Stupid mistake

[StuartT]

I was hesitant to post because I feel like such an idiot but thought I should so others don't make the same mistake.
So last Sunday myself and 7 of my regular dive buddies went out to Kelvin Grove in West Vancouver to dive the very cool wall there. I'm setting up my rig, bcd on, regs on, integrated weights in, tank charged and ready to go. Just need to don my drysuit put my rig on and walk to the water. Well I decide my rig will be ok for a couple of minutes standing up about 30" off the ground (wrong) while I put on my suit. The stupid thing is I saw it was tippy after I put my front weight pouches in and I shifted the rear trim weights a bit to make it stable. I was also hesitant to lay it down because the concrete block it was standing on was dirty. Ok now I feel really stupid because as I turn around to put on my suit the whole thing tips over forward landing upside down right on the yoke adapter of my first stage bending it sending air hissing all over the place blowing the grass and dirt it landed on all over everything in a 6 ft radius. I get the air turned off and start assessing the damage. Well my yoke adapter bracket is bent and won't secure to my other tank. So some of my buddies offer up their pony regs for me to use so I can do the dives. Simple fix just swap my second stage,hoses,transmitter, etc. to their first stage and I'm good to go. So I'm taking off my transmitter from my first stage with one of those little scuba wrenches and puncture my palm with the little screwdriver thats sticking out the end. At this point I decide to thumb the dives figuring it just wasn't my day. Plus I was mad at myself for being so stupid about leaving my charged scuba unit standing up. I've been diving for 3 years now and up till now never had to miss a dive for equipment forgotten or any other reason. I'm also very anal about rinsing, and regularly maintaing all my stuff. SO NEVER EVER LEAVE YOUR RIG STANDING UP EVEN FOR A FEW SECONDS UNATTENDED I WAS LUCKY ONLY MY YOKE ADAPTER NEEDED REPLACED. HAD THE VALVE LANDED ON CONCRETE COULD HAVE BEEN WAY WORSE. TANK VALVE COULD HAVE BROKE CREATING A MISSILE.

LEASON LEARNED. I'LL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN.

 

[oggy666]

its so tempting to let it stand for a few seconds, i will definitely think twice from now on lol

 

[TSandM]

Thank you very much for posting this. As with my brain fart of the other day, it's important to share these wake-up calls so somebody else can benefit from the lesson without actually having to break anything to do it.

 

[ZapDiver]

I can definitely relate to you. On my fisrt year diving I bought an expensive BCD, and while returning from a shore dive, we ussually open the back lid (hope that's the correct name) of the pick up, to place the tank and help us take off the equipment. One time I did so, but instead of securing the tank (still attached to the BCD), I turned to do something else and sudenly heark a loud bang and heard the air scaping from the tank. I wasn't so fortunate as you were, since my Yoke got bend, but also my BCD got punctured with a really big hole. Since that day, I learned to never leave my equipment unattended.

Greetings

 

[NAUIwowee]

Don't beat yourself up too bad, dude. You're not alone in this. About a year after I was certified, I arrived early at a local spring and had to wait for the rest of my dive party to arrive. So, I fully assembled my rig with the air turned on and left it standing upright on a wooden bench. I then grabbed something to read and sat down on the opposite end of the bench. You can guess what happens next. The 2x's of the bench flexed upwards on the opposite end and there goes my rig, yoke first into the dirt. Same result as you. Bent yoke, air squealing, lot's of cursing and utter embarassment. Unfortunately, I did not have another reg, so my day was done before it started. Ever since then, as I'm sure you will from now on, I always lay my rig down after assembly.

 

[InTheDrink]

I was hesitant to post because I feel like such an idiot but thought I should so others don't make the same mistake.
So last Sunday myself and 7 of my regular dive buddies went out to Kelvin Grove in West Vancouver to dive the very cool wall there. I'm setting up my rig, bcd on, regs on, integrated weights in, tank charged and ready to go. Just need to don my drysuit put my rig on and walk to the water. Well I decide my rig will be ok for a couple of minutes standing up about 30" off the ground (wrong) while I put on my suit. The stupid thing is I saw it was tippy after I put my front weight pouches in and I shifted the rear trim weights a bit to make it stable. I was also hesitant to lay it down because the concrete block it was standing on was dirty. Ok now I feel really stupid because as I turn around to put on my suit the whole thing tips over forward landing upside down right on the yoke adapter of my first stage bending it sending air hissing all over the place blowing the grass and dirt it landed on all over everything in a 6 ft radius. I get the air turned off and start assessing the damage. Well my yoke adapter bracket is bent and won't secure to my other tank. So some of my buddies offer up their pony regs for me to use so I can do the dives. Simple fix just swap my second stage,hoses,transmitter, etc. to their first stage and I'm good to go. So I'm taking off my transmitter from my first stage with one of those little scuba wrenches and puncture my palm with the little screwdriver thats sticking out the end. At this point I decide to thumb the dives figuring it just wasn't my day. Plus I was mad at myself for being so stupid about leaving my charged scuba unit standing up. I've been diving for 3 years now and up till now never had to miss a dive for equipment forgotten or any other reason. I'm also very anal about rinsing, and regularly maintaing all my stuff. SO NEVER EVER LEAVE YOUR RIG STANDING UP EVEN FOR A FEW SECONDS UNATTENDED I WAS LUCKY ONLY MY YOKE ADAPTER NEEDED REPLACED. HAD THE VALVE LANDED ON CONCRETE COULD HAVE BEEN WAY WORSE. TANK VALVE COULD HAVE BROKE CREATING A MISSILE.

LEASON LEARNED. I'LL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN.

Thanks for your post. I've got into the habit of propping my tanks up against something and then doing other stuff. I guess I would have been posting here in a while too if your post hadn't cropped up first.

Thanks for alerting me to a potential problem that I can now avert

Cheers,
J

 

[openmindOW]

StuartT, thank you for posting. Keep diving.

 

[Wetsuit 4 life]

Thanks for the information, I have always wounder about how much and what kind of damage there would be if my rig fell over.

So Kelvins Grove is open again, they must have fixed the out flow issue?

 

[Akimbo]

Securing your cylinders is a good habit to become obsessive about, especially when you dive off boats sometimes. It is so easy to become complacent about the explosive power we carry on our backs, just as we do about the kinetic energy in the vehicles we drive.

 

[StuartT]

Thanks for the information, I have always wounder about how much and what kind of damage there would be if my rig fell over.

So Kelvins Grove is open again, they must have fixed the out flow issue?

Yeah kelvin is no problem. They are upgrading the system and all the concrete in front of the washrooms is off and that area is fenced off for construction. We set up our gear just up a bit from the washrooms on the grass. That's where all the concrete slabs are stacked up and where I had my rig standing on. I forgot to mention in my post that last Sunday would have been 199 and 200 dives for me but it just wasn't meant to be. Will hopefully be celebrating those dives today on the Sea Dragon afternoon charter.