Do Dacor regulators have *any* value in 2021?

[Jayfarmlaw]

DO DACOR REGULATORS HAVE VALUE?!?! Hell yes they do, I'm glad you asked!!! As a favor to all my Scubaboard friends, I will reluctantly offer the following-

I have a couple of rare and classic Dacor Extreme II's that are huge, heavy, old, and unserviceable, but breathe great. Owning these regs will command respect from other divers in the boat showing a level of skill and swagger usually only possessed by Navy seals, Air Force purchasing agents, drunk Marines and those with the last name of Cousteau.

BUT WAIT, THERES MORE!!! Not only does the flawless chrome finish also serve as a blinding rescue strobe on the surface, but you can dive with 5# less. The additional weight behind your noggin also helps to keep you in PERFECT trim. These regs could be in the Smithsonian as a shining example of gear from a time before split fins, pink neoprene, glare free masks, and dive panties became the norm. Oxygen safe?? hell no, but if you're still reading this, you're not concerned about sissy issues like safety, or out of air, or gear malfunctions at depth....while narced...and bent...your a true diver, risking it all to find Nemo and drag his Dory loving ass back to the aquarium where it belongs!!

WERE NOT DONE YET-HERES THE REAL VALUE!!! Like vintage Porsche's, Jaguar's, and Lamborghini's, nothing says Machismo more than an expensive hunk of gleaming steel gathering dust in your home. No need to drop six figures on something that requires difficult to find obsolete parts to keep functioning, these bad boys can be yours for the right price. These even have the special seats made of ultra rare unobtanium!!! Heck, if the bidding reaches $1000 US, I'll even ship them for free provided the destination is within 36 miles of Tuttle, Ok. If the bidding reaches $1200 each, I will blatantly forge Chuck Norris' printed name on each, in pencil no less!! Welcome to Delta Force Sir!!!

TAKE YOUR LIFE IN YOUR HANDS AND CONTROL YOUR OWN DESTINY!!! Strap on your BFK, horse collar, round mask, stuff some shark chum in your skin tight short shorts, and wade into the surf like the legend you were born to be!!! Let's start the bidding at a respectfully low $800 US, each. Shipping, pre need funeral plan, life insurance, cremation expenses, and wedding expenses when your neighbor marries your widow, not included. Act now!

Bidders must be Advanced Open Water certified with at least 20 dives to show they have the skills necessary to handle the Extreme conditions these regs were designed for. Finalist will need to send a video of them doing a shared air excercise with a buddy off of one snorkel at depth.

Value...my friends...is all about perception!!

Merry Day After Christmas, and Happy Boxer Day to my Canadian friends!!

Jay

 

[tmassey]

LOL. @Jayfarmlaw that amused me enough to go look up that monster. I couldn’t find that exact first, but here’s a similar one:

Dacor Extreme Plus Info

If you don’t know what it is, it’s worth it to click on that link to see the photos in the first post.

Before I started this thread, I knew near nothing about Dacor, other than their age and ubiquity. I really hoped there was someone out there who might value old Dacors and could explain it to the rest of us. But after reading that thread and seeing the photos... Ain’t no *way* I want to be near one of those pressurized to 3442 PSI for the first time after sitting in someone’s garage for a third of a century..,

It looks more like a chrome insect than a piece of diving equipment. Fascinating objet d’art, but not a useful tool... Who *knows* which way the shrapnel would go...

Yeah. I’m now comfortable with the idea of them having zero value. Still don’t think the sellers will ever agree, but I’m comfortable knowing I’m not taking advantage of them.

 

[Bob DBF]

But after reading that thread and seeing the photos... Ain’t no *way* I want to be near one of those pressurized to 3442 PSI for the first time after sitting in someone’s garage for a third of a century..,

Ya may get an air leak, but that much brass won't just explode from the pressure. As with any old obsolete reg I pick up, I don't have high expectations when taking it for a test dive, before or after I work on it. Trust is earned.

 

[RyanT]

@Jayfarmlaw's post wins the internet today!!!! Wow, this made me laugh so much! Unfortunately, I'm going to counter this amazing post... back in the early 90's, anyone stepping onto our boat with dacor gear was instantly derided as diving "daycare" gear.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I've got a couple of Dacor seconds I use occasionally, because I like shiny metal seconds. Other than that I prefer to tinker with other brands.


About 2016 Mares made Dacor branded regs and dive gear for West Marine. Looking in the West Marine catalog today, there were Dacor fins, but the regs sold now are SEAC. Don't know what happened.

I hadn't looked in a while but that's interesting. I have one of those DACOR sets that West Marine was selling. They were retailing the set for about 900 bucks as I recall. It's actually a $500 set (retail) in other brands with some cosmetic differences. Shows what they figured they could get out of someone who had a bottomless pit (boat) they tossed money into. Would have been marketed as something for hull cleaning or "your guests to use."
It's my main pool reg. Got it to use when I wrote the service manual for it and was told to keep it after I was done tearing it apart and rebuilding it for the photos I shot. It's a decent reg for warm water as it's not environmentally sealed. I still have and can get the parts kits for it. Not through West Marine though.

 

[tursiops]

I still have and can get the parts kits for it.

Where do you get the parts? I have a new, unused Dacor 960/XLP Pacer.....

 

[axxel57]

I got me two years ago a couple of Dacor Quantums, Extreme (Plus?) and one Enduro. I liked the pretty unique DIN connectors ( I guess) and the brass of the firsts, and I had a lot of fun dismantling, cleaning, adjusting and testing those regs, even ( or because) when it gave me some head scratching.

Strange overcomplicated, heavy, membrane guided first without membrane, 2nds with a similar exhaust design as the D-Series of SP, LP hoses which could be used to adjust the cracking effort of the 2nd, and some more particulars, which I found really interesting.

Under flow some 2nds didn’t show any Venturi, most did. The properties of most 1st and 2nds were well within normal specs of nowadays regs, so I wouldn’t hesitate to dive them and having fun about the looks of other fellow divers on the Dive Boat……..

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Where do you get the parts? I have a new, unused Dacor 960/XLP Pacer.....

PM sent.

 

[MATTKINZ]

I have a dacor 900 first stage looks fairly good. IP 130 psi. and 2 sorry looking pacer second stages.one is a pretty green metal pacer, and other is sorry looking octo. these are free to a good home if wanted, need to pay shipping. to keep cost lower, would not include hoses, or all lp plugs. or just one or two items if you prefer.

I have one metal one i want to try to keep. have cleaned up but diaphragm really stiff. Does anyone know if another diaphragm would work? or how to make a diaphragm??

thanks . mk