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Discussion of diving methods and equipment available prior to the development of BCDs beyond the horse collar. This forum is dedicated to the pre-1970 diving.
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ScubaLawyer
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Unisuit Discussion

Sat Jan 09, 2016 7:17 pm

I found a couple of Vulcan’s buried in the bottom of my old dive locker/trunk underneath an old rotting Poseidon Unisuit that I think I last wore in 1976. Anyway, do any of you collective vintage brains out there recall if the top cap comes off so the handle and knuckle-guard can be removed? Maybe its welded back into place after assembly? I can see some rust under one of the handles and I wanted to disassemble to clean.

The other thing I noticed is that one has more serrated teeth than the other one. Different year of manufacture or just bad quality control?

Thanks for your input. Mark
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Ron
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Re: Vulcan Knife questions

Sun Jan 10, 2016 11:23 pm

If that old unisuit would fit someone 6 feet tall and it is the kind with the crotch zipper, I'm interested!


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Britmarine
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Re: Vulcan Knife questions

Mon Jan 11, 2016 1:13 am

slonda828 wrote:If that old unisuit would fit someone 6 feet tall and it is the kind with the crotch zipper, I'm interested!


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Like this? (From a 1976 issue of "Skin Diver")
Image

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ScubaLawyer
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Re: Vulcan Knife questions

Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:12 am

That's the one. All orange. I'll dig it out again this week. When I saw it the other day it was pretty thrashed with rotted neoprene but I didn't give it much of a look over. I used it in Powell River, BC a number of times and had some memorable dives in the Farallon Islands off San Francisco with it. Mark

PS. I originally got the Unisuit for a wreck dive expedition to Scapa Flow, Scotland but the trip got cancelled last minute.
"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

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Re: Vulcan Knife questions

Mon Jan 11, 2016 11:03 am

Not to thread hijack but the original unisuit is quite a piece of diving history IMO. I've been trying to pin down when it was first made, and I've also been trying to find one to restore. Apparently, people were much smaller in the 1960s because I can never find one in my size.


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kgehring
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Poseidon Unisuit

Mon Jan 11, 2016 7:31 pm

Scuba Museum has one in XL. Here are the pics!
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antique diver
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Re: Vulcan Knife questions

Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:45 pm

slonda828 wrote:Not to thread hijack but the original unisuit is quite a piece of diving history IMO. I've been trying to pin down when it was first made, and I've also been trying to find one to restore. Apparently, people were much smaller in the 1960s because I can never find one in my size.


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Neoprene suits do actually shrink quite a bit over time.
The older I get the better I was.

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Britmarine
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Re: Vulcan Knife questions

Tue Jan 12, 2016 3:07 am

slonda828 wrote:Not to thread hijack but the original unisuit is quite a piece of diving history IMO. I've been trying to pin down when it was first made, and I've also been trying to find one to restore. Apparently, people were much smaller in the 1960s because I can never find one in my size. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
According to the now defunct Swiss vintage diving website Ancarola, Poseidon developed the Unisuit in 1963 after it was commissioned to do so by the Swedish Navy:
Image
https://web.archive.org/web/20050102172 ... seidon.htm

The relevant Italian text reads: "Durante gli anni sessanta, in co-operazione con la Marina svedese Poseidon sviluppò una muta di immersione per uso militare. Il risultato di questa co-operazione fu una drysuit in neoprene, prima muta al mondo con chiusura lampo a tenuta stagna. Il suo nome era UNISUIT. (...) Nel 1963 Poseidon ottenne una richiesta, dalla Marina militare svedese, la muta UNISUIT."

Here's a rough translation: "During the sixties, in cooperation with the Swedish Navy, Poseidon developed a diving suit for military use. The result of this co-operation was a neoprene drysuit, the first diving suit in the world with a waterproof zipper. It was called the UNISUIT. (...) In 1963, Poseidon received a commission from the Swedish Navy, the UNISUIT diving suit."

The publication date of the US Patent US 3740764 mentioned in the Skin Diver Unisuit advertisement I posted earlier was 26 June 1973. You can view the text and images of the US patent at http://www.google.co.uk/patents/US3740764
Image

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Re: Vulcan Knife questions

Tue Jan 12, 2016 9:21 am

Hey Ron......When you have a chance, separate all the Unisuit info in the above posts and move them over to the post Karl made about the one he has so we can have Vulcan knife post and Unisuit post.....
Doing it right should include some common sense, not just blindly following specs and instructions. .Gary D, AWAP on SB

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Re: Unisuit Discussion

Thu Jan 14, 2016 9:21 pm

I remember a Skin Diver mag article in the mid 70ies about Joe MacInnis diving beneath the North Pole in a Unisuit.....nice and orange just like the one pictured above.
A sincere THANK YOU to all at VDH who make this wonderful resource available and to all the thoughtful contributors.

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Ron
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Re: Unisuit Discussion

Fri Jan 15, 2016 1:55 pm

I've been looking for one for a while. Karl, is yours serviceable?


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kgehring
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Re: Unisuit Discussion

Fri Jan 15, 2016 2:43 pm

It doesn't look like it would be tall enough. I will look it over and consider an offer if it is serviceable. I will have someone try it on for sizing.
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Ron
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Re: Unisuit Discussion

Fri Jan 15, 2016 4:18 pm

It would be cool to dive it and document how it works and stuff here. There is not much information out there on the Unisuit. Before I forget, thank you David for the information! It was very kind of you.


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ScubaLawyer
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Re: Unisuit Discussion

Fri Jan 15, 2016 8:32 pm

Ron, I haven't forgotten about looking over the Unisuit for you, I just haven't been home all week other than to sleep. On the good side I won a victory in the California Supreme Court this week for a client so the Champagne corks are gonna be a'poppin!

Mark
"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

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Ron
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Re: Unisuit Discussion

Sun Jan 17, 2016 1:50 am

Congratulations to you MJS, Esq! I hope you celebrate this weekend, and thanks for your kind offer to look at that suit for me.
The impossible missions are the only ones which succeed. -JYC

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