Dacor olympic 200

[brewztr]

ok, I bought a Dacor olympic 200 regulator on ebay..I should have checked before but now it mine and I now find that its 20 years old. The diaphram is shot... can any of you folks point me in a direction where I might get a replacement? Obviously Dacor no longer supports this model.
Sigh... let the buyer beware

 

[GUNNER]

I am not trying to insult you, I too tried looking for equipment on E-bay. And I found quite a few items that I was interested in that looked like great deals, but after many hours of internet research, I found that most of the scuba equipment on E-bay was old, wore out, or no longer being used or supported by manufacturers! There is some equipment on there that is in very good shape, and some that is brand new! I know that this really doesn't answer your question, It's just a warning to be aware of what your buying! I hate to see a fellow diver get the shaft on deals like this!=-)

 

[brewztr]

Thanks .. I already have most of my gear ..I've done pretty well with it.I have decided to buy my tank and regs at a shop tho.. no more ebay for those items.

 

[ew1usnr]

The Olympic was Dacor's top of the line regulator in the late 60's early 70's. They are beautifully crafted. With their chrome-plated brass housing, dual exhaust valves, directional vanes in the mouthpiece outlet, and its demand lever system they were better and more expensive to produce than the cheap plastic things that are sold today.

The solution is to buy another Olympic off ebay and use it for parts. They sell for about $20. You'll get another diaphragm as well as a spare LP hose and all the other parts. A dive shop might be able to match another diaphragm of the same diameter that will work, but they will charge $15-$20 just for that one part.

Dennis.

 

[brewztr]

thanks alot.. thats not a bad thought.My only concern is that the rubber deteoriates faster than anything else.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Dacor has a bad habit of quickly discontinuing parts for their out of production regs. I would shy away from a 5 yr old Dacor reg and avoid anything up to and including the 960 as parts are limited to what is sitting in dealer parts rooms.

On the other hand Scubapro still supports nearly every reg they have made since the early 70's. Later versions of the Mk 3 (with 3 low pressure ports), later Mk 5's (with 5 LP ports), Mk 9's and and Mk 10 regulators can be very good buys and are very good regs when paired with high performance, balanced adjustable, G200B, G250 or D300/350/400 second stages. Mk15's and Mk 20's are also quite good but tend to bring a lot more money so getting one cheap is a little harder to achieve. Scubapro also played musical pistons with the Mk 20 and tried a few different designs some of which required replacement, so it's hard to tell whats in it and if it needs to be replaced unless it has been recently serviced by a dealer.

Scubapro piston first stages are seldom expensive to rebuild unless they have been abused or are badly corroded. But beware of second stages that are real dogs as they can cost up to $75 to rebuild and update.

Buying anything scuba related off E-bay requires that you know what you are buying before you bid.

 

[ew1usnr]

Just because Dacor discontinued the parts does not mean the parts are not out there. Dacor dive shops that have been around have new, leftover old parts. This guy here posted a note on the Vintage Scuba Supply board at http://www.vintagescubasupply.com/:
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"I have tons of Dacor Parts, new and vintage."

prospectdive@earthlink.net

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Check with him. The same board said that someone had found old Dacor parts at a Springfield Mo shop. You can also send Dan Barringer at Vintage Scuba Supply an email and see if he can help you at: dan@vintagescubasupply.com
If you take the time to look around to find where you can have that Olympic overhauled you will have not only a terriffic regulator, but you will be the proud owner of a piece of American-made diving history and the envy of your dive boat. Those old Dacor's are built like tanks and made to last a lifetime. I have a Dacor Olympic 800 (it has a built in j-valve) and a Dacor R-4 double diaphragm double hose regulator. The R-4 is a work of art. Dennis.

 

[ew1usnr]

This shows why I am impressed with the Olympic. Look at the double exhaust valves, the demand lever arrangement, and (they don't show real well at this angle) the two directional vanes in the mouthpiece outlet. The Olympic was Dacor's top-of-the-line regulator around 1970 and they put every trick that they could think of into it. They are solid solid solid.