Well, Dawg, I just got out of the pool doing laps to try in get back in shape.
There are a number of "double hose" threads recently that a search would reveal.
The simple answer is YES, we still dive them. There are a core group of double hose die hards who will have nothing to do with girhly mahn single hose plastic fantastics.
Yes, you can get parts, yes you can get service should it be needed and yes we dive them and NO I am not a photographer. I spent much of the morning in the pool with my Phoenix Royal Aqua Master and new Mach V wing shown here. Phoenix because it has a modern Titan first stage internals that support LP and HP outlets:
Here is a more classic rig with a reproduction harness made by a freind of mine with steel 72 and Pico Ave. Mistral:
Here is a modern Faber LP 85 with Voit decal and "souped up" USD DA Aqua Master:
I am just the most vocal on this board-lol--there are a bunch of people that dive double hose here and they mostly hang out down in the Sea Hunt sub forum--however---the main vintage forums are
www.vintagedoublehose.com and
www.vintagescubasupply.com. Both web stores have active forums and that is where the majority hang out. We have a large and active world wide community of divers and collectors.
Aqua Lung has just recently introduced a funky double hose that fell upon disfavor in the vintage community because it looked more like a vacvum cleaner than a diving machine. However it has been discontinued but many are still around at reduced prices--proof--if your gonna do something then do it right or not at all.
I am not really a collector, I dive the stuff. Prices are risning steady especially on Voit stuff. Among the common double hose units in the USA only the USD and Voit are good divers, but many others are interesting to collect and tinker with. There are Europeon regulators I have no experiance with that I am sure are fine but USD and Voit had much parts commonality and had a long production run/service life and therefore parts are relatively plentiful, many are being reproduced in higher quality and the USD and Voit regulators perform well when properly set up.
No, you cannot take deceased old Uncle Frank's beat up Aqua Master and dive it and expect it to perform correctly--it will need a rebuild but I betcha it will work if it had to.
N
