Future Of Worthington Cylinders

[scubafanatic]

But how much more would people pay for a HDG cylinder versus a painted faber? Would you pay 700 versus 350 for a faber? i think the market has spoken that there just aren't enough divers who own their own tanks that dive locally to support more than one manufacturer of steel scuba tanks.

Well, I'd personally pay $ 500 for a HDG vs $ 350 for a Faber, (and new Fabers can be close to $ 500 these days by the way) I doubt Worthington or PST would have to charge $ 700.......but the 'marketplace' has spoken, as you indicated.

 

[scubafanatic]

Steel tanks were not profitable for the company

One wonders by how much $ they weren't profitable ? Curious as to what sort of pricing would have been needed to keep them in the market ?

 

[scubafanatic]

There's a youtube video on how Worthington steel scuba tanks are made, makes one appreciate all the tooling, processing, treatments, hard work and energy something as apparently 'simple' as a scuba tank involves, they really don't seem 'expensive' in that light.

 

[kelemvor]

I think I paid $450 each for my worthington lp108's. Glad I bought them when I did. It's always a shame to see a good thing come to an end. At the time, everyone was talking about Chinese imitation tanks being the cause. However, I've never seen a Chinese imitation tank for sale in the US unless they were sold by authorized dealers and indistinguishable from genuine tanks.

I'd like to see Worthington make a push in the US with their hoop wrapped AL tanks - targeting open circuit markets.

 

[scubafanatic]

I think I paid $450 each for my worthington lp108's. Glad I bought them when I did. It's always a shame to see a good thing come to an end. At the time, everyone was talking about Chinese imitation tanks being the cause. However, I've never seen a Chinese imitation tank for sale in the US unless they were sold by authorized dealers and indistinguishable from genuine tanks.

I'd like to see Worthington make a push in the US with their hoop wrapped AL tanks - targeting open circuit markets.

Yeah, if memory serves I think I remember something about cheap Chinese tank competition, no way on God's green earth am I buying a Chinese tank, probably hot dipped in arsenic and stamped from aluminum foil !

 

[kelemvor]

Yeah, if memory serves I think I remember something about cheap Chinese tank competition, no way on God's green earth am I buying a Chinese tank, probably hot dipped in arsenic and stamped from aluminum foil !

I'm not sure I would either, but my point was that I've never even heard of actual Chinese tanks for sale in the US. Not even online, and I buy a lot of stuff online.

 

[scubafanatic]

I'm not sure I would either, but my point was that I've never even heard of actual Chinese tanks for sale in the US. Not even online, and I buy a lot of stuff online.

Maybe the cheap Chinese competition was for the overall world of tanks, not just scuba tanks, so 'western' tank manufacturers got run out of business across many product lines/types of tanks, and scuba tanks, by themselves, are too small a market to support a tank making company ?

 

[walkonmars]

Sometimes a company makes a decision to abandon a line of products or service because it does not grow as stockholders want. I dougbt the tanks were produced without profit. The board of directors probably felt the 2% growth in sales was not enough to meet the 5% minimum to keep a product line going. They likely made cylinders for other industries and scuba was just not enough volume. As one poster accurately described that making a product that last decades is not a way to to make big profits. Better for them would have been to make tanks that we use for ten years and throw away. Imagine that?

 

[BRT]

If you dive in Cozumel you probably dove Chinese tanks. At least a fill shop owner in Q. Roo told me that.

 

[halocline]

I dive in Cozumel frequently, have for many years, and have never seen a Chinese tank. I've never heard of one, or ever heard anyone even talk about one. The tanks are overwhelmingly luxfer AL80s, a few operators own HP steels, and I've occasionally seen AL100s. Unless luxfer is making tanks in China, I doubt there are many, if any, Chinese tanks in cozumel.