Dangerous BC witnessed this weekend!!!

[Xanthro]

Why condem the BC. It appears someone was handing him weight in the water, which he put into his pouches, in the water. He's new, and could have easily overloaded the pocket and put the weight in in such a manner that the drop pouch couldn't function properly.

More than once, I've ripped keys apart opening a lock. Doesn't mean the concept of the key is defective.

Xanthro

 

[opiniongirl]

This weekend I saw a guy wearing what I believe was a "Mares Dragonfly" BC.

There should be a law against selling this kind of crap. The BC was weight integrated and had this really odd inflate/deflate "block" for lack of a better word down by the waist, left side.

This guy was obviously a new diver, wearing new equipment. The dealer should be ashamed. The guy was having weighting difficulties. No fault there. We've all been there. We were helping him put weights in his integrated pouches. A little at a time.

Then it happened. He comes up again, still underweighted. We have him pull the pouches. He pulls both and BAMM. One pouch deploys as designed. The other one......JUST THE HANDLE, NYLON STRAP AND SOME PIECE OF PLASTIC!!!!!

The piece of plastic I believe is something to give shape and help quide out the pouch. The pouch just cinches down over the strap mechanism. Using some kind of barrel lock type of deal. You know the kind that never works for very long.

Had this guy been in a real tight spot and needed to dump weight...all of it, he would have been screwed!

I didnt get to examine the gear over and over for a while. I dont think I need to. This thing and anything that looks like it, should be recalled for SAFETY reasons. This is a BAD design and you should all be aware of it.

Stay Safe!
Sparky

Mares has had problems with their weights for years. I had one a few years back - velcro only for the weights - and my weights would fall out underwater!!

So I called our rep (I was an instructor / retail at a store) and they told me that I just wasn't putting the weights in properly! Sigh... then customers were having the same problems, and eventually the weight mechanism was pulled.

then there's the hub...

Mares has great regs and great fins, but they just can't seem to sort out the weights...

 

[alemaozinho]

This weekend I saw a guy wearing what I believe was a "Mares Dragonfly" BC.

There should be a law against selling this kind of crap. The BC was weight integrated and had this really odd inflate/deflate "block" for lack of a better word down by the waist, left side.

This guy was obviously a new diver, wearing new equipment. The dealer should be ashamed. The guy was having weighting difficulties. No fault there. We've all been there. We were helping him put weights in his integrated pouches. A little at a time.

Then it happened. He comes up again, still underweighted. We have him pull the pouches. He pulls both and BAMM. One pouch deploys as designed. The other one......JUST THE HANDLE, NYLON STRAP AND SOME PIECE OF PLASTIC!!!!!

The piece of plastic I believe is something to give shape and help quide out the pouch. The pouch just cinches down over the strap mechanism. Using some kind of barrel lock type of deal. You know the kind that never works for very long.

Had this guy been in a real tight spot and needed to dump weight...all of it, he would have been screwed!

I didnt get to examine the gear over and over for a while. I dont think I need to. This thing and anything that looks like it, should be recalled for SAFETY reasons. This is a BAD design and you should all be aware of it.

Stay Safe!
Sparky

welcome to the twentyfirst century,ditching all your weight at once leaves you at neptunes mercy.So many designs come and go but i really love the fact of weight integration ,but why in the hell everyone,s so concerned with dumping weights all the time??I,m diving for over 21 years and i didnt have any emergencies yet ,or had to ditch my weights and i dont know any of my previous and current buddies had one yet,because we,re still very anal about servicing,predive safety checks and so on.you should focus more on planning as on emergencies,an ounce of prevention is better then an ounce of cure.Peace :11:

 

[Firefyter]

oops...I see Firefyter did a splendid job while I was composing my novella, lol

Oh...btw, FF, very impressive and sweet...being so knowledgeable about your wife's equipment.



>C

Thank you, but I know my wife's equipment for a couple of reasons. I dive with her, I love my wife, and I love my life...simple as that.

 

[aquaoren]

Everybody is ranting over the "dangerous" BC.
Anyone thought about the possibility of a user failure to load the BC weight pockets in an appropriate manor? Since the owner of the BC wasn't familiar with it and the "helper" doesn't appear to be familiar with this system either, it would be very possible that with all the put it in, take it out, reload more lead, put it back again and so on and so on, something could have went wrong?

 

[waterdaughter]

Everybody is ranting over the "dangerous" BC.
Anyone thought about the possibility of a user failure to load the BC weight pockets in an appropriate manor? Since the owner of the BC wasn't familiar with it and the "helper" doesn't appear to be familiar with this system either, it would be very possible that with all the put it in, take it out, reload more lead, put it back again and so on and so on, something could have went wrong?

Good point...I was so busy defending the design, that I hadn't considered the possibility of the user loading incorrectly.
In all fairness to the diver, it is more difficult to insert the pockets properly along the guide track lining the pocket, if you are already in the water. As I said earlier, there's a bit of a knack to it, though simple once you get the action mastered. (you have to sort of tilt and slide in, then lock).

It was still puzzling me that the pocket fell apart, though...since the lock seems to hold the weight pocket quite adequately, even if you bungled the operation of securing to the guide track. (as I have )

In checking the manual, I see that there is a max. limit of 6kg (13lb) per side compartment for sizes med and >.

So, you're absolutely right (jealous I didn't think of it, though, lol)...if the fellow was underweighted and fumbling about trying to add more and more weight on the surface..and exceeded the max., well this wouldn't even qualify as a defective BC, let alone a bad design.

Cathy

 

[MonkSeal]

Mares has great regs and great fins, but they just can't seem to sort out the weights...

Maybe their fins are OK (I can't comment I've never tried it) but their regs are far from great.

 

[Firefyter]

Maybe their fins are OK (I can't comment I've never tried it) but their regs are far from great.

The guy that set the record at 313 meters using the MR22 first stage and the Abyss second stage would probably disagree.

 

[MonkSeal]

The guy that set the record at 313 meters using the MR22 first stage and the Abyss second stage would probably disagree.

I can't say anything for his reg but I can say something about my experience and experience of people I dive with.

As Mark Ellyatt chose Mares, some other record setter will choose Apeks or Scubapro. This will not afect my choice.

 

[The Kraken]

Geez, how did we get onto regulators?