Info Aqualung Financial Troubles

[runsongas]

@Mobulai the FSR is replaceable if needed. in practice, it is very rare to need to replace that part outside of negligence either in rinsing after use or servicing.

if apeks was as unreliable as alfa romeo, it would have never gotten the traction in technical diving that it has. so much so that a lot of follow on regs follow the design (eg dive rite/hog/deep 6).

 

[rsingler]

if apeks was as unreliable as alfa romeo, it would have never gotten the traction in technical diving that it has. so much so that a lot of follow on regs follow the design (eg dive rite/hog/deep 6).

But the smart one (Deep6) doesn't follow the primary flaw in Apeks (and Dive Rite, and HOG) designs: Deep6 diaphragms are torque clamped, not metal to metal. Apeks diaphragms are clamped ONLY to the size of the space left when you reach metal to metal contact between the clamp and the body. When you add Apeks' inadequate (IMO) diaphragm thickness at 1.1mm, a fixed milled space of 0.8 mm is insufficient after the diaphragm takes a set. You may start to see champagne bubbles near the 2-year mark, especially in cold water diving.

By contrast, Deep6 uses a thicker diaphragm, which allows you to clamp to a specific torque, providing a consistent axial load of the clamp on the diaphragm, so leaks do not occur.

If you dive an Apeks (IMO), throw out the stock diaphragm and get a Scubagaskets replacement of 1.6mm (you can buy both 1.1 and 1.6 mm from SG, I believe). This will solve that problem, as long as you don't then try to clamp the diaphragm as described in the manual: "metal to metal". If you do that with the thick diaphragm, you may shear the threads. Instead, use (IMO) 266 in-lb like Deep6 does, and you won't have a problem.

As far as I'm concerned, Apeks reputation was accidental, and word of mouth took care of the rest.
Remember Betamax vs VHS? Betamax was better but VHS videotape marketing still buried them.

 

[Mobulai]

negligence either in rinsing after use or servicing.

It’s not the need to change it; I mentioned it in context of having easy access to service not to just replace — and that absolutely doesn’t match the Hilux vibes (except the FSR, so I learned something new just now)

I know lots of rally enthusiasts that drive Landrovers, doesn’t speak if it’s a reliable choice or not (they’re not)
And there was a time where lots of tech divers swore by VPM (or GF 20/90); but lots has changed since — just because a user says they think something is good doesn’t mean they are right

Again all the power to Apeks users, I truly hope their beloved company survives this — but I don’t like them for their inferior system engineering choices that I mentioned above, simple as that, and you don’t have to prove me wrong to enjoy their regs

Re: The design being cloned, it’s a very simple to machine design (far simpler than anything comparable) — might have to do with why the clones went that way

 

[runsongas]

@Mobulai VPM and deep stops were always theoretical guidelines, they never got mass adoption

@rsingler if you remember betamax, it wasn't due to marketing that they lost. it was due to high price and limited availability that made it a poor fit for mass market adoption. quantity is a quality of its own.

its kinda why things like servo regs won't ever be more than niche products.

 

[cerich]

Totally different situation. Aqualung is still a going concern with working production facilities. Dacor was in liquidation, didn't actually produce most of their products and their suppliers had already scrapped the tooling and moved on.

huh? You literally posted that AL was in insolvency administration since May, Apeks..well that has been an issue for ages.

I am LOL at the idea that AL was happily motoring along making products.. ok.. now I pulled something laughing so hard. Catch you after I recover. It won't be as long a recovery as Mares getting AL and Apeks products back in production shipping in any qty. I mean, the UK and French AL owned manuf facilities were, while they had lights, security lights for sure. The pipes didn't freeze. Did the machinery from UK that was shipped to France get any of that power hooked up or did it fall off a truck in the chunnel?

 

[cerich]

Count on seeing some interesting stuff in the Mares pipeline. Maybe not earthshaking, but very innovative.
Mares' Chief engineer used to work for Scubapro. Now heading Mares, he'll have Aqualung to benchmark off of. This is where my money is. So much "confidential" technology to compare.
As for the TBP, experiments using the TBP without the oring and reinserting the diaphragm are showing promise, if only because there's none of that "overbalancing" that Aqualung bragged about, but was just a design flaw, IMO.
Like I said, my money's on Mares for the next decade.

overbalanced has a technical term.. not balanced.

 

[cerich]

But.. Mares and AL share HP seats already, so maybe the orings and tophat seats (which afaik mares don’t use) are the „conflict“, and these are almost universal

Regardless of brand, as long as I can find HP seats for it then that reg is serviceable — learned that lesson in Dahab because of my Cressi (maybe not officially, but 3rd party suppliers of soft parts are no way in shortage)
Now for LDS/service centers/non DIY users it’s a different story. Time will tell

Al has a Ruby seat? LOL

They shared for a few decades, Mares went a different way, divers went to service centres and now you are telling me they are they same again? Cool, as a former Mares rep I am jelly the current reps have dependable seats in the regs they sell.

 

[rsingler]

overbalanced has a technical term.. not balanced.

No argument there, ha ha! That's what Aqualung called their increase in relative IP with depth. Stupid, but that's marketing for ya.

 

[lowwall]

Al has a Ruby seat? LOL

They shared for a few decades, Mares went a different way, divers went to service centres and now you are telling me they are they same again? Cool, as a former Mares rep I am jelly the current reps have dependable seats in the regs they sell.

Mares gave up on the conical seat pretty quickly. They had never stopped using the T shaped seat (an MR prefix indicated the T seat and V indicated the conical) so it was easy to go back. They've been iterating through seat material and the geometry of the volcano orifice, but all the seats are the same size as the '50s Aqualung original and they all interchange in a pinch.

 

[rsingler]

all the seats are the same size as the '50s Aqualung original and they all interchange in a pinch.

Even the MR-42? I just had one come in the shop and thought I had to order the special seat for the 42 (MR42 seat on left). Shaft looks longer.
New standard seat is on the right.
.