Does 30 year old gear qualify as vintage?

[MudBug]

If so I may have some for sale.

I started diving in '86, then married and my wife got involved in '90. She passed her open water in '91 and on the weekend of our first dive together, August of '91 we found out she was with child. Gear was packed away and hasn't been touched since. Regulators have service tag still in place from the last service work done in '91. Cost like 46 bucks.

My son feels guilt for causing me to loose a dive partner and is now going to become certified. I will take the regs to the last place that serviced them and have them checked out. Some or all of this might come up for sale, the only for sure item we will be using is the Alum tank. It's shorter than a 70 but not sure the volume.

Anyway I will post it here and if it comes up for sale I will comment as such.
Albums for user: MudBug | ScubaBoard

 

[Angelo Farina]

I do not see the point.
First, you sell them only if they can be classified as "vintage" and you keep them if they are not "vintage" yet?
I do not understand the reasoning...
As your son is start diving, why not using this equipment (after servicing it again, of course), instead of purchasing new items?
Finally, the answer if these are "vintage" equipment or not depends on exactly what do you have, for example, a Scubapro G250V was born "vintage" since the day it was on sale...
Some items become vintage earlier than others. And some never become vintage, as they were crap, and grow even more crap when aging...
So please list us what you have, possibly for photos...

OOPS: I sew now that you posted a link to a photo album!
The regs and the jacket look very good: I would really keep them for your son. If not, they can be sold easily, of course at a very reasonable price.
The suit is a very personal item, it will be very hard to find a girl with the exact size and shape of your wife, and probably after so many years the neoprene is quite hard anyway.
same for the mask, I doubt anyone would buy it.

But your story remembers me of my own life (and wife). One year after our first son was born, she went back to diving, and we started bringing the baby to the local swimming pool He was able to swim with short fins and mask and snorkel before he learned to walk...
At 2 years old he had his first small air cylinder, in the swimming pool.
At 5 years, we started diving with him in the sea, and in a few years he became a very good child diver. At 12 years old he was finally certified, whilst the second son, being 7, was already progressing in his experience too. They are both good divers now.
Why did you wait so many years before coming back diving with all your family?

 

[Zef]

Check your tank markings for the number code "6351". It is an aluminum alloy that was common for scuba cylinders of the era you were diving.

Cylinders made from this particular alloy are susceptible to sustained load cracking causing catastrophic failure. Many shops will refuse to fill an aluminum cylinder bearing the code 6351. Some shops will fill it if in addition to annual visual inspection the cylinder undergoes an "eddy current" test, but even if it passes this special test, there are shops that will still refuse to fill a 6351 cylinder.

Additionally, some shops will not fill aluminum cylinders of any alloy after the cylinder reaches a certain age (approximately 20 years). This is kind of an arbitrary policy but the rules are set by who owns the compressor...you can obviously vote with your wallet by patronizing shops that will fill your cylinder if you can find one.

I was given a cylinder in great shape recently, unfortunately there were 2 issues that forced me to scrap it:
1. It was a tank manufactured in 1980 and was stamped with the code 6351.
2. It was a US spec tank, given to me by a fellow US service member...both of us stationed/living in Europe. US spec tanks cannot be hydrostatically tested in the EU as they don't have the correct certification markings, just like EU spec tanks cannot be tested in the US (tanks need to be stamped DOT or TC).

I painstakingly drilled a hole in the neck of the cylinder and tossed it in the metal recycling bin at the base recycling center.

-Z

 

[MudBug]

Yeah, we're kind of in a state of flux on this issue. One issue is serviceability, another is fit. All this is contingent upon the dive shop I have done business when I first started out and continue to use today.

I do have tanks of the type described. My personal one passed the test described. The short tank for my son will be taken in and checked when it becomes needed. From what I understand about the local dive shops (Oklahoma) there is not a problem getting them filed if they have the proper stickers.

Why did you wait so many years before coming back diving with all your family?

My wife's open water did not go well. She was never comfortable about it. Other circumstances made us a bit more protective of our kids than typical. We bought a boat and spent a lot of time on the lakes, taught them some boat handling and hauled them all over the place in tubes and skis.

Son now does sky diving and rock climbing. He wanted to do this.
I tried to post the photos but was having problems just getting thumbnails to post, it was posting full size. I figured a link to the album would be better for all concerned.

 

[KathyV]

Don't know about dive gear but in regards to collectibles in general, at least 20 years old is vintage and 100 years old is antique.

 

[David Wilson]

Vintage equipment diving forums tend to date the divide between vintage and modern gear development around 1975-1980. As a vintage equipment snorkeller, I consider the vintage era to have come to a close when plastic-bladed fins and silicone-skirted masks turned mainstream in the western world.

 

[simonbeans]

According to this forum heading:
Vintage Equipment Diving
Pre-1980 "Vintage" SCUBA Gear, including Double Hose Regulators, Conshelfs, Voit, Aquamaster, Horsecollar BC's and other classic pieces of gear. Sea Hunt, Jacques Cousteau and the early history of this great sport.
Thus, 2020-1980 = 40 years old is vintage, not 20.

It would be nice to get back to discussing the correct period gear.

 

[runsongas]

1980s era scuba gear will likely never be collectible. garish neon wetsuits, leaky jacket bcds, and plastic regs prone to cracking don't age well.

 

[Hethen57]

At least it looks like you have done a great job storing that gear, it looks like new. As for vintage nature, from my limited experience searching for vintage regs it is fairly common used gear, but rarely seen in that condition.

 

[boat sju]

I'd recommend keeping the regs and hoses for backups. Even the mask.

Wetsuits can be hard to give away.

Sounds like you have an AL63. Nice tank if you just want to drop into an inland lake a putz around for a bit.