Where are you people that you can buy fresh hydro LP72 for $80?
Old Steel Tank From The Late 70s
- Thread starter sea_otter
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Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
I wish I lived closer, Santa Rosa is 2.5 hours away from San Jose otherwise I'd take it off your hands. It might even be worth it to shoot down there anyway.
I have all the tools to clean tanks up and I've rescued many of those old tanks and found them good homes. Did you look into the tank yourself? Are you going you going to take the shops word for it on what they saw? Do you think they might have a vested interest in not fixing it up?
At least do me a favor, please don't make lamp or a bell out of it...please? Let one of us 72 collectors have a crack at it first, if for nothing more than mutual respect between fellow divers and respect and appreciation for perfectly good vintage gear. Those were amongst the best tanks ever made and they are getting more and more scarce.
Thanks
I have all the tools to clean tanks up and I've rescued many of those old tanks and found them good homes. Did you look into the tank yourself? Are you going you going to take the shops word for it on what they saw? Do you think they might have a vested interest in not fixing it up?
At least do me a favor, please don't make lamp or a bell out of it...please? Let one of us 72 collectors have a crack at it first, if for nothing more than mutual respect between fellow divers and respect and appreciation for perfectly good vintage gear. Those were amongst the best tanks ever made and they are getting more and more scarce.
Thanks
OP
sea_otter
Contributor
I'll find it a good home. I did take a look into it - the bottom looked good but the sides were quite discolored (not sure if rust or liner or both).
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
I have special brushes for the bottom and sides. What you're describing sounds to me like some surface rust and that's a piece of cake. The bottom is where pitting can happen, but depending on how deep they are determines if they will pass hydro. My hydro facility has a caliper tool they use to measure the depth of pits and if they are within tolerances they will hydro them. So pitting doesn't necessarily always mean an automatic fail. What year was the first hydro date again? I think you mentioned 1978?
I don't think they lined them that late, and I think lined ones are fairly rare. Of all the ones I've ever seen I've never come across a lined one, thank god. But if I did I would remove it and put another great tank in service.
OP
sea_otter
Contributor
Hmm... maybe I'll see if I can get a second opinion. Thanks for the info.
scubafanatic
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Do we need to start a fundraiser ? 'Save the Seventy-Two !' 
halocline
Contributor
If both you and the shop employee can't tell the difference between what might be rust or an old liner, chances are neither one of you has the experience necessary to really evaluate this tank. It's possible that the tank just has some surface rust in it. I would not give up on it yet, just find someone else who can help you.
72s are excellent single tanks, not great doubles. I've read that sidemount divers love them.
george_austin
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I'll take it off your hands. It's my preferred size to dive with, - any dive - boat, beach, shallow, deep - it's a perfect tank- IMO - I guess I should say "cylinder"
OP
sea_otter
Contributor
I'm curious what about them makes for poor backmount doubles? Is it that they are too narrow to properly fit a manifold / bands? I haven't doubled up any tanks (yet...), so I'm a novice when it comes to such things.
cool_hardware52
Contributor
I have two sets doubled up. They are my go to cylinders for shore diving. Light, fairly small, cheap.
I had mine sand blasted and zinc flame sprayed. Flame sprayed zinc is not as robust as hot dipped, but it's pretty good.
If your cylinder has 3/4 straight threads sourcing a manifold is no problem. If you find a 2nd LP 72 and decide to double them make sure the bands are designed for the manifold spacing you choose. I'd recommend a 215 mm manifold as they are common, and with your tanks at 215 mm c to c most current wings will work prretty well. The narrow manifolds, ~185 mm c to c will result in lots of tank wrap with modern wings.
If it has a liner I'd pass. If not I'd consider it after a peek inside.
This video has some clues about bands and manifolds.
Tobin
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