Goofy Question...

[Puffer Fish]

The "scene" that we reenacted at the Weeki Wachee show was discussed and choreographed and practiced. The important aspect to any scene is illusion. If you watched Sea Hunt carefully you would see that the exhaust hose was cut. Again, this is an illusion. When the diver "frantically" fought to surface, he was exhaling, thus the multitude of bubbles was observed. Like any historical reenactment today, be it Civil War, Rev War or F & I, the participants are reminded over and over to never put anything down the barrel except lose powder. Some reenactments require the ramrods to be absent from the gun. Also, the muzzles are NEVER to be leveled toward the opposition, but held at a 45-degree angle. Some crazies drop their weapons to 30-degrees or ignore the rules and level, but they are correctly reprimanded. When the hose cutting was staged, the safety of the divers involved was paramount. The "hose cutie" was a police officer in better than average condition and was offered the role partly due to this. We were acting and as such made safety the prime directive. And besides, what non-diver or even modern diver knows which hose is which anyway?

I do, I do!!!!!!

 

[fishb0y]

Fun stuff... I know of one person who has a clip of himself wrestling an octopus and it spliced into an episode of Sea Hunt. Has anyone else played around like this?

 

[Nemrod]

Sometimes as I dive, mostly solo, the woosh of the air through the double hoses, the oval lens framing my view, I cannot help but hear that desparing, monotone Sea Hunt monolog in my mind and occasionally look back over my shoulder for the bad guys who I know are lurking there or perhaps over the next ledge. N

 

[fishb0y]

Would you carry a speargun, just for the fact that your carrying a speargun? It's too bad I got rid of my wooden one.

I feel like a little kid when it comes to my vintage stuff, funny how my Apeks and stage bottles don't do that.

 

[Puffer Fish]

Would you carry a speargun, just for the fact that your carrying a speargun? It's too bad I got rid of my wooden one.

I feel like a little kid when it comes to my vintage stuff, funny how my Apeks and stage bottles don't do that.

Fish,

I believe they have medication that can fix that problem.

Dreams are nice, but I am glad all that stuff has gone away.

 

[fishb0y]

Dreams are nice, but I am glad all that stuff has gone away.

Which might be why I'm posting in the Sea Hunt Section. Each of my regulators have a certain function, be it my Apeks, OMS or even my vintage Aqualungs. If you don't feel the need to use a double hose reg, that's fine with me.

 

[james croft]

Fish,

I believe they have medication that can fix that problem.

Dreams are nice, but I am glad all that stuff has gone away.

Actually, that stuff is still being used and is as reliable as the new gear if properly maintained. I guarentee that the folks using vintage gear could probably field strip an Aquamaster blindfolded and are very in tune to how their gear functions.

 

[Luis H]

I posted this in another forum, and I thought this would be a good place to share my thoughts about vintage gear and reliability.



One thing that most (modern) divers are probably not aware is that by design most well maintained double hose regulators are (at least in theory) more reliable that a single hose regulator.

Let me explain:

As we know, from a mechanical stand point a regulator like the Royal Aqua Master is not only identical to the Conshelf, the Titan, etc., but it actually shares many of the same moving parts.

Designers of single hose regulators have gone through a lot of trouble to make some of the first stages environmentally sealed, but all second stages (when they are out your mouth) are exposed to the ambient water with any sand or other particles or contaminants in it. Even when it is in your mouth the moisture in your exhaled air goes over the second stage mechanism (this moisture is a known source of cold water freeze up).

Most double hose by default are environmentally sealed both the first and second stage. If well maintained and working properly, water and contaminants will never reach any moving parts. Again “if well maintained” chances of a freeze up or free flow due to contaminants are near impossible.

In reality, regulator malfunctions are very rare. But, in my experience, sand and other contaminants in the second stage or in a piston first stage is the number one source for a malfunction (on a regulator that has not seen many years of neglect and corrosion).

Now for the down side (the reason for the disclaimer “at least in theory”):

Most double hose are over 30 years old. Back 30+ years ago it was common to use phenolic gaskets and metal to metal seals (hookah port). These types of seals are not always as reliably tight as O-ring seals. The flip side is that in the rare case of an O-ring failure, the leak is much more spectacular that the small trickle from a hard seal.

Yes, the hoses are more delicate and will not last for ever. But, the only time I have seen a good hose fail underwater is in a knife fight with Mike Nelson or one of his enemies (some of Emilio Largo’s guys had trouble too when they tried to tackle James Bond).

 

[Puffer Fish]

Which might be why I'm posting in the Sea Hunt Section. Each of my regulators have a certain function, be it my Apeks, OMS or even my vintage Aqualungs. If you don't feel the need to use a double hose reg, that's fine with me.

It was a joke Fish. And I have used a lot of double hose regulators, when they were not considered vintage. I actually think it is nice that someone cares enough to keep the stuff working. Please do not stop.

Mr Croft - you would be correct, particularly because any work done on one would normally be by the owner. Although, I can say the same for the Zeagles I use now (at this point, anyway)

Luis - I would say you are correct - I never saw as many performance issues with the older gear. In fact, I can only remember one that had a slow leak. Today, having a reg problem is almost common. Nor did I ever see a hose break or get damaged (and a rotted hose was always replaced very early on)

 

[Nemrod]

"Dreams are nice, but I am glad all that stuff has gone away."

Yo Puffer, fellow, lol, you are severely misinformed but I know your joking!

Not only are double hose regulators and vintage equipment in general more reliable than todays planned for obsolescene foolsihness, the Royal Aqua Master can perform on par with most any modern plastic junker. In fact, thirty more years from now my Royal Aqua Masters will still be going and those plastic junkers will be in a land fill!!! And, they are so much more comfortable than having a second stage hub cap shoved in your mouth, so quiet and no bubbles obscuring your vision, no dry mouth, no freezing air, no jamming second stages, they are prefection, some dreams come true.

One of the reasons and evidence enough that we still have it and it still works so well, is that dive equipment of that era was simply designed and built to last, equipment was made of metal and real rubber and was designed to function with little maintenance. The facts are that almost all modern diving equipment is failure prone, that is why PadI and all of the dive agencies and on and on insist on carrying around over redundancy because they know the stuff is failure prone--it is inferior. N