Dive 232 And A Day Of Three Leaks

This was to be just a post about Dive number 232.

For Dive 232, there was no open water on Union Lake available so we had to make some:

After the hole was cut the ice slab was secured with an ice screw and tied down under the ice so it could be moved back later to close it up so the hole didn't stay open and some ice fisherman fall in. The parking lot was chock full of ice fisherman so we had to park across the street.

So we geared up and jumped into the hole.

A quick pic just beneath the ice:

A few feet down I immediately felt this wet and cold feeling on my left arm, which quickly spread all the way through the suit down to my boots. I wasn't just leaking, I was absolutely flooded with 37 degree water. Leak #1.

It's times like these I really want to be back in the Cayman Islands.

So I signaled to the group that I was flooded and headed back up the up-line to the surface. A short 5 minute dive.

Then the fun of getting out of the hole while wearing 120 plus pounds of gear onto slippery ice. Fun, and a good workout. I then headed to the car, and started wringing water out of the suit and undergarments, changed into my spare clothes.

Which brings me to Leak #2. The kitchen sink.

You see, the idiots didn't restrict themselves to just screwing up the electrical system in the house, the decided to try their hand at plumbing screw-ups too. The sink in the kitchen had started leaking below it into the cabinet area. Why was readily apparent - the paper and rubber washers and metal lock ring had fallen off the base of the trap and were hanging on the pipe. It turns out they didn't use the properly sized lock ring and had just jammed the whole thing into place with plumber's putty, which eventually failed hence the leak. The amazing thing is the lock rings come with the traps, so why the hell did they take the time to install a trap and then add the wrong sized lock ring below?

I mean how incompetent can you be to put the wrong sized lock ring on that will not thread onto the trap?

So I went to the hardware store, bought some plumber's putty and a trap. The trap, miracle of miracles, came with a proper sized lock ring and washers. I then installed it and voila, no more leaks. It's a sad day when the lawyer does a better job at plumbing than the plumber.

And of course, leaks come in threes, so I give you Leak #3.

While heading home from the hardware store, the tire pressure light came on in the RAV4. It felt ok at first and I figured it was an erroneous warning, but then it quickly became not so, with some serious bumping noises. Yep, I had a flat as hell tire. Luckily home was a short distance away when I first felt it so we made it ok. The tire was so flat that on getting home and hooking up the portable air compressor, the air was coming out of the tire as fast as the compressor was putting it in. Apparently I ran over something big with it.

Thankfully Costco stands behind their warranty and a new snow tire is on its way.

It's been that kind of day.

Thankfully, leaks seem to only come in threes.