Broken Front Plates on Mares Protons

[bugeye]

Hi Everyone,

The front plates on my Mares Proton's (2nd stage reg + octopus) both broke at exactly the same time ... strange that after 200 dives / 5 years they'd both self destuct at exactly the same time for no apparant reason!

Anyway - it seems that they don't sell this model anymore and replacement parts aren't available. The guys in the shop recommend to save money I keep using the same 1st stage and just get a new 2nd stage that uses the same intermediate pressure - they're saying Oceanic Alpha 8 is a decent choice for a good price.

I'm thinking of just buying 1 new 2nd stage and replacing my BCD with a 2nd hand (as good as new) Scubapro Glide 500 with Air 2 reg.

What do you think? Any advice?

 

[Fishpie]

Did the mesh separate between the cover plate and purge?
Can't help you with replacements but I expect there's somebody here that can.

Pretty much any 2nd stage will work with any 1st stage...the Alphas are fine regs and are equivalent to the Protons but for the same price you could probably get HOG's which are balanced......servicing might be a problem in Singapore though?

If you go the Air 2 route make sure you get the hose with the BC.....

 

[captain]

Isn't plastic wonderful.

 

[Scared Silly]

I would call Mares directly and see what they can do. Sometimes, but not always the mfg/distributor has used/spare parts around. If they have nothing - give them crap about selling gear that does not last with no parts and ask them to send you a replacement second stage.

 

[bugeye]

Did the mesh separate between the cover plate and purge?.....

Yep ... That's exactly what happened on both my regs at exactly the same time.

Thanks everyone for your advice!

 

[bugeye]

A quick update on this ... After calling around I've found someone who can supply replacement front plates but the shops warn me to be careful because typically the next problem will be the body cracking. Anyone have the same problem with Proton's?

 

[tfsails]

I bet if you look around long enough you can find a Proton Ice or two to replace your plastic second stages. Same basic second stage, just made of metal. My experience with Protons has been 95% Ices and 5% plastic Protons. I've never seen a problem like this on the metal Ices. Just a thought.

Just about any second stage can be mated to any first stage. I would steer clear of mixing Poseidons with any other brands, simply because they have a lot of unique proprietary parts that would cost you more money to buy. Mating various brands is just a matter of tuning the second stage to the first stage's IP. Quite simple, really.

 

[Greg Barlow]

I would be very intersted in seeing some photographs of the damaged areas. I have serviced many plastic and metal Protons over the last ten years, and have seen a grand total of one front cover cracked. I have yet to see a body exhibiting any damage at all.

I personally own a total of seven Proton second stages. Four of them are the metal variety, which is my current favorite second stage. They are very robust, and ultra simple to tune.

A dive intstructor that I am close friends with uses MR12 Protons for teaching and rental purposes. The regs receive very little TLC, and are serviced when they exhibit out-of-spec test results. Those regs have proven to be reliable over the years.

Greg Barlow

 

[bugeye]

I would be very intersted in seeing some photographs of the damaged areas. I have serviced many plastic and metal Protons over the last ten years, and have seen a grand total of one front cover cracked. I have yet to see a body exhibiting any damage at all.

I personally own a total of seven Proton second stages. Four of them are the metal variety, which is my current favorite second stage. They are very robust, and ultra simple to tune.

A dive intstructor that I am close friends with uses MR12 Protons for teaching and rental purposes. The regs receive very little TLC, and are serviced when they exhibit out-of-spec test results. Those regs have proven to be reliable over the years.

Greg Barlow

Hi Greg,

They're at the dive shop at the moment. I'll upload a photo of the old ones when I get them back. In the end I've replaced one with an Oceanic Alpha and one with an Air 2 reg.

 

[bugeye]

I would be very intersted in seeing some photographs of the damaged areas. I have serviced many plastic and metal Protons over the last ten years, and have seen a grand total of one front cover cracked. I have yet to see a body exhibiting any damage at all.

Here they are!