Nemrod Snark II & Aqualung Aquarius rebuild kits

[zransom]

I have recently inherited my grandpa's regs, the nemrod snark II and aqualung aquarius and was hoping someone would have or know where I could find rebuild kits for both first and second stages. I have seen a website or two that advertises the kit but are out of stock. Schematics would also be appreciated. Thanks for your time.

 

[Slonda828]

I sell kits for the Aquarius first and second stage @ Vintage Double Hose

You can buy the schematics on CD from the store there as well.

If the snark II is the single hose regulator of which I am thinking, it's a tilt valve. You might as well not even try to rebuild it, because (from my experience with tilt valves) they breathe like hot boiled dog doo-doo (a technical term). OTOH, I have an aquarius which I rebuilt that has over 40 dives on it, and works great. It only has two moving parts, and is pretty much bomb proof. It's also a great regulator to learn rebuilding techniques on, as it is simple and forgiving.

 

[herman]

Is this the second stage you have? If so, Ron is right, they breath pretty bad and not must way to make them any better...and I have tried, I own 2 of them. The first stage is fairly easy to rebuild, it is basically an early USD first stage and all the parts out of a DA Aquamaster HP stage will work. Odds are you can polish the HP seat and if needed replace the diaphram with one from a Conshelf and the first stage will be good to go. DO NOT put the second stage on ANY first stage unless you also have another modern second stage on it as well. Being an upstream valve if the IP of the first stage gets too high something will give and unless you have a downstream second on it, hoses will blow. The small button like item in one of the ports is a pressure relief valve to prevent hose ruptures, IF it is working, it takes the place of another modern second stage. I would not trust it without some careful testing.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Is this the second stage you have? If so, Ron is right, they breath pretty bad and not must way to make them any better...and I have tried, I own 2 of them. The first stage is fairly easy to rebuild, it is basically an early USD first stage and all the parts out of a DA Aquamaster HP stage will work. Odds are you can polish the HP seat and if needed replace the diaphram with one from a Conshelf and the first stage will be good to go. DO NOT put the second stage on ANY first stage unless you also have another modern second stage on it as well. Being an upstream valve if the IP of the first stage gets too high something will give and unless you have a downstream second on it, hoses will blow. The small button like item in one of the ports is a pressure relief valve to prevent hose ruptures, IF it is working, it takes the place of another modern second stage. I would not trust it without some careful testing.

I would agree with all the above concerning putting the second stage on a first stage, except that these regulators normally had an overpressure relief valve in a LP port on their first stages. This overpressure relief valve, if it is present on your regulator, must stay there unless you replace it (like said above) with a downstream second stage regulator (it must be able to leak excess pressure).

SeaRat

PS--Herman, I didn't see your last sentence until after I posted, so my post is somewhat redundant. I thought you were talking about a different button.

 

[herman]

No problem John. I don't trust the reliefs on the old regs until I have cleaned them and intentionally run the IP up to see if and when it opens. It's a detail someone new to repairing the old regs could easily miss with "exciting" results. There is always the chance that the relief had been removed for some reason, the addition of a LP inflator or octo for example and now the port is plugged with just a plug. Anyone not having experience with this type of reg would not likely understand the need for some type of relief, hence my possibly excessive warnings.