Voit 50 Fathom Info

[Robohips77]

Well I suspect I have committed some sort of blasphemy and Jacques Y. Cousteau will haunt my house on this halloween but, yes Mr. USD himself is asking a Voit question? How were the non plastic Voit blue cans painted? Was it first polished then painted blue or was it just painted blue? Thought maybe Karl or Greg might have the answer and also was the Plastic Blue Voit painted or was it colored that way during the molding process? Thanks for everyones time. I picked up the voit CD from Bryan on the catalogs but I forgot most of them are in black and white.

I also bought a voit T-shirt from Rob. By the way Rob great T-shirts. thanks

[capn_tucker]

Ahh, another fallen to the Voit side.. But seriously though.. I only have a chrome 50 Fathom, but seem to remember Greg saying the original blue painted one's finish wasn't very durable; it was painted directly onto the brass without any primer, etc.
Supposedly Voit introduced the band clamp with the 50 Fathom for this very reason, as the paint was prone to chipping. Photos you see would seem to support this, as the paint is badly chipped on a great many of them.
As for Blue 50 Fathoms (of which I do happen to have one), the blue color of the plastic appears to be molded in (although I'm not about to put a gouge in it to find out!)...

[Robohips77]

Capn T. Thanks for the info. and if you ever have a need to get rid of that old piece of blue plastic you let me know. Wetsuit Bottoms come back yet? I am waiting to place my order on your final say!

[capn_tucker]

Capn T. Thanks for the info. and if you ever have a need to get rid of that old piece of blue plastic you let me know. Wetsuit Bottoms come back yet? I am waiting to place my order on your final say!

Get rid of old Blue? From my cold dead hands (with apologies to Charlton Heston)! I haven't gotten the pants back yet. Clive only got them late Friday. Says he'll have the replacement pair out to me tomorrow.
I'll let you know how they turn out...

[standingup]

In a similar vein -- did voit paint the inside of the cans blue also, or just the outside? I ask because lungs being such fussy things chipping paint could be annoying. Although I imagine the filters would trap almost all chips.

Also are the 50 fathom inards noticeably different from the USD mistral?

[capn_tucker]

50 Fathom innards are totally different from the Mistral. The 50 Fathom was a unique design by Emile Gagnan, in that it was the only downstream single-stage regulator ever made. All other single-stage regs were upstream. The 50 Fathom mechanism was made exclusively for Voit; USD never had an equivalent...

[Nemrod]

The 50 Fathom parts I have are all blue inside and out.

[Bryan]

50 Fathom innards are totally different from the Mistral. The 50 Fathom was a unique design by Emile Gagnan, in that it was the only downstream single-stage regulator ever made. All other single-stage regs were upstream. The 50 Fathom mechanism was made exclusively for Voit; USD never had an equivalent...

50 Fathom internals NOT ALL are downstream....Quite a few are upstream

[standingup]

Great pics of the Blue 50 Fathom--Thanks for the info

[capn_tucker]

True, Blue 50 Fathoms (VCR-5s and V-55s) can indeed be found in both downstream and upstream. The original blue painted VCR-2 50 Fathoms were all downstream I'm pretty sure? I assumed the original model was the one being asked about...

[Bryan]

Well your post said 50 Fathoms.... not a specific one.....I was just sharing info that would be helpful if you are looking to purchase one. As there are lots of parts available for one version but not so much for the other.

Many body shop and custom bike shops have color scanning equipment that can duplicate the blue can color to a T....Might be a little expensive but I know for some of you it's worth it.

[Robohips77]

Great pics, thanks Bryan. Is that your Voit? you've been hiding from us and is it going up on the Store? Man that is a clean one. But I did not expect anything less from you. Pretty Reg

[Bryan]

They are not mine. The 1st one belonged to Frogman Jack one of the Sand Dog Plank Owners. I believe he got out of Vintage Equipment Diving. I think Rob owns that regulator now. The bottom one belongs to William Pique. I have a rather large archive of photos of almost every regulator I have serviced in the past.

[1969ivan1]

I do have a pretty blue plastic 50, but not that creamy one that you rebuilt for Jack....I wish I did! That reg was better than new once you rebuilt/brought it back from the grave. Jack auctioned that one off on the bay and a stranger to us bought it to my recolection?
I do however have is PERFECT mistral in my stable.
Voits are cool, but they have gotten a little too expensive for guys like me I am afraid. I will have to be happy with the one I have now and continue diving my USD regs.

[Greg Barlow]

The painted VCR2 versions were painted with blue enamel, but the ones that I have examined don't show any signs of primer applied to the brass case. I had a DuPont dealer electronically scan my original cans, and reproduce the paint. It isn't an inexpensive process as I paid more than $50 for one pint. Of course, you can paint several regs with a pint of paint.

When mine was painted, I polished the brass cans until they had all of the scratches removed. I then had two coats of primer applied, three coats of blue, and then one coat of clear. Rob and I compared mine to his original version, and we couldn't see any difference in the color. The base coat/clear coat is more durable, but I recently removed some of Dan's reproduction hoses and found a few small areas where the hoses pulled paint from the horns. I waited one week to put on the hoses, but would have waited a month if I anticipated that occuring. The hoses are very tight, and my guess is that chemicals were still disipating into the air. Anyway, the spots are covered, and I can't see repainting it for that reason. Removing the plate again would likely cause the tabs to break, so it isn't worth the risk (to me atleast).

The blue cycolac bodied V55 units did contain the Mistral valve mechanism. The earlier VCR5 versions had the Gagnan downstream valve mechanism. All of the chromed canned and blue painted versions contained the Gagnan version. IMO, Voit should have called the V55 a different name. I think it made more sense to call it a Blue Polaris 50, as that's what it actually was.

I don't dive with my painted VCR2, but I have made many dives with my VCR2 chromed reg. It is my favorite double hose to use, and I honestly think it shows little change with decreasing pressure. While at Portage, I breathed it down to 300 psi, and still was able to get adequate gas flow.

It is a shame that the reg didn't last longer on the market. The mechanism is so simple and doesn't even have one O-ring in the valve mechanism. How much simpler can it get?

I, too, would love to have a nice VCR5 or V55, but the prices are crazy. Heck, I could cave dive for one week in Florida for what they are going for.

Greg Barlow