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On Tue, 6 Aug 1996 mtherr1@PO*.mc*.ca* wrote: > 2. How the hell can someone not trust is gauge for a dive at that depth? I > know that Exley got a stucked needle for a dive to more than 800 feet, but if > it is suspected that a needle may get stuck at 120 feet, there is a need for a > better, more reliable gauge. For what it's worth, I got seriously bent as a result of a stuck gauge, and it wasn't at 800 feet. It was a reasonably good gauge, but the housing had cracked unbeknownst to me and a small amount of seawater had gotten in the mechanism and had corroded it. I never trust gauges alone anymore. I first verify that the gauge is on zero and then watch the needle climb as I turn the air on. Then I monitor the gauge regularly and get suspiscious if I seem to be conserving air better than usual. > 3. There is no need for a gauge to return safely to the surface. If the diver > is just a little bit aware, he will find that the regulator becomes harder to > breathe before running out of air. He should have enough time to go back to > the surface without any harm (I practiced that at different depths, using > different regulators and it work with most of them). You'd be surprized how your brain can refuse to doubt the validity of a gauge reading, especially if you believe that a gauge failure at moderate depth is highly unlikely. Before you know it, you're sucking air through a hypodermic needle and still don't understand what's happening. It's a whole different ballgame when you feel the breathing getting hard when your gauge says zero and you're expecting the tank to be nearly empty. Aloha, Rich
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