Does 30 year old gear qualify as vintage?

[Nemrod]

If so I may have some for sale.

I started diving in '86, then married and my wife got involved in '90. She passed her open water in '91 and on the weekend of our first dive together, August of '91 we found out she was with child. Gear was packed away and hasn't been touched since. Regulators have service tag still in place from the last service work done in '91. Cost like 46 bucks.

My son feels guilt for causing me to loose a dive partner and is now going to become certified. I will take the regs to the last place that serviced them and have them checked out. Some or all of this might come up for sale, the only for sure item we will be using is the Alum tank. It's shorter than a 70 but not sure the volume.

Anyway I will post it here and if it comes up for sale I will comment as such.
Albums for user: MudBug | ScubaBoard

Welcome back to diving. I hope you and your son make many new memories together. However, it is unlikely the gear you have would be of any vintage interest and aluminum tanks from that era are really just scrap metal. The regulators may still be useful to you.

Vintage, and this is simply my opinion but it is shared more or less with quite a few vintage equipment divers, is somewhat like the Muscle Car era auto collectors which pretty much came to an end with the EPA restrictions around 1972/73. No matter how nice a Honda Civic is or a Chevy Vega or a Pontiac Fiero, they are not a Muscle Car pre-73 and that 1973 year also corresponds roughly to the end of double hose regulator production by U.S. Divers. So, the point, no, your 1986 to 1990 SCUBA gear is not Vintage Era.

Good luck and welcome back!

James

 

[Damselfish]

Old wetsuits make good padding for all sorts of stuff. Once in awhile I snag one on freecycle and chop it up for various things. Zippered leg bottoms can make nice paddle blade covers and some is padding my kayak and paddleboard rack.

 

[eelpout]

You have US Divers equipment. The regulator is a Conshelf SE2 that had a larger diameter hose for the primary regulator. US Divers has a major problem with the cases on their plastic 2nd stages. I replaced a lot of dayglow octopus cases in the early 90's because of cracking. The refs should be serviceable unless you have a cracked case then your out of luck, they ran out of those plastic cases a while ago. The BC is the ladies version of their top of the line BC, we called it th "cross your heart" BC as in cross your heart bra that women used back then. If you are getting your kid into it you might as well invest in newer gear. When you do your refresher, talk the instructor about gear. If you get a backplate and wing for a BC you will probably never have to get another one.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Welcome back to diving!
As far as I’m concerned, the vintage era ended as soon as the first poodle jacket came out and plastic started showing up on second stages.
That time line is a bit fuzzy but mid 70’s is about right.
There’s nothing wrong with your AL stuff. Those regs can be serviced no problem. As eelpout mentioned above, the second stage cases had a habit of cracking. Find some metal ones or some people use other brands for second stages and mix and match. Or just buy new ones.

 

[W W Meixner]

If so I may have some for sale.

I started diving in '86, then married and my wife got involved in '90. She passed her open water in '91 and on the weekend of our first dive together, August of '91 we found out she was with child. Gear was packed away and hasn't been touched since. Regulators have service tag still in place from the last service work done in '91. Cost like 46 bucks.

My son feels guilt for causing me to loose a dive partner and is now going to become certified. I will take the regs to the last place that serviced them and have them checked out. Some or all of this might come up for sale, the only for sure item we will be using is the Alum tank. It's shorter than a 70 but not sure the volume.

Anyway I will post it here and if it comes up for sale I will comment as such.
Albums for user: MudBug | ScubaBoard

MB...

Not if you think that calling it vintage is going to make it anymore valuable..besides...vintage does not necessarily mean $$$$...

What you are showing may be ''donation worthy''...if your intended donation drop off...LDS/or other...will accept it...

Most soft/soft surface items have likely started to perish...including those inside your reg stages...especially the second stages...whether they look like it or not...

As has already been mentioned...your cylinder...if it is 6351-T6 alloy...drain the cylinder...remove the valve...and drill a 1/2'' hole though the cylinder over the serial number...and scrap it...there is lots of good 6351-T6 cylinder alloy information on-line...cylinder identification/what to look for/making sense of cylinder letter/number stampings...

W...

W...

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

As has already been mentioned...your cylinder...if it is 6351-T6 alloy...drill a 1/2'' hole though the cylinder over the serial number...and scrap it...there is lots of good 6351-T6 cylinder alloy information on-line...cylinder identification/what to look for/making sense of cylinder letter/number stampings...

Just to add...
This should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway for the benefit of those who might be a little common sense challenged.
Please drain the tank of any and all air BEFORE you drill it, or else you might be taking a trip to the ER, or worse...

 

[W W Meixner]

Just to add...
This should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway for the benefit of those who might be a little common sense challenged.
Please drain the tank of any and all air BEFORE you drill it, or else you might be taking a trip to the ER, or worse...

Eric...

''Common sense''...what a wonderful philosophy you have...and duly noted...I'll make a slight addendum...

W...