Preservation advice for an old rig - Broxton Blue Label

[dprozinski]

Hello all, a new member here with a question. I've got a Broxton Blue label, serial # 16545 with the original one piece blue hose and it's clamps. I would say the hose is in pretty good shape but I wonder if there is anything I should be doing to help preserve the old blue rubber so it doesn't dry out or crack?

I got this complete set up, tank, valve,reg and harness, from an uncle back in the late 70s when I was a teenager just getting into scuba. He had this at his cabin here in Minnesota and wasn't using it and he thought I'd appreciate it. He was a career Marine officer, WWII and Korea, and I always thought he'd brought it home with him but now I don't know. It's not marked military anyways, and the harness is in such good shape I don't know if it's ever seen salt water. The tank is also marked with the Broxton address and there's still 1100 lbs of air in it from when I got it.

At the time I was given this I had the regulator gone over by a place called Vets Salvage Divers here in town and when the repairman gave it back to me he said "It's working o.k. but if I were you I'd just hang it on the wall." and that's what I did. I've never dove it.

I don't dive much anymore but after looking over your site here my interest is rekindled a bit! I may think about a shallow lake dive with this rig for next spring.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice.

Regards
Dan
Minneapolis Minnesota

[Emilio Largo]

Very nice rig. I have had good luck using 303 Aerospace Protectant on rubber items. Other guys on this forum also use it. You can find it online or at West marine.

[antique diver]

You have got to take that rig diving! Just don't let the wrong people try to service the valuable regulator or the fine RENE tank. Get with some of the vintage divers on this forum in your area for advice on getting the tank hydrotested properly at a good place. The wrong dufus might fail it. I might be a good idea to send the reg to Bryan to get it in safe condition and properly adjusted. I also use Aerospace 303 on rubber products such as hoses an mouthpieces... tastes awful at first, but that fades away with a little time.

Keep us posted on your restoration!
Bill

[Herman]

Really nice reg.
I may be in the minority on this one but that particular reg I think I would clean up, treat the rubber and display it. The hoses are rare and a reg in that condition is also quite rare. Rather than taking the chance on damaging the reg (dent and ding wise) or the hoses, I would not dive it, esp since it WILL have to be gone through to restore it to diving condition, there is no way that reg is in a safe diving condition. At a minimum the duckbill is toast and since there are not valves in the hose, diving it with no exhaust valves and a bad duckbill is not going to be pretty, even for an experienced DH diver.

If you want to experience diving a DH hose, I would suggest you get up with someone who dives DH regs on a regular basis and borrow an fully restored reg. Not only do you need to dive a reg that is in good operating condition, having someone along who understands diving a DH reg will be a lot of help, they are not the same as diving a single hose reg. Putting one on your standard BC and treating it like a modern single hose reg will work but even a properly working reg will not do well when dove in that manner.

Then if you still want to dive that particular reg, I would have Bryan go through it and replace the hoses with newer models that include the intake and exhaust valves.
In any case, really nice reg to be proud of and welcome to the board.

[luis]

Herman,

I tend to agree with you... except for the condition of the duckbill. That is the old style of duckbill and it is probably the only thing in that regulator that does not need service. This uses the early heavy duckbill that is held in the removable horn with string to hold it in place.

It is strange, but those early duckbills seem to survive and work just fine after all these years.

[Herman]

I was unaware that those held up that well...still that assumes that the original is in there. Learn something new every day.

[captain]

I agree with Luis, just about every old Broxton I have worked on I found the duckbill to be in usable condition. The valve is the old style with the nylon gasket rather than an O ring. I have never tried but the gasket used on the valves on portable E medical oxygen cylinders may work. Also care must be taken to use the proper wrench in the proper position when removing and installing the valve to avoid damage. In the end it may be better to just preserve it as is.

[sitkadiver]

I'm glad some of the more experienced vintage guys are chiming in here. I'm new to vintage diving, but I can tell you that what you have there is fairly rare and worth preserving.

Some of things that stand out in the photos to me are the following:

The regs label looks to be in pristine condition. I cannot see a single chip in the blue paint anywhere. And there's no corrosion that I can see. If it were mine, and I realize it isn't; I wouldn't go anywhere near salt water with that thing. Match the label with the OD timmermans and the one peice hose assembly and I say, don't risk messing things up. If you decide to get it working, please send it to Bryan, this isn't a reg to learn on.

Also, when I worked in the dive shop in the early 90's I saw lots of 1/2 in. PT valves, but I don't remember seeing any USD teflon valves. HW's I've seen, but not USD.

When taken as a package: Original tank(with 1950's air), harness, valve, and pristine regulator, man, I'd be reluctant to do anything other than display it.

Thanks for sharing. You have a great peice of kit from your uncle.

[dprozinski]

Thanks all! I agree it could be a bad idea to use these hoses. It would be a real shame to have them crack or tear. I've spent a little time in the last week looking around the web for info on this gear and there's not much out there. It sounds like very few of these hoses have survived the decades.

I did try breathing through the reg and it still works well on land … but I understand your cautions, for the sake of the gear and my safety!

Regarding the blue rubber and any steps to help preserve it, I did use warm, mildly soapy water to remove the dust and then rinsed it all thoroughly. It sounds like you experts here would also treat with the 303 Protectant. The manufacturer describes 303 as a good barrier against deterioration from UV light, dirt or stains. Actually reconditioning the old rubber might be expecting too much. So, I will figure out how to display this safely; stable and away from sunlight.

Thanks again everyone! Cheers.

[usddude]

VDH has the nylon(it is not teflon) gasket for that valve in the store. The valve must be removed with care and Captain has a nice tutorial about that plus expertise with valves and Broxton regs. J valve parts for that particular valve are kind of hard to find but all the orings are common. I would rebuild the entire regulator with all the new parts that are available and get a pro like Bryan here VDH or a very few others to do it. The rubber orings, gaskets, seats, etc, will continue to deteriorate in the regulator and valve, so rebuild it. The entire setup should be overhauled and be 100% diveable with possibly not the tank if it has only the original hydro stamp. Since you have not been diving with a double hose I would not attempt to use the original one piece hoses as there are a couple special techniques to clear the hoses you need to master. A new set of hoses with the kleer-ez mouthpiece I would suggest you use and preserve the original hose for later maybe. After a nice freshwater dive with it...preserve and display.

Get you a DA Aquamaster or DW Mistral to begin your vintage diving adventure is also good advice, of coarse they should be rebuilt.

Search web and buy the old book, Basic Scuba by Fred Roberts. It is a must have for vintage diving.

Hope I made some sense

Steve

[captain]

Honestly it looks like the rig has never been in the water or very very few times. The galvanize on the tank still has that new galvanize flake pattern visible. I think the green tinnerman clamps are original, that was the color they normally were, it was just coincidence they matched Voit hoses.

[scubasteve59]

Late post...sorry.


SERVICE IT PROFESSIONALLY!
BUY EXTRA SET OF HOSES..USE BLUE ONES FOR DISPLAY.
DIVE IT!

IMHO...what the heck is collecting something but never enjoying what it was designed for? Of course, be careful with this valuable rig, but enjoy it wisely and sparingly.

Steve

[1969ivan1]

That is a nice one you have there. I have a couple broxtons that I dive with the one hose assembly. Diving them occasionaly in freshwater will not hurt the reg, but diving with that assembly will take some extra skill as compared to an e z clear set up. You are very lucky to have it exspecially since it has family history. Thanks for posting the pics and let us know what it is like int he water.

[EHowe]

I never saw blue hoses before. Black, yellow, green, grey, I would buy a set of blue repro if they were available. I like to have options.

[SurfLung]

Wow, that's really nice Dan. The reg is one thing but the tank is precious, too. Don't go to just any dive shop for hydro and inspection. They'll put wrench marks in the valve getting it off... They did it to my old 1/2" valves and your's is like brand new condition. I also have a tank that the dive shop used a pipe wrench on the neck... Chewed the heck out of it. Some of the guys here on the forum will take these 1/2" pipe thread valves off once every 5 years just for hydro but not risk the annual disassembly for VIP... Filling the tank themselves either by personal compressor or by tank to tank hose connection (that's what I do).