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Single handing
We had Bruce''s experience twice aboard WHOOSH...but in truth, both times the dissolveable disk that allows the spring to activate the bottle had received no visual inspection nor routinely been changed out. We purchased a handfull of these disks, which were pretty cheap, and now do a replacement annually on a ''whether it needs it or not'' basis. Obviously, should the bottle blow in lousy conditions you''re given two lousy choices: rooting around in lockers for at least a new air bottle when you may need to be topside...or going without the protection you thought you needed.
BTW both our bottles blew in dry conditions on nice days. If I''d just done a simple visual inspection, I probably would have noticed the disk beginning to fail.
Jack
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