Rental equipment failure in Belize

[tomsuelaw]

Last January, my husband and I dove the Turnoff Atoll in Belize. We booked thru a cruise excursion and dove with a well known respected dive company in the area. We do not have equipment of our own so we rented. On our first dive, my depth gauge malfunctioned and was reading 10ft when we were at 80. When I realized this, I alerted my buddy(hubby) and stayed close to him for the rest of the dive instead of ending it. We used his gauge for both of us and all was fine. At the surface interval, I alerted my divemaster and asked him if he had a replacement gauge. He informed me that they had no extra equipment on board and he then tapped my gauge (which was stuck at 10ft) and the needle dislodged and went back to zero. He gleefully stated, "problem solved". Well, that problem was solved, but a new one transpired with my hubby's equipment on the next dive. This time, his deptha gauge was stuck on zero so we were forced to use mine. We tried tapping his, but to no avail. Once again, at the surface we alerted the divemaster and he did not seem to care. We returned the equpment hoping that it would be fixed before it is used again. Needless to say, the experience was a wake up call and has now made us hesitant to rent again.

Has anyone else had this happen? Is this common? Was it acceptable safety measures to finish the dive with a buddy's working gauge in very close range? Any suggestions on knowing what to look for when renting equipment?

Now I know one solution to this problem is have your own equipment and keep it well maintained. However, equipment is currently not in our budget and we only get to dive about once a year. In addition to that, we are currently in our child bearing stage of life, so we can only dive between pregnancies, which sometimes makes intervals between diving over a year. Needless to say, equipment is not a wise investment at this time. However, safety is a huge concern. Is it unwise to rent? Basically, at this point it is either rent or not dive. Which is wiser/better? We obviously say renting. Any opinions?

 

[Wookie]

At least buy regulators and dive computers. I think that is necessary after buying basic gear. Get what you can afford, and are comfortable with. You can always upgrade later.

 

[bamamedic]

Any chance you could rent gear from a local dive shop that you trust and take it with you on your dive trip? That way, you have rental gear that's reliable. At least, you might be able to each rent a reg set and take it with you.

You know, there's no need to go out and buy all the gear you need right away. Have you thought of maybe buying your gear piece by piece. If you shop carefully, and find good sales (or good used gear), you might be able to at least purchase your own regs.

I would've definitely aborted the second dive, though. You know that your depth gauge isn't all that reliable (it has stuck before and might read wrong again), and since your hubby's gauge broke, then you really don't have a reliable way of judging depth.

It's a shame the dive operator didn't seem all that concerned with the issue.

P.S. Are you diving tables?

 

[tomsuelaw]

I would've definitely aborted the second dive, though. You know that your depth gauge isn't all that reliable (it has stuck before and might read wrong again), and since your hubby's gauge broke, then you really don't have a reliable way of judging depth.

I see what you mean, but it was pretty clear that my gauge was working at that time. If we had any doubt of it's accuracy, we would've aborted. We were diving the same local as last time so had some idea of what depth was what based on land marks of the previous dive (assuming you can have landmarks under the sea, haha). We also stayed close to the others in the group, including the DM.

Were we diving tables you asked? Not sure what you mean. We used diving tables yes, and on the first dive we did multi-level dive. We did not have computers but did all the math and recorded our times, depths, limits and levels etc. Is that what you meant?

 

[bamamedic]

The gauge was working at the start of your dive, but since it already failed and "stuck" once...there's a good chance that whatever caused the needle to stick (maybe crud stuck in the gauge or something) is still there and might cause it to stick again.

Nothing wrong with using local landmarks, I guess. I've dove the same quarry many times...I'd feel pretty OK with diving the usual spots without a depth gauge. Truthfully, I wouldn't do this in a site I wasn't extremely familiar with, though.

The only multi level tables I can think of is some sort of PADI wheel thingy....or maybe it's a calculator. I'm really not all that familiar with PADI tables. I know the NAUI ones and the TDI ones I have don't allow for multilevel dives.

 

[ptyx]

Even with a tight budget, I'd try to buy at least one computer or depth gauge.

There are plenty of cheap options: from capillary gauges such as that one to old models available on eBay - you don't need anything fancy, just time and depth.

Compared to the price of a dive, it ain't much - and although a good dive shop should rent you reliable gauges it's also the only piece of gear they can't fix when it's broken... so it tends to stay broken longer.

About the rest of the gear... a non functional BC or regulator (excluding minor leaks/bubbles, etc.) might cause dead customers - which is bad for business, so it's usually pretty reliable.

 

[Graeme Tolton]

I am a fan of buying used equipment. A used reg that has been rebuilt is just as reliable as a new reg. A trusty old conshelf can be had for a song and is just as reliable as most of the regs on the store shelves!

 

[scubafanatic]

...I'd suggest you rent from your local dive shop.....where you can hook up all your gear onto a full tank and do a 'dry-test' of all the gear before rental (see if the guages work/ reg feels OK/ BCD holds air).....a 'bonus' would be if your local dive shop has a pool where you can gear up and do a basic pool test....as you're in Ohio, it may be too cold to attempt this, but it would even be better if you could arrange a quarry/lake dive locally, and take the gear out for a proper test dive before your trip. .....honestly, if it were me, I wouldn't really rely on rental gear...it's just too iffy for my taste...at least with my own gear I know where it's been...how it's been treated/maintained...but I know budget is a big concern for you now...so the above is my best suggestion.....another thought, if you rent gear from whereever you actually go on vacation, instead of locally (at home) ...see if you can do a shallow beach dive with the gear first...so you can test the gear and do a weight check......this assumes you will be able to use the same exact set of gear during your whole trip......if you are being issued different sets of gear on each dive or on a daily basis...then testing your gear 'on site' is going to be impractical and you are better off renting your gear from your local dive shop at home so you know you will have the same set of gear for the entire trip.

 

[firstdive2005]

Hi I'm glad you are able to write about your (miss)adventure. Your words speak with high values, I dont think you should change and trust your lives with life-saving gear that you dont know if or when it's been serviced. I just bought very expensive demo regs for $250.00. I could pick up a good used air computer combo for under a hundred dollars. So can you, that's not a lot of money, could be saved within the year you go diving. For me thats how I started. Now I have a lot of great equipment that I can depend on. I feel good when I dive with my equipment. I asked a lot of questions and read a lot on gear so that I choose right for me the first time. As I got more advanced and I was able to upgrade I gave the used gear to my dive masters on Coz. They use it well now.
So my blathering means try and buy simple good used regs and guages for traveling. There are lots of deals here on the board and elsewhere. Just be diligent in your search. Regs last a long time when you look after them. I hope you have a good time looking for them. kev

 

[RonFrank]

You can pick up a used computer for somewhere in the $100 range. You would have to shop this used, and know what you want and what it is worth, but it is VERY worthwhile doing.

I'd look at an Aeris Atoms II, or something similar. That computer was discontinued a couple years ago, and I see them on Ebay for in the $100 range.