OOA... Never Assume Reason

[Kicker1866]

My buddy and I came down to South Florida to do some Lobster diving. So today a solo showed up on the boat and we got “insta-buddied “ with him. No biggie. Nice enough guy. It was his first time hunting bugs and I think Capt figured we were a good option. (Both Rescue cert).

So about 30 min into the first dive, “insta-buddy” pops up in my mask slicing his head off with his hand. (Second time I’ve had this happen to me... first time freaked me out... today I was surprisingly calm) So I get my reg in his mouth and get on my Air2. I get hold of his BC at arms length and get him to make eye contact. He calms down after a few breaths and I signal to him we will ascend slowly.

Once on the surface and inflated he tells me he swears he had just checked his gas and had 1500. Onboard the captain and him talk and they assume he was just over breathing and not keeping a close eye. They set up tank #2 and his gauge reads 3100, so everyone assumes this was not an equipment issue.

I started to tell him to turn tank off and breath through reg while watching his gauge but didn’t. (Should’ve gone with my first instinct but part of me didn’t want to upstage Capt who seemed to take control topside)

So, we splash dive #2..... about 1/3 of the way thru I catch his attention and ask him how much gas he has. He glances at the gauge and his eyes get big as saucers. I’m thinking “Holy Crap... is he OOA again?” He flips the gauge around and it shows 3100.

So, clearly we have a gauge issue. I send him up the line (we were towing a float).

Moral of the story (I suppose) is to thoroughly investigate problems and not assume the cause....assumptions could lead to further problems.

 

[drbill]

My SPG has been sticking at about 1000 psi lately. Two dives ago it suddenly dropped from there to 600 psi in seconds. I'm beginning to think I need redundancy in SPGs as well as dive computers, etc.

 

[northernone]

Sluggish or unpredictably sticky guages are annoying! Especially if they do keep moving just inaccurately.

I did a 19 dives on one that would move normally from 3000 to 1200. From 1200 it would move to 700. When reading 700 it would be at 0. Dry on a predive check it behaves normally. The slow sweeping movement if an actual dive was a more delicate guage motion and that's when it got progressively stuck.

It stayed predictably wrong until I retired it. They are funny things when they fail.

Glad you handled the OOA situation well and it wasn't a serious issue for your buddy. Good on you!

Cameron

 

[taimen]

This reminds me of the endless threads about Air integrated computers and unreliability of their transmitters.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I look at my spg about ten times during an average dive, more if I'm deep. If mine is sticking or inaccurate I know long before it would become a problem. I do carry a computer with a transmitter as a backup spg but I always look at my spg often anyway.

 

[tarponchik]

Happened to me once too, also while diving in South FL. But I figured the gauge failure at once.

 

[Kharon]

Never thought about a SPG sticking. Kind of makes sense that it's important to have a good idea of time down, depth, and SAC even without a computer & SPG.

 

[AJ]

I guestimate remaining gas and check SPG every 10 minutes. Exactly to prevent this scenario.

 

[johndiver999]

I guestimate remaining gas and check SPG every 10 minutes. Exactly to prevent this scenario.

Exactly. I would not mess around with a sticking spg
Unless I was solo diving in 20’feet or so. We should all be trained to “trust but verify “ the readings from all our guages.

 

[PfcAJ]

My SPG has been sticking at about 1000 psi lately. Two dives ago it suddenly dropped from there to 600 psi in seconds. I'm beginning to think I need redundancy in SPGs as well as dive computers, etc.

You know its broken but still dive it?

If you cant maintain one SPG what makes you think you can maintain two?