Info Aqualung Financial Troubles

[Green Frog]

If they were to separate out their Conshelf 14/1085 reg production facility that they have for their military and commercial clients, that BTW is still machined and hand soldered right here in the US, and expand that market to civilians who are willing to pay the money (which there are), I would be happy. The rest of Aqualung’s line I don’t care about. A bunch of newfangled overly gimmicky crap AFAIK.
Get back to basics with a proven design spanning almost 6 decades.

In firearms, Colt quit making virtually all revolvers and S&W “redesigned” the ubiquitous Military & Police revolver in undesirable ways and started making Glock clones.

In automobiles, “real” engines are being displaced by “Green” electric motors charged with electricity from fossil fuel-fired power plants. And so it goes, people without a clue about reality (aka “educated idiots”) somehow rise to the top and want to prove they know better than everybody else. Rant over!

I like the idea of some enterprising (and knowledgeable) folk catching the AL brass in a moment of desperation and spinning off an independent boutique operation to build real classic regulators. The design has been perfected for over a half century and a pool of knowledgeable workers exists (for now at least) so they’d never have to miss a beat. With production of more complete units, more rebuild parts would be available to go into the pipeline as well... win-win!

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Earlier in the year I ordered two purge covers and springs for a couple of Apeks XL4s from a LDS. Normal expected delivery would be 2 weeks for the dealer. It took about 4 months for AL to get them the parts, IIRC.

The LDS is at the mercy of AL in a lot of cases. The shop tells you what their response time is based on their experience. The supply chain from AL got real constipated so they're caught as much as you.

I don't know the situation with AL, but hypothetically if a business is in financially tight times, they sometimes quit paying their suppliers on time and suppliers tend to quit delivering until they get paid. Or if there are rumors of pending bankruptcy, nobody wants to get stuck with fresh receivables that may get set aside unpaid, or partially paid, or paid much later in bankruptcy. Those situations really sludge up the whole supply chain and play hell with on-time delivery.

I was in the above referenced shop today and noted they still had Apeks regs but have started picking up a couple of new lines of regs and computers and other hardware like boots... AL badged stuff posted less prominetly, less front and center. And offered less floor or shelf space that a year, or even 6 months back. I wonder if that's a pivot away from AL to get more stuff in to better service customers.

 

[lowwall]

I feel sorry for the shops that have a ton of AL rental gear that they can't service. So their alternatives are to buy all new rental gear from another brand, or their SOL? That's really ******.

The alternative is to source their own parts just like a DIYer. The bulk of service parts - o-rings, springs, washers, sintered filters - are readily available from other sources. Even stuff like exhaust valves, HP seats, and diaphragms can be found from Trident or other manufacturers or punched from sheets of rubber/EPDM.

They may not want to do that for customer's gear for real or imagined liability reasons, but it should be fine for course gear used under instructor supervision.

 

[BoltSnap]

I have no problem getting parts or products from Huish (Atomic, Zeagle, Hollis, Oceanic) or Scubapro. Their prices aren't cheap but they have stuff and staying in business and doing VERY well. Yes, we love to complain about SP prices but they are doing well and continue to be in business and are expanding. Their products are top notch, they have parts and support them very well. Same for Huish.

Both SP and Huish had some supply chain issues during the worst of COVID times but they were upfront about it and they gave schedules for the arrival of the goods and they were fairly accurate. I don't know of any lingering issues now with SP or Huish.

I love SP and Huish. I love SP even more when their salesrep pronounces my full first name with her French accent.

 

[formernuke]

Not a fan of SP, just the things I've seen about how they treat their dealers.

 

[scubadada]

Not a fan of SP, just the things I've seen about how they treat there dealers.

How is that?

 

[BoltSnap]

Not a fan of SP, just the things I've seen about how they treat there dealers.

I was a dealer for SP in the US and I deal with SP now as a dive center, I have no idea of what you are talking about at all. SP dealers are the MOST fiercely loyal dealers around the world in the greater majority of cases.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Right...just spend thousands for a brand new set of gear...simple. Who cares about everyone else (myself included) who have already spent thousands on equipment, can't get it serviced now, and can't replace it.

Everyone has their opinions and that’s mine.
I like the old stuff but am not fond of the new stuff. It’s not a brand I would pick if I was buying all new gear, even if the business was healthy.
I’m sorry you can’t get your Aqualung gear serviced. It’s horrible to be in that position and I don’t wish it on anybody. Especially since you thought you were doing the right thing buying a big name brand only to have it collapse out from under you.
Does it need to be serviced or are you just going by the shops standard recommendations? I have some Aqualung regs myself and run those things sometines for 10 years before I begin to worry about them. I just check the IP and if they work they work.

 

[lowwall]

I love SP even more when their salesrep pronounces my full first name with her French accent.

Bool't?

 

[BoltSnap]

Bool't?

No, my real name

AND, please don't try to pronounce it, you are going to ruin it for me. I want to go to bed remembering HER way of saying it not yours