Gift from a friend

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Thunder Struck

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Divemaster
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Sippin' cholla juice under the shade of a mesquite
A friend of mine was going through his late brother’s property and came across this that he gave to me. A “Royal Aqua Master”.

I’m thinking it’d be great fun to get this thing overhauled and dive it.

What’s an approximate going rate for getting this rig serviced?
 

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Nice. It's mostly going to be DIY. There are other posts in the vintage section.

Herman has posted about what probably needs to be changed and what would be nice to be changed.

You probably need me hoses, diaphragm, wagon wheels, a rebuild kit, and s couple other parts. You're looking at a couple hundred probably to get it up to par.

Lots of fun to dive though. And that's a balanced first stage i believe so IP will remain steady throughout the tank pressure range.

Enjoy and good luck. It's fun getting these working.
 
As @Ghost95 said, DIY is the best approach... Both financially and so you truly understand your gear.
If the hose loop isn't usable, that's going to be the biggest single cost (about $100 total between mouthpiece and hoses), but it could be good... One of my favorite hose loops is an old original one.
The C-clips holding the cans together are a pain, so I highly recommend buying a band clamp for it ($25 last I checked).
Internal soft goods are easy... 1st stage is parts interchangeable with a Conshelf inside, and second stage takes the same basic hockey puck seat as a Conshelf or countless other unbalanced second stages.
Main diaphragm is the biggest question mark... If it's good, it will still be stiffer than a new silicone one, and the tabbed ones are sometimes harder to find. A good shape original is still dive-able, just not as responsive as new silicone.
If you want accessories (octo, BCD hose) there are a couple of cheap ways to feed those off the hookah port.
The repair manual is available in the catalogs and manuals link at the bottom of the VDH site:
They also have parts (when the store is up) and the forum has oodles of great info.
Another good parts source is The Scuba Museum:
And another great forum for vintage gear is at:

Respectfully,

James
 
The repair manual is available in the catalogs and manuals link at the bottom of the VDH site:
They also have parts (when the store is up) and the forum has oodles of great info.
I have ordered from Bryan at VDH pretty regularly, last time about a month ago. If he shows a part in stock there's a good chance he will dispatch it on his regular shipping day, which is every Wednesday. He has great prices and a good selection of hard to find items.
 
I have ordered from Bryan at VDH pretty regularly, last time about a month ago. If he shows a part in stock there's a good chance he will dispatch it on his regular shipping day, which is every Wednesday. He has great prices and a good selection of hard to find items.
Absolutely.... It was just down for restructuring when I last looked.
 
Okay, i'll chime in here. Looking from the photo, it is possible the hoses and mouthpiece are still usable. They need to be taken off, examined for cracking and a determination made is to whether they still have the original flexibility to be used. Some of these hoses survive after all these years due to being well-stored.

The wagon wheels, which house the non-return valves in the mouthpiece, are hard plastic and normally are usable with no need to replace them. The non-return mushroom valves, however, are usually deteriorated and need to be replaced.

The duckbill in the housing exhaust horn always needs to be replaced. It can be replaced from several sources (the Scuba Museum, Vintage Scuba Supply, and Vintage Double Hose).

The mechanism for the first and second stage needs to be examined to see whether there is corrosion; if so, both the first and second stages need to be disassembled and cleaned, then reassembled. There are several threads on the VSS website that discuss how to do this.


Best wishes,

SeaRat
 
Thank you all for the info. The hoses seem ok, although perhaps a little kinked from being in a stored in a plastic bag.

The hookah port: is that the nut off the back around the 2:00 position? I was wondering if that was a pressure relief port.

What is the max pressure for these regs? 2200 was the standard working pressure for them back in the day wasn’t it?

For an SPG would I need to use an H valve with a separate reg instead of going the J valve route?
 
Thank you all for the info. The hoses seem ok, although perhaps a little kinked from being in a stored in a plastic bag.

The hookah port: is that the nut off the back around the 2:00 position? I was wondering if that was a pressure relief port.

What is the max pressure for these regs? 2200 was the standard working pressure for them back in the day wasn’t it?

For an SPG would I need to use an H valve with a separate reg instead of going the J valve route?
Yes, the nut on the back is the hookah port (oxygen B fitting).
I run mine up to 3000 psi with no issues.
Spg you could use an H valve, or just a long yoke and banjo fitting.... Or, some old valves have an HP fitting (I have a couple like that) and you run the SPG off the tank itself.

Respectfully,

James
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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