Replacement internal bladder

[jpmaniac87]

I'm new to diving, enrolling in a class for June 1. My dad's friend gave me his old BC, it is Dacor (about 10 yrs old) with a wraparound, internal, polyurethane type bladder. Well, I decided I was gonna take it to the pool to leak test and sure enough, there is a leak. A good bit of air comes out of the little "Mount" piece that holds a part of the bladder in place. the plastic broke off inside the bladder so there is a big hole, so long story short, I need the replacement bladder. Problem is, I can't find one anywhere online! Lemme know if anyone has any ideas. O yea, I'm not positive of what model the BC is, all I know is it's a red Dacor, two pockets, wraparound bladder if that helps anyone know the exact model. Thanks guys!

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board.
Dacor has for all intents and purposes been out of business for several years. There is very little around in the way of spare parts. It is unlikely you will find any replacement parts and if you do they are likely to cost more than the BC is worth. At best you may find a similar model on Ebay but I would not waste the money on it. I would suggest you take you class, get certified and then look around for a good used BC.

 

[jpmaniac87]

Do you not think that Mares would carry the part, maybe making a similar model?

 

[herman]

Not likely, they seemed to do as much as they could to kill the old Dacor brand.....pity to, it was one of the old time greats from the early days.

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

For $400 you can have a shiny new backplate and wing from dive rite or edge/hog or for a few dollars more even a rig from Deep Sea supply.

call Mike at Dive Right In Scuba or Edd at Cave Adventurers or Tobin at Deep Sea Supply for something quality for a price you can afford.

 

[jpmaniac87]

I liked the wrap around design, I have fooled around with my friend's Oceanic wraparound in a pool dive. What is a good wraparound BC that's not gonna bankrupt me? (I'm a college student...)

 

[herman]

A "wrap around design" is called a jacket style BC. The other major style common today is the back inflate. You will find most (not all but most) of the experienced divers on this board prefer some type of back inflate over a jacket style. Rather than buying any equipment before class other then mask, fins and snorkle, just use the equipment supplied by the instructor, learn to dive and then spend some time diving on rented or borrowed equipment. Try as many styles and brands as you can and make the decision for yourself. Equipment choice is very much a personal choice, one you can not make wisely until you have some UW time.

 

[Fishpie]

That 10 year old Dacor BC is more likely to be 20 years old....don't waste your time trying to fix it. Strip it down and keep the plastic back plate and cam strap.....
Here's a very common scenario:
Get certified, buy 1st set of gear, get experience, find the shortcomings of beginner set, buy "better" pseudo-tech gear, discover it looks cool but doesn't dive any better than your 1st set, see if the hype about back plates and wings is true, get converted on first dive.....buy BP&W. See some dude with an oval mask, black ring around his face, beaver tail wetsuit, huge knife strapped to leg, no BC and a shiny chrome (or blue) "re-breather" thingy behind his head.....get hooked on Voits, know the difference between a DA, DAM, Phoenix, drag out that old Dacor back pack you kept safe all those years, rig it up like your BP&W and dive it with your Faux 50.

 

[herman]

That 10 year old Dacor BC is more likely to be 20 years old....don't waste your time trying to fix it. Strip it down and keep the plastic back plate and cam strap.....
Here's a very common scenario:
Get certified, buy 1st set of gear, get experience, find the shortcomings of beginner set, buy "better" pseudo-tech gear, discover it looks cool but doesn't dive any better than your 1st set, see if the hype about back plates and wings is true, get converted on first dive.....buy BP&W. See some dude with an oval mask, black ring around his face, beaver tail wetsuit, huge knife strapped to leg, no BC and a shiny chrome (or blue) "re-breather" thingy behind his head.....get hooked on Voits, know the difference between a DA, DAM, Phoenix, drag out that old Dacor back pack you kept safe all those years, rig it up like your BP&W and dive it with your Faux 50.

Sounds a little like my story.
Except I never made the BP mistake, I had enough water time to figure out they are not all that and a bag of chips in a couple of dives and went back to my back inflate BC.... now you should see my brand new Faux Blue Voit 50 Fathom, dove it last weekend- sweet!.

The advice is good on the Dacor, if it does have a plastic backpack and a place for straps (some did not) do keep it. Some day you may just want to give real diving a try.

 

[jpmaniac87]

It does have the plastic backpack, i'll check on straps. Will any wing attach to it? I'm not gonna really buy until I do all my checkout dives with the rentals that are included anyway and are most likely the jacket style. And damn, I have alot of catching up to do! Is there like an acronyms overview on the board? I've figured them out, just was confused for the first minute or so.