We had a new diver join our
group. Ken hadn’t been diving for
quite a while and wanted to get back into the sport so he met up with us at
Pearl Lake to check out his gear. One look at his gear and there was no doubt
that he got certified a long time ago, about 1973, and was still using his
original gear. Now, don’t get me
wrong. Gear, when well maintained,
can last 20+ years, but let that same gear sit idly for any length of time and
the fabric and anything rubber will start to become brittle and subject to
breaking down. Ken was diving a Scubapro MARC VII regulator and a WATER GILL/AT PAC BCD. As Ken was finishing
his first dive, we could see bubbles coming from his BCD. Upon further investigation Ken found
that the inner bladder of the BCD had deteriorated and was actually crumbling
in his hands. Can you
imagine the danger had the bladder come apart while he was underwater? I let Ken use my BALANCE so he was able
to get another dive in, so his trip to Pearl was still worth it.
Another equipment issue was a dry
suit purchased on E-BAY. While
Nikki bought a new BARE Trilam Tech Dry dry suit from Manta Divers, her husband,
John, got a “deal” on a used one through E-bay. Online, it looked like a pretty
good deal; a DUI with newly replaced valves. When the suit arrived in the mail, however, the bargain
started looking a little suspect. The valves looked brand new, but the rest of
the suit was well worn, with evidence of several repairs due to leaks. The
proof was in the dive. At the start of the dive, John thought that there “might
be” a small leak in the suit, but he did not think it was bad enough to abort
the dive, so he went on. When John
came out of the lake, however, he bought about 10 gallons of fresh lake water
in the suit with him. Needless to
say, John is looking at a new dry suit for next season. It was an expensive lesson he
learned!
Anyway, we all still had fun and
enjoyed yet another day of diving with phenomenal visibility at Pear Lake!
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