Paladin
Contributor
Why? I have a '91 and it's as good as new.
Catalina S80 Aluminum Tanks
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Why? I have a '91 and it's as good as new.
keyshunter
Contributor
Why is that?
One thing I noticed with my Catalina tanks is that the older ones are heavier and, for me, do not seem to balance quite as well as the newer ones. I suspect that the change was either to make the characteristics similar to Luxfer, or simply to use less aluminum. Anyway, regardless of age, they are excellent tanks. For use in salt water, I would not get tanks which are painted or clearcoated.
My LDS offers free inspections (vis and hydro) for life with a free air fill after the inspection if you purchase a tank from them. At $20 a year for a vis and $40 for a hydro plus $5 for the fill, the tanks are free after about five years.
If you plan to dive awhile, check your local shops for deals.
If you plan to dive awhile, check your local shops for deals.
Scared Silly
Contributor
He is saying that cause some dive shops make up their own rules about aluminum and steel cylinders. Like 20 year life spans. Those dive shops should be boycotted ( I have even gone as far as to call their distributors and telling them that the shops are bad mouthing their products).
Read the sticky: Is my cylinder made from the "bad" alloy aka AL6351?
Oh Catalina never used the "bad aluminum alloy" and if the shop does not know that they deserve to go out of business.
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Paladin
Contributor
There is a shop near me that refuses to fill steel tanks over 20 years old but will fill any aluminum tank, even the old Luxfers made from the "bad alloy." Go figure.
I have an old Luxfer made from the "inferior" aluminum and it passed Hydro last year and is still in VIP and now I can't get anyone to fill it. The shop who did the Hydro and VIP is now over 400 miles away from me since we moved last year. A bummer for me and unfortunately it looks like it'll be worth nothing more than a massively over sized paper weight.
tadawson
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Yes many shops wont fill AL cylinders born before 94 due to the AL from that time being prone to defects leading to failure during the fill process. Catalina is not known for this but most shops dont know any better. Atleast thats been my experiance.
Shftrdog
Contributor
Some of the things you need to worry about with a tank is if it is in Hydro or if someone just stamped it themselves. Companies us a specific code that identifies who hydroed it.
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