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Just realized my bailout bottle was dead weight for 3 years because I never checked the valve
Doing a 60 foot inspection dive off a dock in Pascagoula last Tuesday, I grabbed my pony bottle off the rack and noticed the valve was only cracked open a quarter turn, which means it had probably been that way for years. I always figured it was fine since it passed hydro, but sitting there on the bottom doing a valve drill, I could not get a full breath off it and that feeling stuck with me. Popped the valve cap off back on deck and found the o-ring dry rotted to hell, so the whole thing would have free flowed or failed if I actually needed it. Now I crack every valve and breathe off each bottle before it goes on the boat, takes 30 seconds. Anyone else ever find out their backup was junk right when it mattered?
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ruby_rivera761d ago
Dry rotted o rings are the worst because the valve still feels fine on deck, you only find out when you're sucking on a dead bottle at depth. Now I pop the cap and look at the o ring every time too, that 30 seconds beats finding out at 60 feet.
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