And then there were two!

[swimjim]

I asked Surflung to send me one or two of his Faux Voit Navy stickers. In preparation to their arrival I went through a DA I had in the reserve fleet. It was one of the first DA’s I rebuilt. I hadn’t dove it since Sand Dog 4 back in 2007. The 1st stage nozzle in this reg was in tough shape. I don’t know how I got it to lock up in 2007, but in 2011 it was a no go. The reg itself is a Pico address DA so it’s satin chrome. My extra DA nozzle from my Phoenix project is shiny chrome. That and the shiny chromed band clamp worked well together on this little project I think.



So here it is. The second Faux Navy in existance. It looks good and breaths like a champ! It will definitely make an appearance at Icewurst 2012!! Thanks for putting together those stickers Eben.

[Aileron]

Looks great!!! Keep in mind, I am always willing to do a warm water test for newly built regs. Just a little service I provide to my buds. I'll send them back....eventually.

[SurfLung]

- Hey SwimJim, that is one fine looking regulator! A GENUINE fake Navy! Ha! Ha! I dove mine in the local High School swimming pool last weekend and it worked great... Sticker stayed on real well... I think the bumper sticker material is going to work out.
- BTW, I finally got stung on a used reg... Bought a fixer-upper DAAM on Ebay and when I opened it up last night, it looked really crummy. It has what looks like a New Old Stock (NOS) low pressure seat (chrome with red rubber) and the high pressure seat looks brand new. But everything else looks like a corroded, heavily pitted bunch of crap with a bad clean-up job... All of it is now coated with verdigris, salt, and some kind of greasy, sticky substance. My VDH Green DAAM rebuild and the Faux Voit Navy rebuild were beautiful compared to this thing. Like somebody attempted a re-build and then thought better of it afterward... And left things in even worse condition. The cans look okay... But, it'll take more than a cleanup and re-build to make this thing right and I'm debating how much I want to put into it.
- SO... A nice clean re-built DAAM like your Faux Navy is a darned valuable item. Congratulations on a beautiful new regulator!

[swimjim]

Well, the Faux Navy above has a similar back ground to your new piece. The seller said that his Father had it rebuilt, then put it away and never used it. Uh huh! It was in really bad shape as yours is. But after careful disassembly and cleaning I managed to get it to hold an IP and work quite well. I retired the nozzle now. It is down to the copper under coat and brass. Pretty rugged looking.
Don't give up on that DA just yet. Just like the Missus, the attitude usually improves after a bath! LOL

jim

[Drado]

The cans look okay... But, it'll take more than a cleanup and re-build to make this thing right and I'm debating how much I want to put into it.
- D

I'd go the whole nine yards take extensive before and after photos then post it up. It's actually one part of collecting that I enjoy.

[SurfLung]

Drado, Drado, Drado....
- You are a terrible influence on me! And, you seem to know me like a book! I DID already take "Before" photos. And I've already started thinking about re-plating the bad stuff... It's pitted and ugly but structurally sound. It probably won't look so bad at all when cleaned up, re-plated, and new re-build kits are swapped in.
- I think I got a little discouraged at first look. The last one of these I did was the Faux Navy, and it had almost zero corrosion inside. I was expecting another one like that and planned to just do a cleanup and re-build kit... And with the leftover black hoses and mouthpieces I figured to have a nice condition DA for about $100. This one doesn't even have a respectable label to re-paint (tabs are broke off and a bad previous re-paint attempt damaged the possibilities for a fix up).
- BTW, I gave away two of my DH regs for Christmas presents. The Green DAAM went to Nick (from the Fortune video) and the DW Mistral went to my son Hector who dove vintage with me 5 times last July and is certified. I'll post a video of several of us diving them and the Faux Navy in the High School pool day after Christmas.