Replacement Bladder for Water Gill At-Pac

[73diver]

My 1972 At-Pac needs a replacement bladder. The original rubber in mine has become fairly brittle and unreliable. There are a few "horseshoe" style wing-style BC's still in production. I was wondering if a bladder from one of those could be adapted to the At-Pac horseshoe. Thanks.

[73diver]

After looking at lots of different wing offerings, I found that the Halcyon Explorer 40 could be a good replacement bladder for the At-Pac. Halcyon and Wreck Divers Supply were very helpful in providing information. My decision now is whether to spend $130-$150 on repairing the old At-Pac or to apply that money toward one of the many modern back-inflation systems.

[SurfLung]

- There's some good information on making your own bladder by Drado in either the Universal Back Plate discussion or somewhere else on the VDH forum. Sorry I can't remember exactly where but it might be an economical solution... Drado made a micro-wing from spare parts and material he had laying around... Pretty slick.

[21]

[quote=
"73diver"]My 1972 At-Pac needs a replacement bladder. The original rubber in mine has become fairly brittle and unreliable. There are a few "horseshoe" style wing-style BC's still in production. I was wondering if a bladder from one of those could be adapted to the At-Pac horseshoe. Thanks.
[/quote]
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The original rubber bladder was constructed from truck inner tubes-Nothing more nothing less.
They were originally constructed in the back of the shop in Whittier, California, later they established a sort of a cottage industry to produce them.

Might want to remove your bladder and see if it is adequate to trace for a pattern. If intact I would suggest that you have a visit to your local tire company to explore the modern truck tubes and especially the availability of modern adhesives.
If the tubes are available along with adhesives make your own replacement bladder.

The later model bladders were constructed from a plastic material that was obtained from SeaTec/Inflatable systems. It is my understanding they are still in business and just may have a modern plastic bladder that would fit.

It was my understanding that Larry Scott, the co inventor of the AtPac was a consultant to SeaTec..but that was some years ago

Both are worth investigating
SDM