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Guest
I am getting ready for a trip to Bonair with some neighbors and they decided they wanted to buy some regulators. He had gear (old Scubapro) but it was stolen a few years ago. He looked at today's prices and was pretty shocked. He realized that it was going to run well over $500 each. I told him I thought I could put together a couple pretty decent sets of used gear for under $500, total. He liked the idea so I went shopping on ebay.
First I found this: Scubapro 109 Lot Plus Lots of Extra Uprades and Goodies | eBay I thought the price was a bit high but the 2 good 109s looked pretty nice. I knew the Mk1 was not what he needed but figured we would find something. plus, I had been looking for a Mk1 for a while now. The 3rd 109 might work out and might not but the poppets and orifices sweetened the deal. So that was the first buy.
Then I grabbed this for her: Scubapro MK 10 G200B Scuba Regulator | eBay I was going to try to set her up with the 3rd 109 from the first buy but my wife talked her out of it because she thinks they are too heavy.
And for a 1st stage: Scubapro MK 200 | eBay It looked to be in good shape.
The 109s came in first and they looked like NOS. Did not even need the US cleaners. A good detergent cleaning, upgraded to BA with parts in the lot and they were ready to go. He saw the Mk10 that was coming for his wife and really liked it so I took one I was not using and used it. I added an old plastic SPG and a few hoses I had in a drawer of spare parts and he was quite happy.
Hers arrived a day later and looked almost unused. I put it on a tank and it seemed to work OK. I decided they must have been on one dive and were rinsed (not soaked) and put away for 20 years. Everything looked very clean but the Mk10 ambient chamber was not coming off the body, Hot, cold, a night of soaking and it finally separated with more effort than I like to use. Lots of "green" on the ambient chamber threads, SPG threads, and under the SPG hose protector. I am sure that was the result of rinsing rather than soaking. It took almost 10 minutes in the US cleaner to clean the threads on the ambient chamber and I still did not get it all off. The G200 barrel also had "green" inside and out, The US cleaner did a good job but removed a bit of the chrome inside the barrel where it is not very heavy anyway. All the O-ring were the old colored o-rings used by Scubapro through the early 90's. But they were in great shape. I ended up only replacing the piston O-rings in the Mk10 and the orifice o-riing in the G200B. And I replaced the old 2-piece poppet with one of the S-wing poppets from buy #1. The original poppet was heavily engraved. BTW, the original piston HP o-ring was tan (urethane) and felt like a duro 70. I also replace the -003s in the SPG. I was surprised to find a user "zero" dial on the depth gauge - I had not seen that before. I added a std inflator hose and R190 from my stash and hers is also ready to go.
The Mk200 then came in and looked to be in good shape but I had a hard time removing the ambient chamber there also. After a day of hot, cold, and soaking I still could not get it to budge. My pin spanner kept slipping and was marring the chrome. Finally, I said the hell with it and, since I was keeping it anyway, I drilled about one of the ambient chamber so the spanner had something to set it. More force than I like again and it let go. A couple new piston o-rings and it too is ready to go.
So two sets of pretty good gear for under $300 for my neighbor and I traded a few hoses, an R190 and a Mk10 that were in my spares for another 109 (ugly but working - just my style), a Mk1 which I have been looking for and a Mk200.
BTW, it does not show up well in the photos but I also finally found what I think is a better purge depressor when storing a Scubapro metal. I took an old HP seat and cut it in half so it fits inside the "S" in the insignia plate. Then I cut slots in the side so I can insert the 1/8th inch thick disk into the slot in the insignia and give it a quarter turn so it will stay there. The diaphragm is pressed far enough to disengage the seat, the cover is not distorted, and I finally have something to do with those old Mk5/10 HP seats that I had thrown in my old parts bag.
Pictures!!! What pictures?
OK, I am pic challenged. Try this.
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/194238/title/his/cat/500
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/194237/title/hers/cat/533
First I found this: Scubapro 109 Lot Plus Lots of Extra Uprades and Goodies | eBay I thought the price was a bit high but the 2 good 109s looked pretty nice. I knew the Mk1 was not what he needed but figured we would find something. plus, I had been looking for a Mk1 for a while now. The 3rd 109 might work out and might not but the poppets and orifices sweetened the deal. So that was the first buy.
Then I grabbed this for her: Scubapro MK 10 G200B Scuba Regulator | eBay I was going to try to set her up with the 3rd 109 from the first buy but my wife talked her out of it because she thinks they are too heavy.
And for a 1st stage: Scubapro MK 200 | eBay It looked to be in good shape.
The 109s came in first and they looked like NOS. Did not even need the US cleaners. A good detergent cleaning, upgraded to BA with parts in the lot and they were ready to go. He saw the Mk10 that was coming for his wife and really liked it so I took one I was not using and used it. I added an old plastic SPG and a few hoses I had in a drawer of spare parts and he was quite happy.
Hers arrived a day later and looked almost unused. I put it on a tank and it seemed to work OK. I decided they must have been on one dive and were rinsed (not soaked) and put away for 20 years. Everything looked very clean but the Mk10 ambient chamber was not coming off the body, Hot, cold, a night of soaking and it finally separated with more effort than I like to use. Lots of "green" on the ambient chamber threads, SPG threads, and under the SPG hose protector. I am sure that was the result of rinsing rather than soaking. It took almost 10 minutes in the US cleaner to clean the threads on the ambient chamber and I still did not get it all off. The G200 barrel also had "green" inside and out, The US cleaner did a good job but removed a bit of the chrome inside the barrel where it is not very heavy anyway. All the O-ring were the old colored o-rings used by Scubapro through the early 90's. But they were in great shape. I ended up only replacing the piston O-rings in the Mk10 and the orifice o-riing in the G200B. And I replaced the old 2-piece poppet with one of the S-wing poppets from buy #1. The original poppet was heavily engraved. BTW, the original piston HP o-ring was tan (urethane) and felt like a duro 70. I also replace the -003s in the SPG. I was surprised to find a user "zero" dial on the depth gauge - I had not seen that before. I added a std inflator hose and R190 from my stash and hers is also ready to go.
The Mk200 then came in and looked to be in good shape but I had a hard time removing the ambient chamber there also. After a day of hot, cold, and soaking I still could not get it to budge. My pin spanner kept slipping and was marring the chrome. Finally, I said the hell with it and, since I was keeping it anyway, I drilled about one of the ambient chamber so the spanner had something to set it. More force than I like again and it let go. A couple new piston o-rings and it too is ready to go.
So two sets of pretty good gear for under $300 for my neighbor and I traded a few hoses, an R190 and a Mk10 that were in my spares for another 109 (ugly but working - just my style), a Mk1 which I have been looking for and a Mk200.
BTW, it does not show up well in the photos but I also finally found what I think is a better purge depressor when storing a Scubapro metal. I took an old HP seat and cut it in half so it fits inside the "S" in the insignia plate. Then I cut slots in the side so I can insert the 1/8th inch thick disk into the slot in the insignia and give it a quarter turn so it will stay there. The diaphragm is pressed far enough to disengage the seat, the cover is not distorted, and I finally have something to do with those old Mk5/10 HP seats that I had thrown in my old parts bag.
Pictures!!! What pictures?
OK, I am pic challenged. Try this.
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/194238/title/his/cat/500
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/194237/title/hers/cat/533
