Aqualung Conshelf VI and vintage rig questions

[bill_bain]

I started diving in 1969 with a old Mistral and a steel 72 (1/2" tapered thread valve and an SPG tapped into the valve) bought from a family friend whose son had gone off to college. The vest was the old USD safety vest. By the time I was NAUI certified in 1971 (and had saved up enough $ to buy a Conshelf XI, which I still use), it seems that the use of the BC for buoyancy control, and not solely as a life jacket, was pretty common -- I know that we used our safety vests that way because with a full tank, we'd be too negative at the start due to wet suit compression (there's a lot of neoprene in a 1/4" farmer john and jacket!). It really wasn't a great hardship to orally puff some air into the vest for trim.

I have a recollection that the modern "vest" type of BC was beginning to be seen on the market in the early 70's, perhaps by Scubapro? When was the first vest BC introduced?

 

[Nemrod]

Scuba Pro probably is the first with the vest type life preserver "modern" BC with the now familiar poodle jacket format. Various types of horsecollar, Fenzy for example, were around in the 60s but the BC really did not go mainstream until the early 70s and not completely ubiquitous for several more years with power inflators.

I have never used a vest or any sort of "modern" BC other than to try them out to prove to myself that I hate them completely. That is just me, others might vary. I prefer a wing and a BP, since circa 76, before that a horsecollar and before that a Mae West and in many cases even until today, nothing works just fine, thus the pursuit of vintage, the driving force, minimalism.

N

 

[bill_bain]

Somewhere on the Web, I found a reference indicating that the ScubaPro stabilizer jacket was introduced in 1971 and was patented. It took a couple of years for other companies to engineer around the patent. So, I guess a ScubaPro stab jacket and my Conshelf XI would still be :vintage." Interesting.

 

[Nemrod]

Somewhere on the Web, I found a reference indicating that the ScubaPro stabilizer jacket was introduced in 1971 and was patented. It took a couple of years for other companies to engineer around the patent. So, I guess a ScubaPro stab jacket and my Conshelf XI would still be :vintage." Interesting.

Actually no because a Stab Jacket is not of the style and methods and techniques of the vintage era nor is it in the New Science of Skin and Scuba or Basic Scuba editions. The Chevy Vega came out in I think 71 and the Pinto and Mustang II about the same time yet neither are Muscle Cars of which most consider about 73 to be the end of an era for not just scuba diving.

But that is just me, others may vary.

N

 

[Luis H]

Actually no because a Stab Jacket is not of the style and methods and techniques of the vintage era nor is it in the New Science of Skin and Scuba or Basic Scuba editions. The Chevy Vega came out in I think 71 and the Pinto and Mustang II about the same time yet neither are Muscle Cars of which most consider about 73 to be the end of an era for not just scuba diving.

But that is just me, others may vary.

N

IMHO, I think that you are mixing a collectors item with a vintage item. A Pinto will probably never be a collectors item, even 100 years from now... it doesn't matter what time period it is from. Whether an item is a collectible, or not, depends on its desirability by the collectors, not just its time period.

Just my opinion.

 

[BSea]

I seem to think the red, white & blue fins were not Jets but US Divers Rocket fins. Same era and look basically the same. They also made other gear in red, white & blue like a knife and snorkel as I recall. Maybe related to the bicentennial perhaps ?

You are right, I hadn't had my coffee that morning I guess.

 

[Nemrod]

IMHO, I think that you are mixing a collectors item with a vintage item. A Pinto will probably never be a collectors item, even 100 years from now... it doesn't matter what time period it is from. Whether an item is a collectible, or not, depends on its desirability by the collectors, not just its time period.

Just my opinion.

No, what I am doing is not confusing a Pinto with a Muscle Car or an old poodle jacket with Vintage Era unless we can include wings and back plates since they both predate the Stab Jacket. Nope, MHO, I will stick with the 68 edition of the New Science of Skin and Scuba and Basic Scuba, if it ain't in there, it ain't vintage which pretty much eliminates everything North of a Mae West.

N <------stubborn

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I would agree with Nemrod on this one. One other way to look at it is that the single hose regulator would have only a single hose. If it has more than one hose, it isn't vintage.

We used single hose regulators without a SPG through until about 1975 in the USAF. Even then, because we were doing unusual things with the scuba (parascuba) we did not hook up a SPG on them, nor did we use an octopus, as it was one other thing to entangle parachute lines.

The idea of not using a submersible pressure gauge (SPG) for vintage is my turning point on vintage diving. While we did start using it in the late 1960s or early 1970s, that was the first "advancement" toward modern diving. Before that, we computed air consumption rates manually, planned dives before diving, knew our bottom times at different depths, used a dive watch, and carried decompression tables with us.

John

 

[bill_bain]

I think there's 2 dynamics here:

1. Apparently the "vintage" era is deemed to have ended around 1975. So, *if* vintage diving is using equipment from that "era", then SPGs and Stab Jackets would be perfectly appropriate. SPGs were clearly in use way before then -- tapped into the plug in the tank valve, even on the 1/2" tapered valve K valve tank I used. My single hose Conshelf XI had 2 LP ports and I had an octopus on that even back then.

2. On the other hand, if "vintage" diving is more of a mindset that values the simplicity, self-reliance and training of that era, then that's fine too.

 

[duckbill]

Vintage diving is whatever you want it to be. Dive the old stuff and have fun reliving a bygone era. Who cares?

"Vintage Equipment Diving Pre-1980 "Vintage" SCUBA Gear, including Double Hose Regulators, Conshelfs, Voit, Aquamaster, Horsecollar BC's and other classic pieces of gear. Sea Hunt, Jacques Cousteau and the early history of this great sport."