Small ads pay off

[treasureman]

I had placed some small ads wanting vintage dive gear in the east and west cost villages and towns. I just bought two as new steel 72 in their boxes from a Marine repair deopt, along with two double hoswe regs.

One of the regs has a red square label in the pix, with what looks like a curved yellow sticker above the red square label. The pix ois not of the best resolution so i can make out what it might be. Any one have any guesses. the other reg is a blue sqaure label which could be either a DAAm or older RAM. Total cost was 150 cdn plus shipping. I anxiously await this small trove of treasure

Seeings as the christmas season was expensive, it is unlikely I will be keeping the regs. I will keep the tanks though.

Any ideas on the red label reg??

[ovalis]

The red label reg would be a DW- Stream Air. The yellow curved sticker is a Mistral sticker indicating that it has a Mistral orifice in it.

[BSea]

There is 1 like it for sale on Vintage Scuba Supply. At least there was a few days ago. I haven't looked lately.

[treasureman]

Finaly got the gear in cost me 60 bucks cdn to shiop from victoria to Ottawa.

was it worth it.

Lets see. One 72 cu tank had a J valvle thqat was corroded shut, and had some sea water in it when i took the valve off. It had a nice white interior with some light to heavy rust spots. Worth tumbling. not sure. Certainly not with the lds. Looks like it could have some deep pitting in the heavy areas. The second tank had a half inch valv e, the tank is made by pressed steel, havent got the valve off it yet, so cant say what it will look \like. Then again i dont like half inch valves and tanks that use them because it screws up my parts inventory.

Now the regs. Got the stream air with the nice red label Label is in very good to very very good condition. The mistral sticker is in good shape. The boy was a mate chrome which clearly has seen some heavy use. The boxes were filled with a slurry like substance as if last time it was used in a mud environment. Anyway, it is soaking right now in Bryans famous regulator cleaner. By the way will the cleaner hurt the Mistral sticker???

The inner parts had some salt corrossion on them but again the reg cleaner will cure that in short order.

The hoses were stif as a board, but they were pliable. The mouthpice val;ves were toasted brittle. They did have some tinnerman clamps on them so they too are soaking. The mouthpice is stright and in excellent shape, so now i got seven straight mouthpieces and almost a dozen curved. Now I just got to get more regs to build.

The other reg did not have the square label. It looks like a DAAM. On the upper can, it has the following engraved.

HMCS Gatineau and the users name and serial Number. It would otherwise be in great condition if it were not for the engraving. I may use it for a PRAM conversion.

The guts on this had very light corrossion, hoses were in good shape old style and appear original.

The mouthpiece was curved and get this the valves were Grey in colour. and silicone not the hard rubber we normally find. Could these be Voit mushroom valves.???

The HP seat was as new, unused. The reg appeared to be very well taken care of. On the top can was RCN also engraved (royal canadian navy).

I was hoping it was something weird and wonderful with gold parts or non mag. But I dream.

For the cost of shipping, I have two regs that can be cleaned and sold as is or kept for use. The Stream air has the extended nozzle which appears in good shape and the body for the HP nozzle appears in goosd shape as well. The volcano looks sharp and clean, the seat hardly had any wear marks on it at all. Just needs a good soak to clean the dirt.

I dioscovered the main diapraghm was pooched, and took it apart. The centre was made of plastic and not metal. I always thought they were of metal except the new ones Bryan is selling.

While not the treasure I was truly hoping for, it none the less brings pleasure to take it apart and rebuild.

[treasureman]

Some intersting revelations since tearing down and soaking the regws in Bryans reguklator cleaner. Man does it do a great job..

First off the HP seat appears to be a metal other than brass or bronze. It is more like a polished steel, and has zero wear on it.

There was a Mil spec Diaphram inside, the horshoe was p[olished up at the tips and was as new as well, the Pressure adjustment screws and retainer were also witjhout blemish . The cans except for the engraving came out very nice with high gloss chrome. The Nozzle looks like it came from a showroom with no signs of being in use.


The DW Stream air is another story.

Cant get the two plate retaining screws off, they are tight. I dont want to bugger the plate beneath it so will let them soak. The HP seat is also without wear, but appears to be made with copper, and not the usual brass that my mistral ad.

Problem is this I got caught sneaking the DW and the4 DAAm into the house

And now the wife seems to be taking inventory of my dfelinquencies I mean regulators

Why do I need so many she askd. Historical significance I reply. Their colelcting dust she answers back. Maybe you shiould sell them off.

Anyway I avoided that last remark like the plague.

But she is right, I got lots of cans, bodies, seats, riings mouthpieces etc, way more than I need. The hard part is parting with them because I am a treasure hunter, and a really big pack rat.

Any way, the tanks were pooched, but the regs seem to have cleaned up nicely. I will probably put the DW strean air on ebay at some point, as an offer to the gods of treasure hunting and an angry wife.

Any suggestions to get the two screws out aside from drilling??

[1969ivan1]

Fight her every step of the way Treasureman! Don't give up any regs, unless you need to send them into exile to my house. Just think of my home as Elba Island.

[treasureman]

got the screws out without torturing anything. Soaking now in reg cleaner. It has cleaned up amazingly well, mostly a mixture of filth and scunge on and in the cans.

Looks like a parts kit or two is in order from Bryan som as to effect an restoration . Then perhaps it might just disapear from my workbench for a while , and if things blow over find itself on my collection rack

[duckbill]

Lets see. One 72 cu tank had a J valvle thqat was corroded shut, and had some sea water in it when i took the valve off. It had a nice white interior with some light to heavy rust spots. Worth tumbling. not sure. Certainly not with the lds.

Any way, the tanks were pooched,.......

Now, you're thinking! I was going to suggest seeking suicide counceling.

Nice find on the other stuff, though. What fun! Thanks for sharing.

[ovalis]

Treasureman,

Don't forget to order Bryan's HP seat for your stream air.

And maybe a couple of extras for spares.

I know you say yours has no wear on it, but you never know until you put it back together.

[treasureman]

If I am correct, with each repair kit comes a HP seat. The stream air cleaned up nicely, the volcano is nice and sharp with no apparent nicks.

I could spend my wordly fortune at VDH...... , but then I would have enough left over to go diving. So many toys......Between my glocks begging me to feed them, and my tanks crying to be filled and submerged, the noise is getting down right impossible to live with

[crimediver]

What you really need is to equip your Glocks with a set of marine cups for your firing pins so you can take your Glock diving and be able to fire it underwater. You could have the best of both worlds. But slashing an airhose is quieter.

[treasureman]

got the cups, tried it out. damn noisy little brute too!!! Apparently divers in florida are using the glock 17 as a shark gun, FMJ only

[Bryan]

Talk about Vintage Diving here please You can talk firepower in "general discussions area"

[swimjim]

tried a small ad on craigs list myself. Scared up a nice warner address Da for $100.00. Nice chrome and good rubber. Hot dang.

Jim

[treasureman]

Lets hear it for small ads.... hooya!

Another of my small west coast ads has landed me in negotiations for a navy Approved reg. The fella that has it is a curmudgeon, and we are in the 125 dollar price range. I should hear back this week. Says he wants to talk to his son first before he sells it off.

Small ads is the ways to go if you want to get a solid collection. Cost of ad $ 0000000. ,, usually i offer to oay for shipping and have had four regs so far for just shipping costs.

Problem is this.. now I got so many DAAMS, i have no where to store em , and the wife is getting antsy about all these regs.

I will be putting a DAAM up for sale in the next day of so, This one came from VDH and the master tuner himself. With or without hoses your choice.