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TIL a cheap lift bag almost cost me a job in the Gulf. | Commercial Divers - Rigidtalk

TIL a cheap lift bag almost cost me a job in the Gulf.

Had to choose between my old 500lb bag and a new 1,000lb one for a pipeline valve pull. Went with the old one to save cash. It started to slip on the second lift, nearly dropped the part. Ended up having to surface, swap bags, and lost half a day. Anyone else have a lift bag story that went sideways?

3 comments

3 Comments

webb.linda6mo ago

Oh man, that's a classic case of gear biting you back. I read a story once about a diver who had a bag fail because the dump line got tangled on a piece of rebar on the bottom. The thing just kept going up, real fast, and almost took him with it like a runaway balloon. Scary stuff. It really drives home that you can't cut corners with anything that holds air or lift underwater. Your story about losing half a day is probably the best case scenario, all things considered.

fisher.reese4mo ago

Used to be the guy who thought any bag that held air was good enough. Always figured a 500lb bag was a 500lb bag, and paying more for the name or the new model was just wasting money. After that day watching the bag start to creep on the lift line, I will never trust another piece of lift gear based on price alone. The rule now is if I'm pulling something worth a half day of downtime, I'm using the gear that was built for the job, not the gear that was cheapest in the locker. Did you end up trashing the old bag after that or did you keep it as a backup for light work?

harper_smith6mo ago

Man, that feeling when gear you trust starts to slip is the absolute worst, isn't it? It's like your stomach just drops to the seabed. I've had a bag dump valve stick open on me once, and watching your lift just vanish is a special kind of panic. Makes you want to double-check every piece of old kit before it goes in the water now. What did your supervisor say about the whole mess?