Good price for double steel 100s

[manni-yunk]

An instructor that I dive with is moving making room by selling some gear. He made me an offer to buy one of his sets of double HP 100s. He remembered me talking about going to doubles next year.

I dont know what brand the tanks are- but I know he has 4000 dives including full cave cert and is very particular with all of his gear - so Im sure they are good

He said they need VIP and Hydro but be will get that done before sale.

450 including tanks, bands, valve.

Seems like a good deal - am I right?

 

[Wookie]

$450 is an average price for a set of used, in-hydro and -VIP double hp steel cylinders. It isn't a barn burner, he isn't taking you for a ride. It's just about the right price.

 

[Scared Silly]

ditto, a reasonable price.

 

[TSandM]

That's what I paid for the set I just bought. As said, not a screaming deal, but probably a fair price, so long as they pass hydro.

 

[elmer fudd]

IMO, it's a better than fair price, it's a good deal. Not a steal, but a good deal all the same. Around here, HP steel tanks with new hydros and vis will sell for $150 each by themselves. The manifold would probably go for at least $100 and the bands would get $50 easily. So there's your $450 right there and those are all low end prices. For every price that low, I see two or three people on craigslist trying to sell their HP100's for $250 each and their manifolds for $150.

 

[halocline]

I think it depends on what tanks these are. If they're the worthington X7 or faber FX, it's a good price, actually much cheaper than you could probably put together a set for. If they're the older 3500PSI fabers, not such a good deal. Those tanks are much more negative. They're probably not those, but at least check. If they're PSTs, I think it's still a good deal, but I'm still not too clear about the PST exemption expiring. I assume that someone has renewed it, and therefore is a non-issue, but it's worth finding out.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I agree it depends. For doubled Worthington X7-100s it's a good price as they will easily bring $500-$550 in the real world with decent bands and a decent manifold. As Frank says, good, but not a barn burner.

For older Genesis HP 100s with 7/8"s valves, it's at best only an average price as the valves are hard to find and some divers are not fond of the slant design and some shops are not fond of doing VIPs or tumbling them due to the small neck (not as bad as the old 1/2" valve tanks, but close.)

And as noted above, if the tanks are 3AA Faber 3180 psi service pressure tanks (3498 psi with a 10% overfill) then they are badly overpriced as they are about 7.5 pounds negative when empty, so when full you'll have a good boat anchor that between tanks, gas, bands and manifold will be about 40 pounds negative in the water.

 

[manni-yunk]

Follow up


He said they are pressed steel 3500 PSI with an old sherwood heavy duty manifold

 

[manni-yunk]

I think it depends on what tanks these are. If they're the worthington X7 or faber FX, it's a good price, actually much cheaper than you could probably put together a set for. If they're the older 3500PSI fabers, not such a good deal. Those tanks are much more negative. They're probably not those, but at least check. If they're PSTs, I think it's still a good deal, but I'm still not too clear about the PST exemption expiring. I assume that someone has renewed it, and therefore is a non-issue, but it's worth finding out.

What is the "exemption"

 

[elmer fudd]

Most of the HP steel tanks were made with a DOT exemption allowing them to be filled to a higher pressure than their wall/neck thickness would otherwise allow. Basically, tank construction technology has surpassed the old regulations that DOT is supposed to enforce, so they issue exemptions for certain tanks. The exemptions are temporary and must be renewed from time to time. PST's exemption expires in 2011.

PST went bankrupt a couple years ago or so. I think they've been reorganized or are operating under new ownership or some such thing now. In any event, they're no longer much of a force in the scuba industry. There's a bit of a concern out there that PST's exemption won't be renewed and all those PST tanks will basically become expensive wind chimes. From what I understand though, anyone can apply for an exemption, so even if PST doesn't do it, someone else is likely to.