not the case?
What if your buddy wife had had something go amiss and needed you to take her to the surface? You should have called the dive.
CptTightPants21
Contributor
Not necessarily. Depends on if he was paying attention, how much air was in the wing, how large the hole was (smaller holes tend to make more hissing sounds).
All of the above should have been caught in the predive check to inflate the wing and initiate the over pressure relief valve. Either the hole is small and you will hear the hissing or the hole is larger and the wing will lose a lot of air/OPV will not engage.
OP
@ Cashew, A very valid question. The dive was initiated from a dinghie for 8 divers. In order to keep the divers relativelly togheter, a "negative entry " was required. This means that the back roll into the wtare is done with an empty BCD bladder. So no possibility to hear a hissing sound.
But, as I said earlier, a proper gera check should include TOTAL AND FULL in flation of the BCD.
Since you are a beginner, let me remind you that your BCD should be at least partially deflated before wtare entry. I have seen once a BCD EXPLODE at the surface, just because it was fully inflated. The whole inflator part came appart :-(. My guess, very unusual, but I have seen it
.@ lovingfishstudent. Thanks for the nice video.
@chillyinCanada. Very Good and valuable point. However we were 3 divers together. everyone with 500+ dives and regularly diving as a trio.
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