Had a Kirby Morgan diaphragm tear on me in 60 feet of water off Galveston yesterday

I always kept a spare in my truck but never thought to bring one on the boat. Ended up having to abort the job 20 minutes in and cost the client 800 bucks in lost time. Now I carry a backup regulator assembly in my dry bag every single dive. Anyone else keep spares in their kit or just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

parkernelson4d ago

Spare regulators are fine and all, but how often does this actually happen? I've been diving commercial for eight years and never had a diaphragm tear mid-dive. Sounds like you just got unlucky with a worn out part. Could've just swapped out the diaphragm on the boat if you had the spare and a wrench.

dakota7874d ago

I had a buddy who swore by the same setup for years until one day his second stage started free flowing at 90 feet on a wreck. Turned out a tiny piece of debris got in there and held the orifice open. He had a spare reg in his save-a-dive kit back on the boat, but that didn't do him any good when he was already down. @parkernelson you're not wrong that reg failures are rare, but when they happen they tend to happen at the worst time. A spare reg on a boat just means you're not diving again until you swap it, not that you're safe if something goes wrong underwater.