Aqualung Conshelf XIV : A bargain for the price/quality maximizing person?

[gcarter]

thats actually a great explanation. didnt know that.

its always important to follow the recommended use limit for a peace of hardware. but to be honest alot of equipment (not just scuba) are giving "low limits" they can be passed to some extent with no real consequence. one time the dive shop filled both my tanks AL 80s (Luxfer & Catalina) to almost 4000 Psi :sulkoff: and i used a 3300 1st stage on the tanks. Still worked. he should check before hand though.

I don't know what the standards are, and I am sure that it differs by application and regulation, but I was recently in a review meeting with some engineers where they said that their design target was 150% of stated spec.

 

[KD8NPB]

Well gentlemen, I appreciate EVERYONE'S opinion. With that, and me watching another episode of Surviving the Cut : Air Force Combat Diver (Gee, those regulators look familiar now!)...

You sold me.

I picked up the set for a wholesome $82.71 shipped.

I'll try to get pictures up when it gets here! My camera is on the fritz, so no guarantees though.

 

[herman]

A couple of Conshelf notes for you.
If yours has a 3/8 HP port there are 2 ways to deal with it if you need a new hose. You can put a 3/8 to 7/16 adapter on it ($8ish) or you can still buy new 3/8 HP hoses from Trident - most shops do not stock them so it may take a little time to order one. Either method works fine, if however you chose the new 3/8 hose route (my preference), I would suggest you go ahead and buy the adapter for your save a dive kit. The 3/8 HP hoses are not too common so in the event you need to swap gauges or hoses quickly, you have that option handy.

Don't worry about the pressure rating. There were several versions of the yoke sold over the years but even the early yokes can easily handle 3000, the later ones with the 7/16 screw can handle pretty much anything available in tanks today, most were marked with 4000 and are capable of a good bit more. DIN adapters are available although hard to come by but since the vast majority of rental tanks in the US and Caribbean are yoke it's unlikely you will need one.

I do have one correction to your advantage/disadvantage list. You put "older design" in the disadvantage list, I disagree. The basic design has been used since 1965 by US DIVers/Aqualung in at least 1 double hose and a multitude of singe hose regs since it's introduction and it has been copied by several manufactures. It is still in use today making it a tried and true design that has stood the test of time. Give me a rugged, battle tested design over new and fancy any day.

There are a bunch of here and on VDH that service them ourselves so if you decide on self service or get BSed by a LDS that it can't be serviced, you have help you can turn to.

73's de KA4HAM

 

[Gilldiver]

1st Stge - Internally, the Aqualung 1st stage has changed very little from the Royal Aqua Master through the Titan, All the conshelfs use the same re-build kit - that means the Conshelf VI, XI, XII, XIV, SE, SE2, etc. Yokes from the XII on should be 3000 psi and stamped as such, but I have seen and have one with a 4000 psi yoke.

2nd Stage - The only thing that usualy needs to be changes is the 2nd stage seat and some times the main diaphragm and exhaust valve. The XIV and later regs will have larger exhaust valves.

Go to Vintage Double Hose for rebuild kits for any one of the Conshelf regs.

The main 1st stage changes between the XI through the Titan were the number or ports, thread size, and position.

The VI had 1 HP, 1LP. Its second stage had the 7/8" exhaust valve.

The XI had 1HP, 2LP. Its second stage has the 'magnum' exhaust valve, with a calypso style exhaust tee. It is easily identifiable because it still used a metal yoke screw.

The XII had 1HP, 2LP (early 1974) and 1HP, 3LP (late model 1977). Its second stage had a magnum exhaust valve with the common press on tee, and a Teflon second stage lever. Early models are easy to pick out because they use a yoke nut, while later ones used the C-Clip. They all had plastic yoke knobs.

The XIV has 1HP and 3LP (though always a 3/8" HP port) and the same second stage. It looks identical to a late model XII except for the stickers.

The conshelf 20, has the same conshelf XIV first stage, but a plastic second stage. The second stage is internally identical to the metal one in the XIV.

Incidentally, you can find some SE or 22 first stages with 4 LP ports. They look identical to the XIV first stage, except with 1 more LP port.

Any second stage for USD that has the same exhaust valve and bottom box uses the same parts. There are really three generations of second stage. You have the conshelf VI style (which included deepstar and hydrolung), the conshelf XI style (which included deepstar II, calypso II, calypso J, calypso III) and then the modern style one, which included the calypso IV, VI, J, Aquarius, etc. The best second stage overall is the later style one with the press on tee as it features the teflon lever and largest exhaust valve. However, if it has a screw on exhaust tee and was made from 1971 until 1974 or so, it will have the larger exhaust valve as well (you can visually check it). Anyone with a large exhaust v+alve is fine for tech diving. I would probably keep the 7/8" exhaust valve second stage for recreational depths, the magnahelic is not kind to those on the exhalation effort.

As I said you can rebuild any of these with parts you can find in the Vintage Double Hose web site store. The store's LP seats, first stage diaphragms, and HP seats will fit the conshelf and they also offer full kits. The standard Diverite exhaust valve is a direct fit for the later style second stages.

 

[MX727]

Here is a page with the 1980 catalog pdf. Might as well have this to go with the reg

https://backup.filesanywhere.com/fs/Link.aspx

 

[KD8NPB]

1st Stge - Internally, the Aqualung 1st stage has changed very little from the Royal Aqua Master through the Titan, All the conshelfs use the same re-build kit - that means the Conshelf VI, XI, XII, XIV, SE, SE2, etc. Yokes from the XII on should be 3000 psi and stamped as such, but I have seen and have one with a 4000 psi yoke.

2nd Stage - The only thing that usualy needs to be changes is the 2nd stage seat and some times the main diaphragm and exhaust valve. The XIV and later regs will have larger exhaust valves.

Go to Vintage Double Hose for rebuild kits for any one of the Conshelf regs.

The main 1st stage changes between the XI through the Titan were the number or ports, thread size, and position.

The VI had 1 HP, 1LP. Its second stage had the 7/8" exhaust valve.

The XI had 1HP, 2LP. Its second stage has the 'magnum' exhaust valve, with a calypso style exhaust tee. It is easily identifiable because it still used a metal yoke screw.

The XII had 1HP, 2LP (early 1974) and 1HP, 3LP (late model 1977). Its second stage had a magnum exhaust valve with the common press on tee, and a Teflon second stage lever. Early models are easy to pick out because they use a yoke nut, while later ones used the C-Clip. They all had plastic yoke knobs.

The XIV has 1HP and 3LP (though always a 3/8" HP port) and the same second stage. It looks identical to a late model XII except for the stickers.

The conshelf 20, has the same conshelf XIV first stage, but a plastic second stage. The second stage is internally identical to the metal one in the XIV.

Incidentally, you can find some SE or 22 first stages with 4 LP ports. They look identical to the XIV first stage, except with 1 more LP port.

Any second stage for USD that has the same exhaust valve and bottom box uses the same parts. There are really three generations of second stage. You have the conshelf VI style (which included deepstar and hydrolung), the conshelf XI style (which included deepstar II, calypso II, calypso J, calypso III) and then the modern style one, which included the calypso IV, VI, J, Aquarius, etc. The best second stage overall is the later style one with the press on tee as it features the teflon lever and largest exhaust valve. However, if it has a screw on exhaust tee and was made from 1971 until 1974 or so, it will have the larger exhaust valve as well (you can visually check it). Anyone with a large exhaust v+alve is fine for tech diving. I would probably keep the 7/8" exhaust valve second stage for recreational depths, the magnahelic is not kind to those on the exhalation effort.

As I said you can rebuild any of these with parts you can find in the Vintage Double Hose web site store. The store's LP seats, first stage diaphragms, and HP seats will fit the conshelf and they also offer full kits. The standard Diverite exhaust valve is a direct fit for the later style second stages.

Thanks! I take it you have some experience with the Conshelf?

The primary 2nd has the newer black diaphragm, the backup 2nd had the older clear diaphragm.

The 1st stage is stamped 3000 psi...I believe the date on it was 1974? I'll have to check that again.

Here is a page with the 1980 catalog pdf. Might as well have this to go with the reg

https://backup.filesanywhere.com/fs/Link.aspx

Linkey no workey!

A couple of Conshelf notes for you.
If yours has a 3/8 HP port there are 2 ways to deal with it if you need a new hose. You can put a 3/8 to 7/16 adapter on it ($8ish) or you can still buy new 3/8 HP hoses from Trident - most shops do not stock them so it may take a little time to order one. Either method works fine, if however you chose the new 3/8 hose route (my preference), I would suggest you go ahead and buy the adapter for your save a dive kit. The 3/8 HP hoses are not too common so in the event you need to swap gauges or hoses quickly, you have that option handy.

Don't worry about the pressure rating. There were several versions of the yoke sold over the years but even the early yokes can easily handle 3000, the later ones with the 7/16 screw can handle pretty much anything available in tanks today, most were marked with 4000 and are capable of a good bit more. DIN adapters are available although hard to come by but since the vast majority of rental tanks in the US and Caribbean are yoke it's unlikely you will need one.

I do have one correction to your advantage/disadvantage list. You put "older design" in the disadvantage list, I disagree. The basic design has been used since 1965 by US DIVers/Aqualung in at least 1 double hose and a multitude of singe hose regs since it's introduction and it has been copied by several manufactures. It is still in use today making it a tried and true design that has stood the test of time. Give me a rugged, battle tested design over new and fancy any day.

There are a bunch of here and on VDH that service them ourselves so if you decide on self service or get BSed by a LDS that it can't be serviced, you have help you can turn to.

73's de KA4HAM

Glad to see someone caught the callsign!

Yeah, I will be running an adapter eventually. I'm going to swap that bulky analog console out for an SPG sooner than later...the compass on it has a large bubble in it, and the lubber ring feels like it has huge chunks of sand in it. Everything else about it is solid though.

I dropped it off at the shop to get serviced, but after reading the factory service manual, it sounds pretty easy to do!

Speaking of, I dropped it off on Wednesday at Sub Aquatic Sports in Battle Creek, MI.

They called me this morning, it was a grand total of $85 to service the whole thing. The rebuild & tune went smoothly apparently!

I have my OW dive on April 21-22.

So, all in all, I have a full regulator set, ready to go for a wholesome $168.

 

[herman]

Try this link https://backup.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=896b668d5b6172b09c9a click "continue" and open the US Divers folder, the company was called USD before it was Aqualung. If that does not work, go here Vintage Scuba - Vintage Scuba Gear at Vintage Double Hose which is the main page for VDH and click on Manuals and Catalogs, that will lead you to the link above.

Servicing is fairly easy on the Conshelf. There are a few tricks that make life easier and a couple special tools that are also nice to have but otherwise it's easy with common tools.

 

[KD8NPB]

Here they are! All serials are 82 prefix.

The only problem noted at the shop is that the end of the c-clip that keeps the yoke from completely unscrewing has a tip broken off. Not a huge issue, I'll just throw a hardware store c-clip on it.

The inflator hose is different because I had the SUPER long one on it swapped out for the shorter one that came with my Hog 32 lb wing...the hose is proper length now.

I still need to decide on a way to attach the octo + gauge console to my harness.

 

[herman]

Remember, the clip must be stainless, otherwise you will end up with a rusty mess.

You can attach the console with a brass or SS clip tied to the hose right below the gauge with a piece of cord or tie wrap.