Do I need a Phoenix Nozzle?

[Nemrod]

I have never had an issue with the USD style banjo adapters. They have been rock solid but it is true, some valves they will not work with. If the banjo cannot swivel slightly then it is binding and it will blow an O ring. This i usually due to incompatibility with the valve. Once installed you should be able to grasp the HP hose and banjo and move it up and down slightly, rotating slightly on the valve face. If it will not move, it will blow. JMO, YRMV.

N

 

[halocline]

I am trying to purchase a 1970 US Divers Royal AquaMaster. Do I need the Phoenix Nozzle to connect my SPG, Octopus and BCD LP connector or is there another way?

See what you started, hehe?

DA's excellent post is the long and thorough answer. The short and superficial one is that no you don't need the phoenix to connect those devices.

The phoenix does other great things, though, like zero creep and excellent IP recovery on inhalation. I'm pretty impressed by the difference between the way the phoenix and my DA nozzle perform. Maybe the RAM nozzle is more like the phoenix in terms of flow.

 

[Gilldiver]

A total alternative is to use any double hose regulator with a H-valve. Put a single hose reg on it and run all the do-dads off of it. here is a Mistral and an old Posidon on such a valve for show. This is a 200/230 BAR DIN valve with inserts.

 

[duckbill]

The short answer is, "No, of course you don't 'need' one." Divers have been diving double hose regulators with SPGs, octos, and BCs for decades before anyone gave it the bird, by using banjos, gas fittings, and swivels. A 1970 RAM should have the long yoke. I have never had any of my banjos fail in any way.

 

[captain]

The Pheonix's main points are (1) it will convert a more readly available and cheaper Aqua Master to a balanced first stage. (2) It allows a somewhat cleaner arrangement of LP hoses without adapters and (3) it simpfies the use of the SPG by eliminating the banjo. In the end point one is probably the main one from a cost stand point.

 

[Nemrod]

There are some minor differences per Luis in the performance of the Gen II Phoenix over the Gen I and the standard RAM nozzle. Not sure I have been able to validate that since my Gen I is my best breather overall. I may see a slightly faster IP recovery at low tank pressures with the Gen II but really hard to say.

The Phoenix allows a cleaner arrangement of hoses without adding additional failure points, important for deep solo divers, it allows the option of diving pure vintage or full tech, it does not ruin a regulator because nothing about the Phoenix conversion alters the regulator thus retaining the value of the unit for collectors--which I am not.

Nine out of ten sharks surveyed stated their preference for "The Bird" it seems for actual diving:

N

 

[Nemrod]

See what you started, hehe?

DA's excellent post is the long and thorough answer. The short and superficial one is that no you don't need the phoenix to connect those devices.

The phoenix does other great things, though, like zero creep and excellent IP recovery on inhalation. I'm pretty impressed by the difference between the way the phoenix and my DA nozzle perform. Maybe the RAM nozzle is more like the phoenix in terms of flow.

The Phoenix is a RAM therefore aside from the slight differences Sr. Luis did on the Gen II there is no difference in breathing performance between a RAM and PI or PII nozzle. The Phoenix does have a replaceable volcano orifice which is another of it's advantages.

I always liked this cover, I don't know why:

N

 

[Nemrod]

I agree.

3. A vintage harness like the excellent travel harness that Simonbeans makes. (Nemrod is using one in the picture above)

Actually, that is not me in that photo, otherwise how could I have taken it?

Also, you don't really need a back plate to use a wing, you can get the military travel harness and thread your Oxy Cheq wing onto the harness, works like a charm, though I prefer a Hog harness on my Oxy 18 and Oxy Ultralight plate, that is if I must use a silly BC thingy. Some people need those ya know, sorta like training wheels.

Off subject, seriously, in a recent dive debacle, the dive boat decided to break off the mooring in high seas. This resulted in the DM collecting the heard of vintage divers and sending them to the surface--still I am baffled by this decision but------ so anyways, I am on the surface in five foot plus seas, camera in hand, wife coughing seawater up some way or another and the DM yells to me to swim for the boat, well, hmmm, OK, I guess, looks kinda far. I guess he forgets we are vintage in more than just equipment. So, I had no BC, no snorkel, a wife and a camera to get back on the boat. She tired quickly so I hold her with one hand and swam while my other hand held my camera. It was about that time I thought a BC might be awfully nice right about now or even a stupid snorkel. Soooo, I swam, and I swam, and I swam and finally about 30 feet from the boat as it bounced up and down ten feet at a swing from my vantage point, the other DM jumped in and grabbed my wife, thanks, I needed that about two hundred yards ago. Well, I didn't have a heart attack, neither of us drowned, forget what I said about that BC, those are for sissies. But, I would have traded a pound of gold for my Super Jets instead of those Mares Power Plana Graphites that were bent double from my efforts. I have decided they need to take the "Power" out of the Graphite name if you follow because they were not cutting the mustard that day. My wife collected a dozen large bruises trying to get on the ladder in the heavy seas and she has this strange circular bruise on her arm, that was from my grip on her arm.

N

 

[captain]

Actually, that is not me in that photo, otherwise how could I have taken it?

Also, you don't really need a back plate to use a wing, you can get the military travel harness and thread your Oxy Cheq wing onto the harness, works like a charm, though I prefer a Hog harness on my Oxy 18 and Oxy Ultralight plate, that is if I must use a silly BC thingy. Some people need those ya know, sorta like training wheels.

Off subject, seriously, in a recent dive debacle, the dive boat decided to break off the mooring in high seas. This resulted in the DM collecting the heard of vintage divers and sending them to the surface--still I am baffled by this decision but------ so anyways, I am on the surface in five foot plus seas, camera in hand, wife coughing seawater up some way or another and the DM yells to me to swim for the boat, well, hmmm, OK, I guess, looks kinda far. I guess he forgets we are vintage in more than just equipment. So, I had no BC, no snorkel, a wife and a camera to get back on the boat. She tired quickly so I hold her with one hand and swam while my other hand held my camera. It was about that time I thought a BC might be awfully nice right about now or even a stupid snorkel. Soooo, I swam, and I swam, and I swam and finally about 30 feet from the boat as it bounced up and down ten feet at a swing from my vantage point, the other DM jumped in and grabbed my wife, thanks, I needed that about two hundred yards ago. Well, I didn't have a heart attack, neither of us drowned, forget what I said about that BC, those are for sissies. But, I would have traded a pound of gold for my Super Jets instead of those Mares Power Plana Graphites that were bent double from my efforts. I have decided they need to take the "Power" out of the Graphite name if you follow because they were not cutting the mustard that day. My wife collected a dozen large bruises trying to get on the ladder in the heavy seas and she has this strange circular bruise on her arm, that was from my grip on her arm.

N

Did the boat not have power to motor over and pick ya'll up?? Propeller better than fins.

 

[Nemrod]

Did the boat not have power to motor over and pick ya'll up?? Propeller better than fins.

Note the part above where I said I was baffled by the whole thing . They should have just let us complete the dive while the other skipper/DM reset the mooring but, I was not in charge and so we followed orders and instead of a pleasant dive once below the heavy seas, we got a death swim back to the boat, BTCOOM. I was not overly happy. Suffice it to say, there are times when a snorkel and a BC might be handy.

N