tmassey
Contributor
(Yeah, I know we're a week away yet: Close enough.)
As you no doubt already know, Dacor was a SCUBA equipment manufacturer that dates back to the 1950's (ref) but was acquired by Mares in 1999 (ref). I wasn't able to find specific details online, but my recollection and understanding is while a few Dacor-labelled Mares-design offerings survived a brief time after the merger, practically all of the existing Dacor-designed equipment ceased to be offered within a very short time.
The other element of the merger is that support for those older Dacor regs went away at approximately that time, too: Mares did not manufacturer any additional components for these regs, and in the interim any inventory of replacement parts has been practically exhausted. (That reference above for the merger dates from 2005, and even at that time it describes the fact that parts availability was limited to only a few specific models.)
Unfortunately, unlike a, say, 1980's-vintage Sherwood reg set (which uses a small number of extremely generic replaceable parts that are still available, assuming it doesn't have the crimped-in HP seat!), the Dacor regulators seem to have a larger number of more-unique parts, which is even more true the newer the regulator is.
So, with that long-winded backstory out of the way: do Dacor regulators have *any* value in 2021?
Why do I ask? Because the world seems to be awash in Dacor equipment. Open Craigslist and search for SCUBA: 2/3 of the ads will probably have Dacor regs in them!
Of course, by appearance they almost always tend to be from between 1970 and 1990: my guess is that they haven't left the garage in 30 years or more...
The hard part for some (non-diver) Craigslist sellers to understand is that, while the equipment may look practically brand new! (and it doesn't, but whatever), it's *life* *support* equipment, and who wants to trust their life to 30 year old rubber?!? And if you can't get parts for it, what are you supposed to do?
(By the way, same thing with neoprene: who wants to use stiff or dry-rotted 30-year-old wetsuits? Despite the fact that your grandparents paid *real* *money* for that, neoprene does not age like fine wine...)
Personally, I have *zero* desire to use 30+ year old equipment. But sometimes there's one element in that big pile of junk that's usable: a tank, or a pair of Jetfins, or whatever. But I usually don't even bother to make an offer, because they won't believe me that the rest of the stuff has *zero* value.
Having said that, there are some of you out there using regulators from a half-century ago -- that you've hand-built replacement parts for!
So that's my question: is there anyone for whom Dacor regs have any value? We're not talking vintage double-hose stuff: single hose, yoke first stage likely with limited ports, metal second stage, maybe a plastic octo, and a big, bulky 2-unit console?
While we're at it, do the old 1980's BC's have any value, either? You know, the ones that look more like a fancy snorkeling jacket or winter vest than a modern jacket BC, usually with the old inflators with the flat metal buttons for inflate and exhaust? Again, I'm not touching it (but I'm BP/W, anyway), but is there *anyone* out there who thinks these things have any value?
(For you telco nerds out there: reminds me of Nortel equipment. I had an executive from a VoIP telephone system provider tell me, "Our biggest competition is from a company that went bankrupt 15 years ago... )
As you no doubt already know, Dacor was a SCUBA equipment manufacturer that dates back to the 1950's (ref) but was acquired by Mares in 1999 (ref). I wasn't able to find specific details online, but my recollection and understanding is while a few Dacor-labelled Mares-design offerings survived a brief time after the merger, practically all of the existing Dacor-designed equipment ceased to be offered within a very short time.
The other element of the merger is that support for those older Dacor regs went away at approximately that time, too: Mares did not manufacturer any additional components for these regs, and in the interim any inventory of replacement parts has been practically exhausted. (That reference above for the merger dates from 2005, and even at that time it describes the fact that parts availability was limited to only a few specific models.)
Unfortunately, unlike a, say, 1980's-vintage Sherwood reg set (which uses a small number of extremely generic replaceable parts that are still available, assuming it doesn't have the crimped-in HP seat!), the Dacor regulators seem to have a larger number of more-unique parts, which is even more true the newer the regulator is.
So, with that long-winded backstory out of the way: do Dacor regulators have *any* value in 2021?
Why do I ask? Because the world seems to be awash in Dacor equipment. Open Craigslist and search for SCUBA: 2/3 of the ads will probably have Dacor regs in them!
Of course, by appearance they almost always tend to be from between 1970 and 1990: my guess is that they haven't left the garage in 30 years or more...The hard part for some (non-diver) Craigslist sellers to understand is that, while the equipment may look practically brand new! (and it doesn't, but whatever), it's *life* *support* equipment, and who wants to trust their life to 30 year old rubber?!? And if you can't get parts for it, what are you supposed to do?
(By the way, same thing with neoprene: who wants to use stiff or dry-rotted 30-year-old wetsuits? Despite the fact that your grandparents paid *real* *money* for that, neoprene does not age like fine wine...)
Personally, I have *zero* desire to use 30+ year old equipment. But sometimes there's one element in that big pile of junk that's usable: a tank, or a pair of Jetfins, or whatever. But I usually don't even bother to make an offer, because they won't believe me that the rest of the stuff has *zero* value.
Having said that, there are some of you out there using regulators from a half-century ago -- that you've hand-built replacement parts for!
So that's my question: is there anyone for whom Dacor regs have any value? We're not talking vintage double-hose stuff: single hose, yoke first stage likely with limited ports, metal second stage, maybe a plastic octo, and a big, bulky 2-unit console?
While we're at it, do the old 1980's BC's have any value, either? You know, the ones that look more like a fancy snorkeling jacket or winter vest than a modern jacket BC, usually with the old inflators with the flat metal buttons for inflate and exhaust? Again, I'm not touching it (but I'm BP/W, anyway), but is there *anyone* out there who thinks these things have any value?
(For you telco nerds out there: reminds me of Nortel equipment. I had an executive from a VoIP telephone system provider tell me, "Our biggest competition is from a company that went bankrupt 15 years ago...
)
