Twin-hose open-circuit scuba regulators
- Thread starter Anthony Appleyard
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The Argonaut Kraken is the only recent manufacture twin hose regulator and currently NLA except as used. The Sea Wolf was another attempt that never got off the ground. The Nemrod went out of production I think in the mid-90s. The AL Mentor was fairly recent but was military market only and the AL "New" Mistral was an abomination.
Me on my Kraken:
My diveable twin hose collection and you might note there are three Krakens among them, two Phoenix, a Cyclone conversion and what not
.
About to freeze my rear off, going solo:
Some friends sharing the line in Cozumel:
A Kraken being prepped for assembly:
Things like the Cyclone, Phoenix, Pegasus and such as that ilk are conversions and updating of olden and vintage regulators, not new production of an entire regulator. Really, the Argonaut Kraken stands alone and sets the benchmark for a twin hose performance regulator.
James
Me on my Kraken:
My diveable twin hose collection and you might note there are three Krakens among them, two Phoenix, a Cyclone conversion and what not
.About to freeze my rear off, going solo:
Some friends sharing the line in Cozumel:
A Kraken being prepped for assembly:
Things like the Cyclone, Phoenix, Pegasus and such as that ilk are conversions and updating of olden and vintage regulators, not new production of an entire regulator. Really, the Argonaut Kraken stands alone and sets the benchmark for a twin hose performance regulator.
James
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Anthony Appleyard
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What is the duck bill eliminator? I am familiar with the rubber duck's-beak-shaped valve on the end of the exhalent tube in the wet side of twin-hose regulators.
In Nemrod's message's last image, looks like a lot of plastic. The old twin-hose regulators that I remember were largely made of good strong metal.
I bought and dived with a Nemrod twin-hose regulator. Its mouthpiece had a strap to strap it in with.
DBE is a component utilizing a mushroom valve on the exhaust. Way less resistance than a old style duckbill...
ScubaJCBS
Live to dive! Dive to live!
Can you still find the Kraken for sale?
As Nemrod said, just on the used market as production is paused.
The cans are ABS plastic with improved flow characteristics and better Venturi assist. As far as good strong metal vs modern plastics, anything that would damage the plastic cans would likely damage just as much so the old brass, dent prone cans. That war has been fought on the single hose stage and largely lost, plastics do not corrode, do not peel chrome, are usually lighter and stronger and equally durable if not more so.
But, if you must, the Kraken body is backward compatible with the "good strong" cans of yore if you have a nice set. The WOB will be made worse due to lesser Venturi and a smaller the DBE or for worse a real duckbill valve not being quite as free flowing as the Kraken molded in exhaust valve seat.
There are no sort of bondage straps on the DSV mouthpiece. If someone wants that for whatever reason they will need to fabricate it themselves or use a Hog style necklace. As to the cool old Nemrod DH regulators are a nice regulator but it is not in the same WOB performance range of the Kraken. And they are awfully heavy for travel diving compared to a Kraken.
Keep in mind, the Kraken has three LP ports and one HP port and is very compact. It can support an octopus, BC inflator and a drysuit inflator and an SPG, something most of the old DH regulators could not do in a straight forward way with out banjo bolts and other kludge.
James
One of the posts above talks about putting the hose look under an arm to keep it from free-flowing on the surface. Double hose regulators will free flow whenever the mouthpiece is higher in the water than the regulator. But this diver is using a different type of mouthpiece, available from Vintage Double Hose, which is called a "dive-surface valve" mouthpiece (DSV). It can be rotated to shut off the air flow when on the surface, and prevent this free-flow.
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