"Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've lost till it's gone. . ."

[rx7diver]

My hope is that some enterprising person will step in and resume producing only Phoenix and HPR stages, and silicone wagon wheel valves, duck valves, and hoses. Of course, a diver would have to source his/her own DA Aqua Master (or similar), but maybe this enterprising person could offer a service to do the upgrade for any diver who doesn't want to DIY.

Maybe produce a DH aluminum classic plate, too. (This would NOT be too difficult, I suspect.)

No real need to produce anything else immediately, I think. These few things would be enough to sustain the "DH Movement", I think.

rx7diver

 

[rx7diver]

... Due to age and several issues, I no longer dive DH regulators ...

@Nemrod,

This is a surprise. I think I must have missed the lead-up to this decision. Sorry (selfishly) to hear this, since I consider seriously anything that you and a handful of others here write about double-hose regs.

rx7diver

 

[Luis H]

I started with DH (Voit) long ago, had a few Phoenix and two Kraken, I enjoy diving to much to spend that much time messing with a DH anymore.

I have just been wanting to use the disagree button... and I got my chance.

 

[Luis H]

My hope is that some enterprising person will step in and resume producing only Phoenix and HPR stages, and silicone wagon wheel valves, duck valves, and hoses. Of course, a diver would have to source his/her own DA Aqua Master (or similar), but maybe this enterprising person could offer a service to do the upgrade for any diver who doesn't want to DIY.

Maybe produce a DH aluminum classic plate, too. (This would NOT be too difficult, I suspect.)

No real need to produce anything else immediately, I think. These few things would be enough to sustain the "DH Movement", I think.

rx7diver

Most or of the replacement parts are available from The Scuba Museum.


More to follow.

 

[lexvil]

I have just been wanting to use the disagree button... and I got my chance.

You use it anytime, especially if you don’t mind being wrong

 

[Nemrod]

@Nemrod,

This is a surprise. I think I must have missed the lead-up to this decision. Sorry (selfishly) to hear this, since I consider seriously anything that you and a handful of others here write about double-hose regs.

rx7diver

I recounted much of it on vdh a couple of years ago and a little here. Really, there is not one specific thing but several. You have put your hand on a hot stove a few times and I bet it impressed you deeply and you probably decided at a gut level that you did not like doing that, an aversion to doing so. I still dive DH regulators, I just did, counting them up, about half of my dives in Bonaire a few weeks ago on my Kraken Series II, DH is just no longer my go to primary dive rig. And really, to be honest, my primary, go to SHTF regulator has been an AL Titan LX Supreme which my wife recently confiscated from me. So, now that number one slot has been taken by a brand new G260 set and Mk 17 Evo and number two slot is taken by a G250 set and Mk 20 upgraded to Mk 25 specs and third slot is a G250 set on a brand spanking new Mk 2 Evo. And the Krakens and other DH are just for when I feel like it which is just that, whenever I feel like it.

 

[rx7diver]

Understood, @Nemrod. It's a personal journey.

My 1st gen PRAM provides an almost perfect solution for me at this point of my own scuba journey (solo, recreational diving to at most moderate depths in MO/AR freshwater lakes during the warm months), especially when the PRAM is paired with a U.S. Divers single-outlet, solid-bar, J-valve manifold on baby doubles (LP50's).

Here, if you don't venture and linger below the second thermocline (~45 ffw), you really don't need a thick hood. And I find that when I do not wear a hood, the noise from exhaust bubbles passing by my ears, released from the 2nd stage of a single-hose regulator, really messes with my U/W zen.

Only "almost perfect", because I would prefer a second outlet on that solid-bar manifold, to accommodate a single-hose reg (for redundancy)--you know, sort of like a Y-valve for baby doubles, like the old Sherwood doubles manifold. (No need for an isolator valve here, given my profiles.)

I'll reevaluate things when my daughters have completed college, and I have retired, and I am traveling offshore to dive. If I haven't "aged out" by then, that is!

rx7diver

 

[The Ruttmeister]

Were I less experienced I would be clamoring to take on the Kraken.

However I've developed products, supported them and all that jazz.
So I have some idea of the work involved.

I could see a model similar to some Kickstarter products, where it's all batch production. But it's still going to be a bunch of work, even if you somehow can avoid providing support.

And copies of the VDH plate could be made tomorrow. I had a brass one made (because I have a disorder of some kind I think). Might need some design changes though. Could have better webbing slot placement.

 

[Nemrod]

Were I less experienced I would be clamoring to take on the Kraken.

However I've developed products, supported them and all that jazz.
So I have some idea of the work involved.

I could see a model similar to some Kickstarter products, where it's all batch production. But it's still going to be a bunch of work, even if you somehow can avoid providing support.

And copies of the VDH plate could be made tomorrow. I had a brass one made (because I have a disorder of some kind I think). Might need some design changes though. Could have better webbing slot placement.

There is a copy, somewhat of a copy, of the VDH plate already out there:

Primary SCUBA Reels, Backplates, Spearfishing gear

US made stainless SCUBA primary reels, SCUBA BCD backplates, spearfishing equipment, and Vintage SCUBA gear

www.subseasports.com

I am not sure if people generally know why the designer placed the strap slots as he did (they were designed to have the straps cross at the top left to right to force the tank and plate lower and to exit the plate forward rather than rearward to clear the cans). But that does result in a two piece harness rather than a single continuous webbing loop thus driving my Hogarthian Minimalist mindset bonkers, but I live with it and pretend not to notice for the advantages it offers (yes, two pieces of webbing is more than one piece and therefore is a complication ).



I have found that the Oxy soft travel plate works admirably (for DH) with some constraints, warm water, minimal gear, aluminum tanks (or steel 72).



But each to their own, anyone going to the trouble ought to do what improvements they think best.

 

[JohnN]

I do not think you got that quite right but hopefully you are getting what you actually want. The second stage is HPR, if so equipped, not HDR. The innards of the Phoenix/Kraken and really just about every AL first stage are the bits from the Conshelf which really evolved from the Royal Master and Royal Aqua Master.

Fingers crossed that you will get a good regulator to work with for your foray into DH regulators. I will just go ahead and say it now, however low you think you already wear your tank, it needs to be lower. When you get it lower, lower it some more. The center of the tank valve needs to be no higher than the mid point between your shoulders. Basically, if you can reach back and touch the regulator at any point, the tank is too high and must be lowered to work correctly. And technical bent doubles plates will not work at all and neither will most BCs. And this is because they force the tank too high above your shoulder midpoint and too far away from your back.

Now you need a DSV.

Well, I am a master of leading threads astray , but, you have been told to lower your tank now officially . And while going off into the weeds, get a good octopus regulator (Core/Titan/Helix/G250 etc) for both air sharing with your buddy and just in case while in the learning curve for DH. Use a hose of 36 inches to 48 inches under your shouldert. Do not use a 60 inches or 72 inches hose wrapped as it will be under your DH loop requiring you to remove the DH mouthpiece to donate your octopus second stage.

It seems the DH setup came with a DSV. I think I scored the deal of the century!!