Over the weekend I dove with my Abyss Reg set at Fantasy Lake. My octopus is also an abyss with a yellow purge button. As it happens to all of us my octo fell out of its keeper and it was dragging a bit in the sand.
It had small grains of sand between the purge button and metal ring. Of course the purge button is on a spring to allow it to return to closed after purge. The sand had lodged the metal ring loose and popped it off. This metal ring also holds the diaphragm protection screen on. After looking at it I could not believe how it was made.
This metal ring has two small indentions that go into the plastic and that is all that holds the thing on. If you have and abyss just look at it, press the purge button down and you will see the two small dents that hold the ring and screen on. I couldn’t believe how poorly this was made after all of the good things I heard of the Mares Abyss. How did I fix it? I added more indentions with a hammer and nail after taking it apart and of course removing the diaphragm and purge button. so that I wouldn’t damage them. I thought at least they could have made the metal ring screw into the plastic.
Perhaps this is designed to pop off in the event your purge button gets stuck. I don’t know why else they would have made this thing like this. I thought of adding some silicone to the ring to hold it but I was afraid of modifications that would cause it to further malfunction. Any suggestions? I would like to order the front cover assembly and just replace it. If you know where you can get this le me know..
Thanks,
Bill