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Pat Moran writes: Just out of curiousity... Has anyone ever experienced a seam blowout in the bladder of a backmounted BC in say the last 10 years (reasonable past)? I am not asking this to be sarcastic. I really would like to know if this can and does happen. I was under this impression (possibly misinformed) that the heat seal is as strong , or stronger, than the actual bladder material (kinda like a well glued wetsuit seam). SNIP> I have never heard of a bladder seam blowing out without the outer bag tearing first. I would have thought that the seam would be nearly as strong as the material itself, but neither is adequate without the support of the outer bag. Worst case would be a bolt for the surface, where the diver inflates rapidly from a 0.4 litre backup cylinder commonly used in the UK. Here, 200 bar is opened directly onto the bag, and the air expands on the way up. I heard that AP Valves (Buddy) had to put in an extra pressure relief valve in to their "Commandos" to prevent bursting in this situation. (They also offer a 300 bar backup cylinder as an option). I assume that all manufacturers build their BCs strong enough to cope with a 200 bar inflation, unless they specifically exclude the use of such devices ie LP Direct Feed only. On the point of redundancy, my drysuit is my backup, and I would only consider an extra bag for providing extra suface floatation in heavy seas. Bill.Dyer@mi*.co*.uk*
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