Got Burned by DACOR

[tracydr]

On another note... When did the scuba diving industry go goth?
that most BCDs just come in the one color. Is the scuba industry in morning for the untimely demise of Dacor? What gives?​

I just bought pink fins.
Check out Oxycheq's Wings. They come in all sorts of colors. Even pink Camo!

---------- Post Merged at 09:11 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 09:09 PM ----------

On another note... When did the scuba diving industry go goth?
that most BCDs just come in the one color. Is the scuba industry in morning for the untimely demise of Dacor? What gives?​

I just bought pink fins. I have a purple and blue drysuit, wetsuit in the same colors. One of my AL 63 tanks is bright pink.
Check out Oxycheq's Wings. They come in all sorts of colors. Even pink Camo!

 

[toliver66]

The diaphrams are crushed in place when the clamp ring is torked down.
The clearance between the clamp ring and the body when the threads bottom determine the necessary thickness of the diaphram. A previously crushed diaphram will not be securely clamped in place and may well blow out. Instant loss of air when this happens.

Silicone gasket material has very good compression set resistance allowing it to maintain a proper seal over many years. Hence, one of the reason 2nd stage diaphragms are made of silicone. If you crushed it then perhaps you torqued it to much in the first place. I have removed the bezels and diaphragms from my second stages hundreds of times to rinse out those few little grains of sand that even the most persistent rinsing can't seem to remove and haven't had any issues.

....I would be surprised if the old engineering drawing exist anymore, so specing a reproduction or aftermarket diaphram must be done without the benefit of having the engineering drawings.
The Olympus 400,800,then Pacer models 350,360,900,950 and 960 all used different HP seats but looked about identical.

With today's technology reverse engineering of a diaphragm or HP seat would be child's play.

---------- Post Merged at 02:03 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:41 AM ----------

I just bought pink fins.
Check out Oxycheq's Wings. They come in all sorts of colors. Even pink Camo!

---------- Post Merged at 09:11 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 09:09 PM ----------


I just bought pink fins. I have a purple and blue drysuit, wetsuit in the same colors. One of my AL 63 tanks is bright pink.
Check out Oxycheq's Wings. They come in all sorts of colors. Even pink Camo!

Thanks for the tip. I googled Oxycheq and found that they also have back plates in multiple colors to. Including camo.:cool2: Where did you get your wetsuit and what brand is it? All I've seen is predominantly black. Even body Glove suits are pretty bland these days. Manufactures used to offer at least 4 colors of most every peace of gear. Scuba pro BCDs came in black, blue, red, orange, and teal. You could get color change kits for regulators. Sherwood had your choice of red, blue, yellow, pink, and orange. Seems the only gear you can get with any choice of color these days is mask, snorkel, fins, knives, and tanks. And those colors are limited at best. I'm no flashy kind of guy but I would like a little more color in my gear to off set the goth diver look.

 

[Capt.Gene]

I am refering to the 1st stage high pressure diaphram, not the 2nd stage inhalation diaphram.
The diaphram is crushed in place to ensure it stays in place and doesn't blow out, resulting in an ooa .
They cannot be re-used safely.

 

[fire_diver]

Reverse engineering an HP seat would be easy. Tooling up production to manufacture them would be VERY expensive

 

[thmoose51]

In your original post you mentioned Sea Elite. Their "Boss" reg has been out around a year or so and is a quality reg at a reasonable price. It also has the best warranty in the industry. You ought to call Russ at the Macon store and talk to him about one if you are still thinking in that direction.

 

[ams511]

I have nothing against Divers Supply having purchased from them in the past but I think it is risky to purchase an in-house brand regulator. Regulators need both service and parts and the only place you will be able to get that is from Divers Supply, so you are locked into them. Also Divers Supply is at the mercy of their OEM that could change or discontinue the design at anytime making parts a problem. I would recommend their Sea Elite wetsuits in a heartbeat, their regs I would pass on. Cave Adventurers was selling Dive Rite regs for $199 a month or two ago and I seen Subgear Caymans (Mk17/S555) for under $300, so there is no reason to purchase a house brand.

 

[DMDavid]

Diehard DACOR Fanatic

I was such a loyal DACOR diver that I even had a special card issued by Dacor called the Dacor Frequent Diver.
It rewarded you points for every Dacor purchase you made.
Unfortunately the company went under before I got the chance to redeem my certificate.



I just traded my Dacor Nautica BC in at Dive Rite for a new Dive Rite Trans Pac and Voyager Wing.
The only Dacor items left in my inventory are two pairs of rocket fins, two Pacer regs and my
Dacor Omni Pro dive computer (circa 1994).



I am now extremely loyal to Scubapro regulators and Dive Rite gear.

P.S. The Dacor regs work and are for sale if anyone is interested.

 

[toliver66]

I've been reading reviews and researching SEA ELITE gear and have found nothing but positive reviews on their open circuit regulators. How ever Sea Elite was allegedly aware of the problems associated with the dump valve spring in their BCDs and didn't do anything about it until it was the suspect of an accident. Weather it's true or not I don't know, but it's enough to give me pause from buying one of their regulators.

Regulators need both service and parts and the only place you will be able to get that is from Divers Supply, so you are locked into them.

Very true. They also have a 2 to 3 week lead time including shipping time on reg service. Plus the limited/lack of parts availability pretty much keeps me in the same boat I'm in now. So, even though I very much like their regulator line I'm pretty sure I won't be going that route.

Also Divers Supply is at the mercy of their OEM that could change or discontinue the design at anytime making parts a problem.

Not really an issue, as all manufacturers do this on a regular basis. just a chance you take I guess. Which brings us back to my OP.

I would recommend their Sea Elite wetsuits in a heartbeat, their regs I would pass on.

Bang on with the Sea Elite wetsuits though. I will be buying one of their suit/shorty/skin packages.

Cave Adventurers was selling Dive Rite regs for $199 a month or two ago and I seen Subgear Caymans (Mk17/S555) for under $300, so there is no reason to purchase a house brand.

With the current allegations against Dive Rite... I wouln't touch em with a 10 foot pole.

---------- Post Merged at 08:27 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 08:17 PM ----------

I was such a loyal DACOR diver that I even had a special card issued by Dacor called the Dacor Frequent Diver.
It rewarded you points for every Dacor purchase you made.
Unfortunately the company went under before I got the chance to redeem my certificate....

I remember those! I had one myself. I didn't get to use mine either.

---------- Post Merged at 09:02 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 08:17 PM ----------

I am refering to the 1st stage high pressure diaphram, not the 2nd stage inhalation diaphram.

My mistake, I thought you were referring to the inhalation diaphragm as I did specify XLE, meaning second stage Pacer XLE diaphragm and not first stage 360 diaphragm.

The diaphram is crushed in place to ensure it stays in place and doesn't blow out, resulting in an ooa .
They cannot be re-used safely.

Definitely replace the first stage HP diaphragm. I don't disagree with you there.

But I don't see how a blow out would result in an air cut off. If you suffered a first stage diaphragm blow out wouldn't that cause a drop in intermediate pressure allowing the main spring to push the hp valve open resulting in a free flow through the blow out? In which case water still can't enter the IP chamber which would still allow you to continue breathing from the second stage long enough to make a safe emergency assent? Isn't this what the designers mean by "fail-safe"?

---------- Post Merged at 09:14 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 08:17 PM ----------

Reverse engineering an HP seat would be easy. Tooling up production to manufacture them would be VERY expensive

Dacor Regulator Parts - Northeast Scuba Supply

Nothing special there. Those HP seats could easily be turned on any standard CNC lathe with standard bits. No tooling up required just G-code for the CNC software. Trident apparently found it worth the effort.

 

[Wookie]

In my experience with a pacer 360, if the first stage diaphragm blows out, all of your cylinder will exit through the blown out diaphragm in short order. It's why I don't use diaphragm regs. I was diving with Capt. Jim Mims during my trimix training. He blew the diaphragm in his Apeks. He went from 250 feet to about 80 feet in as much time as it took to type this before he got the post shut off. He lost 1500 PSI out of his double 80's.

 

[ams511]

Not really an issue, as all manufacturers do this on a regular basis. just a chance you take I guess. Which brings us back to my OP.

Sea Elite is the house brand of Divers Supply, they are not a manufacturer of anything. They sell rebranded regulators designed and manufactured by another company. Consequently they are at the mercy of that manufacturer in a way that companies such as Aqualung or Scubapro is not. Thirty year-old Scubapros, Aqualungs, Sherwoods, and Oceanics are still being serviced. I am not sure you can say the same about Sea Elite.

With the current allegations against Dive Rite... I wouln't touch em with a 10 foot pole.

Even if the allegations are true, a rebreather is a much more complicated piece of equipment than a open circuit regulator. Also remember that most scuba manufacturers have had to recall equipment even top of the line companies like Scubapro and Halcyon.