Question Buddy Commando APV200 - Decent BCD?

[SubSurfaceSierra]

Hello all,

I am after advice please...

I have been donated a Buddy Commando BCD post 2007 with APV200.

I am in need of getting this serviced and can get this done by AP for roughly £200 / £250 by sending it to them. However my local dive shop doesn't offer a service.

What I am wandering is - is this BCD worth the effort? Is is a good BCD? or should I just bite the bullet and by a new one (Perhaps a Scubapro one) which is brand new and can be done locally?

Thanks for any help

 

[girlwithbigtanks]

Id pass on servicing a 20 year old bcd and buy something i wanted. What’s your diving like? travel? It looks clunky and heavy. Local? Are the parts proprietary? Seems expensive to service an old bcd.

 

[evandroairton]

Mos AP bcs lasts forever, i do confess a bias since i'm an inspiration instructor, but it's mostly a question if it's holding air, and have pieces broken
Anyway i won't desagree of maybe going other way. Maybe a good local diving spare BC

 

[happy-diver]

1/4 fill the inside with hot water and soak it in your tub, to dissolve any salt crystals
from inside the bladder, manipulate your valves and dumps and see how it all goes

With all the compartments in the urethane bladder of the Buddy, salt loves to collect in
all those crevices especially when people dump air when there ain't no air left to dump

Inflate the bc and see how that goes

There's half a service

 

[MarkA]

First question is what is wrong with it? Does it hold air. Inflator problems?

In general they are tough bc’s having a tough outer bag with an inner bladder.

If it is the emergency cylinder that worries you. Most people don’t use these now so in general it is binned. Most other manufacturers don’t use them.

AP Diving have a large list of spare parts on their website to repair most things. I recently serviced the inflator on my pre 2007 my self using one of their kits that come with good instructions. The metal part is more brass than chrome now but still works. If the bladder has a hole in it they sell tear-aid that can repair it.

Like @evandroairton I may be a little biased as have used their BC’s since having a horse collar one

Would I spend £250 repairing it. No

Assuming you belong to a club in Scotland, there is normally a member who has worked on these and can offer advice.

 

[neevo]

I still dive my Pre 2007 too but it’s in immaculate condition. AP’s support and care is also second to none, all the parts are still available for the Pre 2007, so if the jacket is decent you will be able to get it working yourself if you’re quite handy.

All it needs to do is reliably hold air. I would also ditch the auto air and replace it with a normal inflator hose. Anything with a 1” port on it will work. I just put an AI on mine but that’s not a cheap option.

 

[MarkA]

All it needs to do is reliably hold air. I would also ditch the auto air and replace it with a normal inflator hose. Anything with a 1” port on it will work. I just put an AI on mine but that’s not a cheap option.

The auto air is an APV100. The OP says it is an APV200. Or do you mean something else?

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

Buddy Commando - you need to have the accessories too: strap a cutlass to your calf, carry a hammer and a crowbar on each dive.

Depends on the condition - these things are indestructible.

It’s an over engineered jacket BCD so if it’s badly worn out, I would buy a proper wing (opinions may vary). If it hasn’t been dived much, just dive it if it holds gas? You can clean dump valves etc yourself and AP sell loads of parts (inflator might be worth replacing).

I wouldn’t spend 250 quid on servicing a well used Buddy commando.

 

[Vitesse2l]

I wouldn’t spend 250 quid on servicing a well used Buddy commando.

Exactly. Talk to AP Diving and buy what you need directly from them.

I usually dive a wing but use a Buddy for training (kit similarity) or travel. They come up cheap on Ebay if you are prepared to do some DIY. They also come up quite expensive on Ebay because "I know what I got" in similar condition.

 

[neevo]

The auto air is an APV100. The OP says it is an APV200. Or do you mean something else?

Yeah my mistake. Still not a fan of the regulator inflators though. So I took the opportunity to replace my auto air with an inflator only. I literally never used the inflator in 20 years of owning the BCD and I run an Apeks octopus anyway.

The parts are actually quite cheap, so if you’re keen to get it up and running, I would replace the dump valves, corrugated hose connector and buy a blanking plate for the bottle. These plastic parts get brittle with age (my blanking plug did) or the dump valves get leaky, so would be safer to replace them considering they’re not too expensive.