Old School Gavin Scooters

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ermaclob

Contributor
Messages
523
Reaction score
92
Location
Miami Dade County, Florida
# of dives
200 - 499
I have 2 old school short body Gavin scooters that if I recall are from the 90's that I got for 800 dollars each 8 or 9 years ago . These bad boys are pretty old and I haven't used them in at least 3 years. One of them got a flooded motor a while back while the other ones still technically should be in working condition. Id like to get back into diving with the scooter and am wondering what to do with these. From what I recall it would be pretty expensive to replace the flooded motor on the broken one as well as service them and replace the batteries (LEAD).

So id like to ask for some of your opinions what should I do with these? Are they even worth messing around with any more. Looking at the current market I cant help but drool over the newer scooters out there. particularly the Blacktip and its wallet friendly price tag. Last I remember a replacement rewound motor for a Gavin was like $1000.... that's half a new Blacktip. and I cant imagine the battery replacement would be any cheaper either especially if I wanted to convert away from the Lead acid batteries.

What are your thoughts? sell? dumpster? museum? or fix them?
 
It really depends on the type of diving you want to use it for. Black tips are nice but not really appropriate for deeper tech dives, cave diving, or long dives (yes, you can use them for these but it is a calculated risk as to how deep, far, long, etc they are safe to use for). Gavins are heavy and awkward for recreational profiles and boat diving. Sell the flooded one and use the money to put a LiFePo4 battery in the working one for now. You can sell that too if it doesn't suit your needs.
 
It really depends on the type of diving you want to use it for. Black tips are nice but not really appropriate for deeper tech dives, cave diving, or long dives (yes, you can use them for these but it is a calculated risk as to how deep, far, long, etc they are safe to use for). Gavins are heavy and awkward for recreational profiles and boat diving. Sell the flooded one and use the money to put a LiFePo4 battery in the working one for now. You can sell that too if it doesn't suit your needs.

I'm want a scooter for shore and boat diving. Not looking to do tech or cave scooter dives..... at least not any time soon. In my head from what I see from the specs the Blacktips seem good for that as well as for shore diving as the weight reduction is clear.
concerning selling the Gavin is there still a desire for them out there? being do Cave / Tech divers still want to by old ones?
 
What are your thoughts? sell? dumpster? museum? or fix them?

I never thought I would want to go dumpster diving.

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I'm want a scooter for shore and boat diving. Not looking to do tech or cave scooter dives..... at least not any time soon. In my head from what I see from the specs the Blacktips seem good for that as well as for shore diving as the weight reduction is clear.
concerning selling the Gavin is there still a desire for them out there? being do Cave / Tech divers still want to by old ones?
The Gavin market is trash. Hard to sell, even at basement prices.
 
The Gavin market is trash. Hard to sell, even at basement prices.
I'm finding it hard to find new info or resources related to them anymore and with all the scooters out there nowadays I kind of think those things are not worth the time anymore.

I ended up buying a blacktip. I still need to figure out what to do with those monsters in my shed.
 
I'm finding it hard to find new info or resources related to them anymore and with all the scooters out there nowadays I kind of think those things are not worth the time anymore.

I ended up buying a blacktip. I still need to figure out what to do with those monsters in my shed.
There's a Gavin Scooter Preservation Society FB group. Some guys are putting lithium packs in to them.
 
Gavin Scooter "Preservation" Society..... that cant be a good sign. When are they officially Vintage?

I've thought about doing the lithium pack in one of mine. I'm still weighing the cost, its pretty pricey.
 
Gavin Scooter "Preservation" Society..... that cant be a good sign. When are they officially Vintage?

I've thought about doing the lithium pack in one of mine. I'm still weighing the cost, its pretty pricey.
The problem with putting lithium in them is the voltage increase and lack of voltage sag. 7s Liion can be done but the increased voltage causes a much higher draw on the motor, while it is faster, they are prone to generating enough heat to unsolder the brushes from the brush boards. or can replace the solder with some nice silver solder which is a remedy. Others have done 8s LiFePO4 but still have similar problems. The post 2008 SS motors have the upgraded brushes and thus don't have the problems

You can add a Smart-dpv Controller which allows you to add speed control, speed ramping, and current limiting mitigating the need to upgrade the brushes, but it all depends on how much money you want to put into an old unit.
 
The problem with putting lithium in them is the voltage increase and lack of voltage sag. 7s Liion can be done but the increased voltage causes a much higher draw on the motor, while it is faster, they are prone to generating enough heat to unsolder the brushes from the brush boards. or can replace the solder with some nice silver solder which is a remedy. Others have done 8s LiFePO4 but still have similar problems. The post 2008 SS motors have the upgraded brushes and thus don't have the problems

You can add a Smart-dpv Controller which allows you to add speed control, speed ramping, and current limiting mitigating the need to upgrade the brushes, but it all depends on how much money you want to put into an old unit.

Man, mine are very old, they came with the white PVC tube pipe bodies. I repainted them when I first got them. There's not way the working on has a motor newer then 2008. I think they guy that i got them for estimated they where from the late 90s early 2000s.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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