OMG / Castoro C96 Parts. SIEL won't assist

[Angelo Farina]

Thank you! I bought it from eBay from a seller in the USA. I had a search term setup with alert and I think it took 4 or 5 years before it tripped, I just thought the design seemed simplistic. I believe I learned about it from the old rebreatherworld site. If I see any more of them I will let you know.

Randomly, the prior owner of the unit used it to escape the country of Dubai. He had a submarine company in Florida and migrated it over to Dubai based on interest of some royal family person. Then the relationship eventually soured and they tried to screw him over. He wrote a book about it:

A civvie version of the C96 did show up on eBay US from a pawn shop once. It had a yellow cover for the unit. The seller wouldn't negotiate and I think it sold for $2000. I was a bit surprised it sold, plus at that price.

I am even more envious!
So it is confirmed that this item is a special unit employed by some elite force.
A really precious item, which deserves to be restored to full functionality.
I will try to help you getting the parts, if Sanosub does not help.

 

[rsingler]

OMG! Unless I'm mistaken, you are describing the unit used by Hervé Jaubert in "Escape from Dubai". That would explain its special ops provenance.

The book was awkwardly written, but the story was compelling. After reading it, there will NEVER be a reason for me to want to work in Dubai, no matter how much they offer. It was quite an exciting tale...

 

[Angelo Farina]

As now we know better about your ARO unit, I advance an hypothesis: the constant small hiss of oxygen released by your first stage is not a fault: it is done on purpose.
In fact, while the more advanced Caimano is equipped with both manual and automatic oxygen injection valves into the loop,
the Castoro originally has just manual injection.
So adding a small constant flow of oxygen can alleviate the need of having to act frequently on the manual injection valve.
This feature could have been added as a "+" to your unit, which was clearly an upgraded "special op" version.
A constant oxygen flow plus a BCD are the requirements for using the unit in Nitrox mode, which allows special operators to dive much deeper than the canonical 6m max.
This very dangerous approach consists in starting the dive with the loop containg air, not flushing it to get pure oxygen.
At that point the oxygen percentage risks to fall too low, but if there is a continuous oxygen injection, this can compensate for the body's comsumption, keeping the mixture breathable for, say, 10 minutes.
I cannot provide more details here publicly, as I worked for SIEL and this stuff is reserved knowledge.

 

[JMBL]

Sorry for coming late to the show, but I think you'll be able to find some help on this FB group : anyone can join, French is the preferred language but English isn't frowned upon (nor any other language, as far as I know), the group is devoted to pure O2 rebreathers, many members own (at least) one and dive it (them) on a regular basis.

 

[telemonster]

Man with such provenance you could appear on TV and maybe get Kardashian famous

Gold & Silver Pawn Shop

Home of the hit TV Show "Pawn Stars!" We specialize in rare collectibles, art and memorabilia. Read more about visiting our store or browse our selection of expertly curated products, all backed by our authenticity guarantee.

gspawn.com

Hah! I know someone who ended up on Pawn Stars! I think the way it goes is he thought he was going to answer some behind the scenes questions about a vintage computer, arrives, and ended up in front of the camera as the seller.

OMG! Unless I'm mistaken, you are describing the unit used by Hervé Jaubert in "Escape from Dubai". That would explain its special ops provenance.

The book was awkwardly written, but the story was compelling. After reading it, there will NEVER be a reason for me to want to work in Dubai, no matter how much they offer. It was quite an exciting tale...

Thats the one! I don't remember it being used in any actual special ops missions though? Hervé was pretty nice though. Maybe I need to re-read the book. Very cool that others know about it!

As now we know better about your ARO unit, I advance an hypothesis: the constant small hiss of oxygen released by your first stage is not a fault: it is done on purpose.
In fact, while the more advanced Caimano is equipped with both manual and automatic oxygen injection valves into the loop, the Castoro originally has just manual injection. So adding a small constant flow of oxygen can alleviate the need of having to act frequently on the manual injection valve.

Ah unfortunately it's not a constant addition type thing. It's leaking out of the valve assembly into the water column. It didn't originally do this. I do take it into a shop for yearly service + fill. I don't remember if the shop pulls apart the MAV valve and replaces any o-rings or not. I don't think so. That is why I was wondering about a service kit for it. Also, the smaller cylinder for the BCD inflation doesn't have a burst disc -- so that was never hydroed or anything since it doesn't meet US regulations. I have used a transfer whip and had it up to about 500psi to 700psi tops.

Sorry for coming late to the show, but I think you'll be able to find some help on this FB group : anyone can join, French is the preferred language but English isn't frowned upon (nor any other language, as far as I know), the group is devoted to pure O2 rebreathers, many members own (at least) one and dive it (them) on a regular basis.

Ah thanks! Yea, I followed it and noticed immediately other people have similar units.

I am even more envious!
So it is confirmed that this item is a special unit employed by some elite force.
A really precious item, which deserves to be restored to full functionality.
I will try to help you getting the parts, if Sanosub does not help.

Awesome! I don't really know if it was used in that kind of manner, just that it was from that product line. It looked pretty mint when I got it outside of a few modifications made to it.


I did design a 3d printable fill funnel for the canister. It's canteen shaped and I remembered it being a bit of a pain to fill easily. This helped a good bit, so I published it on thingiverse:

Castoro OMG ARO C96 Rebreather fill funnel by telmnstr

This is a fill funnel I designed for refilling the C96 rebreather canteen-style scrubber with sorb. It press fits on the top screen part and makes it easier to refill the unit. I was able to print wide end up, with supports. The supports only generated around the lip part where it sits on the...

www.thingiverse.com

I need to look at it again, but from my recollection the issue I hit with the top buckles that I couldn't seem to source is that the newer ones are shaped differently which causes them not to fit. The size was right but the company improved the design at some point. Will try to pull it out and look at it soon and post info.

Thanks for all the info!

 

[Angelo Farina]

Ah unfortunately it's not a constant addition type thing. It's leaking out of the valve assembly into the water column. It didn't originally do this. I do take it into a shop for yearly service + fill. I don't remember if the shop pulls apart the MAV valve and replaces any o-rings or not. I don't think so. That is why I was wondering about a service kit for it. Also, the smaller cylinder for the BCD inflation doesn't have a burst disc -- so that was never hydroed or anything since it doesn't meet US regulations. I have used a transfer whip and had it up to about 500psi to 700psi tops.

So it leaks oxygen in the water, this is bad.
These units should be entirely bubble-less.
I think it was a very bad idea to have the unit serviced in a shop. ARO users are trained to service these units themselves, and NEVER, EVER allow anyone else to place their hands on their units.
Please note that an ARO is not employed together with bailout tanks, and often is employed inside wrecks or other environments (under an enemy vessel, for example) when going to the surface is simply not possible. Hence the unit must be reliable at 100%, and only the user can be held responsible for this.
These bypass valves are designed for not being disassembled for service: the only serviceable part is the gasket between the valve and the tank. Which is possibly were you have a leakage, so you just need to replace that gasket (using an oxygen-compatible gasket, of course!)
If the valve had been disassembled, and the leakage is not from the gasket connecting with the tank, then you have a trouble and usually the solution in these cases is to get a new valve, not trying to repair that one.
In Europe burst discs are forbidden, they are truly dangerous. This is not a trouble for having the tank hydroed, as when you send it for control, you must first remove the valve. However those small tanks for the BCD are really much safer than larger tanks, you should not worry filling it up to 3000 PSI with a whip hose.

 

[JMBL]

However those small tanks for the BCD are really much safer than larger tanks, you should not worry filling it up to 3000 PSI with a whip hose.

Would you care to elaborate that last point please, Angelo ? I fail to understand it. No trolling here, just an honest question.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Would you care to elaborate that last point please, Angelo ? I fail to understand it. No trolling here, just an honest question.

It comes from engineering.
The smaller the tank, the higher is the "safety factor", as for a number of reasons during the manufacturing it is not possible to make the steel thinner and thinner.
So, whilst a large tank (say a 15-liters, which is the standard steel tank here) is engineered "on the edge", with a thickness of the shell "just exactly enough" for sustaining the max rated pressure, in a very small tank the thickness is almost the same as in a large one, meaning that in reality such a small bottle could be filled ad 6000 PSI without problems.

 

[DontheDiver]

Hello! I have a Castoro C96 that I take to club pool days and once a while in the shallows in the quarry outside of Richmond VA.

I believe it is a military version, but not really sure. The BCD is tactical style.

I reached out to SIEL, which is the company that has taken on the OMG stuff I guess, or Castoro. They said:


I was mainly looking for rebuild kit for the 1st stage / pushbutton addition. Mine seems to leak a trickle of o2.

The other thing I was really after is the buckles for the top. They are made by ITW Nexus which still exists, but they are a size or shape that is not compatible with the modern ones. I don't want to cut the ones that are there or are on the tactical BCD, but would like to be able to adapt it to fit something like a backplate/wing or just a harness. There is no good place to put weights other than a weight belt and no place to hang a pony.

Any thoughts? In Italy would there be old dealers of them?

I am not sure if mine is really the recreational version either. It's not yellow.

Pretty cool oddity none the less, I am trying to take good care of it.

The pics of the buckles I sent to SIEL

Hello! I have a Castoro C96 that I take to club pool days and once a while in the shallows in the quarry outside of Richmond VA.

I believe it is a military version, but not really sure. The BCD is tactical style.

I reached out to SIEL, which is the company that has taken on the OMG stuff I guess, or Castoro. They said:


I was mainly looking for rebuild kit for the 1st stage / pushbutton addition. Mine seems to leak a trickle of o2.

The other thing I was really after is the buckles for the top. They are made by ITW Nexus which still exists, but they are a size or shape that is not compatible with the modern ones. I don't want to cut the ones that are there or are on the tactical BCD, but would like to be able to adapt it to fit something like a backplate/wing or just a harness. There is no good place to put weights other than a weight belt and no place to hang a pony.

Any thoughts? In Italy would there be old dealers of them?

I am not sure if mine is really the recreational version either. It's not yellow.

Pretty cool oddity none the less, I am trying to take good care of it.

The pics of the buckles I sent to SIEL

Hello Ethan, Interesting post. I had the exact same type of e-mail from them when I tried to purchase a unit. The Company was bought out a few years ago, I met the new owner at an exhibition in Indonesia. I was not impressed.
I know that their systems were used by Hamas frogmen when they tried an attack from Gaza. some years ago now, into Israel. Although, as far as I know, where they obtained the units was never discovered.

The C96 was a nice system although the breathing resistance was a bit high compared to the FROG or Compact Oxy. If you hear of a C96 for sale I could be interested.

best regards, DontheDiver

 

[telemonster]

Hello Ethan, Interesting post. I had the exact same type of e-mail from them when I tried to purchase a unit. The Company was bought out a few years ago, I met the new owner at an exhibition in Indonesia. I was not impressed.
I know that their systems were used by Hamas frogmen when they tried an attack from Gaza. some years ago now, into Israel. Although, as far as I know, where they obtained the units was never discovered.

The C96 was a nice system although the breathing resistance was a bit high compared to the FROG or Compact Oxy. If you hear of a C96 for sale I could be interested.

best regards, DontheDiver

Interesting! Not sure if you saw Angelo's post above but Sanosub is the recreational vendor of the units now:

Rebreathers -

www.sanosub.com

I wasn't aware that Aqualung made a unit or sold them, I assume they won't sell the FROG model to the public at large?

And yes, I think the chest mounted C96 doesn't breathe in various positions as good as my CMCL Prism 2.