Calling all SP MKV owners

[scubamickey]

My hubby dives with a ScubaPro MK5/109/109 setup. It was his first and only regulator and he bought it back around 1978 when he was first certified (he was a young teen then). He loves it! He even nicknamed it "The Precious".---no. I'm not making it up. I have the MK25/G250/S600 setup and he swears it breathes the same as his. Honestly, I have to agree. Seems like the the MK5 and MK25 are pretty much the same design.

He lurks here on scubaboard and has been known to post using my logon :shakehead so if I offended anyone in the last week or so it was probably him, not me. At any rate, I'd been threatening to put a call out for any MK5 owners out there who are still diving their regs. We are both curious how many people still have one and use it.

I would personally like to hear:

How long have you had yours?
Do you still dive with it?
Do you have any stories of people looking at you funny because your regulator is shiny and not made of plastic polymerwhatever (like my S600).
Have you ever been eyeballed by a barracuda with designs on your 109?

He occasionally has younger people look at him funny because his 2nd state is sooo shiny. Then they look at him stranger when he tells them it's 28 years old and was his first reg (he's only 43).

So...anybody out there diving this vintage beauty and want to share with me their stories or pictures?

 

[redacted]

I retired my Mk20/G500 when I discovered the older Scubapro metals about 5 years ago. I now dive a Mk10, a couple Mk5s and even a Mk7, all with adjustable and/or balanced adjustable 2nds. I dive a fair amount of homemade stuff and my buddy had some divers on a live-a-board thinking my Mk7 was also homemade.

But I do not believe they can consistantly perform as well as my wife's Mk20/S600.

 

[NadMat]

Funny, I also got my SP reg in '78 for my cert class and have been diving it ever since. It works great, and can always find good shop for service. I have serviced it annually, semi annually and occasionally infrequently depending on how much I am diving. Now I have decided to go with annual service mostly just because I feel it deserves it for its many years of great service to me. Of course, my '85 4Runner also gets frequent service with quality product for much the same reasons, I tend to get attached to good equipment that works well for ever and ever

I like the shiny hard case too. When I got mine serviced this spring, it had been at least 4 years since service and 2 years since I had dove it (various issues had been keeping me from diving, mostly schedule and financial) but comments at LDS were not that I should buy something new from them, but that I was lucky to have such a solid regulator, and would I mind them taking a while to service it because they wanted to schedule several techs in for service for training purposes. I am still waiting to do more than 'dry' breath it, as I am waiting to get new ProQD(my 44th bday present to self) wet also, due to scheduling issues with buddies and transportation issues as have my Toy's interior apart replacing window seals, guides, and other stuff that has been feeling the effects of 20 years of Texas weather and although is running fine is not able to pass inspection till get all the new parts installed. And I haven't figured out how to justify a diving day at lake as 'work related' to use the Company vehicle

 

[DivingCRNA]

I have a scubapro MKV or MK10 that I picked up at a GARAGE SALE this summer. It was in a stack of gear that had 3 pair of Jet fins that I wanted. I gave $25 for a wetsuit, the regulator, 3 pair of jet fins, 2 masks, a snorkel and some booties and gloves.

The LDS offered me $10 for the reg! I told them I would rather keep it as a wallhanger. It needs a new hose and who knows what else. I should hook it to a tank and see what happens in my pool. The LDS owner said I would have to take it apart to see which reg it is.

The LDS also said the new stuff breathes better, but every LDS in this town is trying hard to sell a lot of overpriced new gear.

Right now it is hanging near my other gear in the basement. It is very shiny.... Can you get parts for these regs anymore??

 

[redacted]

Most parts are readily available. Any knowledgable and honest shop should be able to ID the reg without disassembly. Got a picture?

 

[DivingCRNA]

Most parts are readily available. Any knowledgable and honest shop should be able to ID the reg without disassembly. Got a picture?

Here are the photos:

 

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It is a Mk5 with a good 3000 psi yoke and sufficient LP ports to be used in current dive configurations. The service kit should still be available from any SP dealer. It uses the same filter & HP seat as the more current Mk10.

The 2nd stage looks like an R109 adjustable and uses the same service kit as the G200 (unbalanced) which will include the modern poppet for that reg. The modern poppet then uses the same hocky puck styled seat as all of SP's modern unbalanced 2nds use. R109's are convertable to balanced adjustables with the change of a spring and will use the same poppet and LP seat as most modern SP balanced 2nd. If it has been converted, it will require a G250 annual parts kit. The adjuster cranked all the way in and the attractive green hue around the connections tells me it needs some work but I have seen much uglier rigs go back into service.

It is a perfectly usable reg which I would choose over many modern regulators. You might want to put your new stuff on the wall (or in your save-a-dive kit). Looks like it was a great buy.

 

[scubamickey]

Does anyone have the original manual for the MK5?

 

[NadMat]

Does anyone have the original manual for the MK5?

I have mine, took it into shop in spring to prove I was original owner and get my warranty reinstated.

 

[NadMat]

Was going to scan it, but couldn't find my scsi to usb convertor so could use my old flatbed with my laptop, so I took a couple of pics and converted to pdf's instead. Just had to play with my new pdf convertor

So just interested for historical reasons or was there something in particular you were looking for?