All diving equipment is subject to wear and tear , as Yo-Han Cha discovers on a trip to the far north of Scotland
UKDIVING YO-HANCHA
Rust never sleeps
All diving equipment is subject to wear and tear , as Yo-Han Cha discovers on a trip to the far north of Scotland
I
bought myself some new gloves at the start of last year . My old gloves were looking tired and I thought it would be a good idea to buy a pair in advance so that when the time came , I could seamlessly incorporate them into active service .
Throughout all of last year , that moment never came . You see , they were always capable of one more dive trip . When the neoprene started to develop tears then some Black Witch would make them as good as new . But , now that they are now more Black Witch than neoprene , I finally decided to break out my new gloves for trip to Kinlochbervie , the high viz dive centre in the far north west of Scotland .
I don ’ t know if it ’ s just divers but we do seem to maximise the lifetime of our equipment . Scuba diving is an expensive hobby and we all try to avoid unnecessary spending as much as possible . However , it can be difficult to judge the perfect time to replace kit and if this Kinlochbervie trip is anything to go by , even knowing what kit needs to be replaced is hard . So far , our group of very experienced divers have , variously : found a hole in their neck seal ten minutes before reaching the first dive site ; lost a fin clip mid-dive ; and had a strobe fall off their camera housing underwater . And it ’ s only day two of six !
Thankfully , none of these have proved to be serious and all proved to be fixable . The neck seal was patched with – you guessed it – some Black Witch and a little patch of neoprene culled from the wrist of a glove . The fin clip was replaced rather belatedly when I remembered that I ’ ve been carrying around a spare fin strap and clips in my BCD pocket for years . The camera housing flood wasn ’ t terminal and after much tender loving care , it was dried out and thoroughly cleaned to bring it all back to life .
My strobe was gently carried back to the surface after a much shorter-thanplanned dive and after a phone call to the ever-helpful Alex Tattersall of Underwater Visions I was able to re-attach my strobe ( camera flash ) to my camera system . Alex also managed to send me the necessary replacement parts that arrived miraculously the next day .
“ Ultimately all neck seal materials wear eventually ”
So far , all of the issues this week have been down to wear and tear . I ’ d also like to think that none of the issues were anyone ’ s fault , especially as two of them were mine ! Most UK divers have noticed a hole in their neck seal just before or after a dive , because ultimately all neck seal materials wear eventually . My fin clip had given me over ten years of service , but I don ’ t know any divers who go around checking their fin clips before a dive trip . As for my strobe , I learned more about how their construction than I ever cared to know . On a dive trip with many other underwater photographers , none of them knew that there was a nut on the base of this particular make of strobe that sometimes needs replacing .
Despite all the issues so far , having experienced divers on this trip has been a bonus ; I have benefitted from no end of helpful advice , along with tools and spares that have stopped the little issues from becoming bigger ones . And we ’ ve all been able to continue diving safely . �
Rick and Helen Ayrton of Clifton SAC help with Yo-Han ’ s drysuit first aid
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