elmer fudd
Contributor
The good news is they all worked. Two worked perfectly. One worked surprisingly well and one still needs some work. The dives were all brief with the longest lasting about 8 minutes and a maximum depth of 30'. I also had one of those infamous Spare Airs necklaced under my chin just in case.
The first was a Healthways Scuba, (blue label), with a Hope Page mouthpiece. When I got it, it was free flowing, but after changing the o-rings and resurfacing the seat and orifice I got it sealing pretty well. I wasn't particularly happy diving with it though. The main problem was with exhalation. I had an incident once where I lost the duckbill in my RAM. You literally had to force the water out of the hose to exhale. This wasn't as bad as that, but I'm pretty sure water was getting in there and making things difficult. Also, I think the crackly old diaphragm and lack of venturi action handicap it.
The second was a Northill Airlung. I bought this one about 6 months ago, avidly tried to rebuild it for about a month, then lost interest and set it aside. A couple weeks ago, I decided to work on it some more. I ordered a NOS seat and did some more diaphragm work. This time it seemed that I did get it breathing. Today I tested it out, and damn...it worked pretty darn well. It's a noisy breather, but that exhaust valve integrated into the diaphragm means exhaling is practically effortless. Inhalation is pretty easy too though. It may not be a RAM, but it ain't bad at all. After diving the Healthways it seemed like heaven. Now there still are some issues with it that make me hesitant to use it on a regular basis. That diaphragm exhaust valve means that some water gets into the action. Not enough to interfere with breathing, but enough to make you want to disassemble it entirely and soak it after using it. Second, because of the yoke on it, it should have a post valve on the tank with no J-valve. If you don't have a valve like that, you have to mount it upside down and somewhat high. Third, I still need to sort out the mouthpiece. It was leaking the last time I used it, so this time I swiped the hoses off my RAM. Fourth, it sometimes wanted to honk at me a little if I was tilted down and inhaled hard. Still, I was very pleased with how well it worked.
Third was a square label RAM I picked up in a package deal a week ago along with the HW and a DAAM. The duckbill was bad and so were the hoses and mouthpiece diaphragms, but other than that it breathed great. It dove great too.
And so did the DAAM. With about 1000 psi left in the LP72 I'd been using, I couldn't really tell a lot of difference from the RAM. I think the inhalation was maybe a tiny bit harder, but not that much.
Finished everything up with an hour long dive with a Mk5/R109 and I swear that thing breathes as good as my Mk25/G250V.
The first was a Healthways Scuba, (blue label), with a Hope Page mouthpiece. When I got it, it was free flowing, but after changing the o-rings and resurfacing the seat and orifice I got it sealing pretty well. I wasn't particularly happy diving with it though. The main problem was with exhalation. I had an incident once where I lost the duckbill in my RAM. You literally had to force the water out of the hose to exhale. This wasn't as bad as that, but I'm pretty sure water was getting in there and making things difficult. Also, I think the crackly old diaphragm and lack of venturi action handicap it.
The second was a Northill Airlung. I bought this one about 6 months ago, avidly tried to rebuild it for about a month, then lost interest and set it aside. A couple weeks ago, I decided to work on it some more. I ordered a NOS seat and did some more diaphragm work. This time it seemed that I did get it breathing. Today I tested it out, and damn...it worked pretty darn well. It's a noisy breather, but that exhaust valve integrated into the diaphragm means exhaling is practically effortless. Inhalation is pretty easy too though. It may not be a RAM, but it ain't bad at all. After diving the Healthways it seemed like heaven. Now there still are some issues with it that make me hesitant to use it on a regular basis. That diaphragm exhaust valve means that some water gets into the action. Not enough to interfere with breathing, but enough to make you want to disassemble it entirely and soak it after using it. Second, because of the yoke on it, it should have a post valve on the tank with no J-valve. If you don't have a valve like that, you have to mount it upside down and somewhat high. Third, I still need to sort out the mouthpiece. It was leaking the last time I used it, so this time I swiped the hoses off my RAM. Fourth, it sometimes wanted to honk at me a little if I was tilted down and inhaled hard. Still, I was very pleased with how well it worked.
Third was a square label RAM I picked up in a package deal a week ago along with the HW and a DAAM. The duckbill was bad and so were the hoses and mouthpiece diaphragms, but other than that it breathed great. It dove great too.
And so did the DAAM. With about 1000 psi left in the LP72 I'd been using, I couldn't really tell a lot of difference from the RAM. I think the inhalation was maybe a tiny bit harder, but not that much.
Finished everything up with an hour long dive with a Mk5/R109 and I swear that thing breathes as good as my Mk25/G250V.