Voit 50 Fathom Question

[Creed]

That looks like a fun new toy.

[Creed]

Hooked it up to a tank, and it worked fine, with no leaks. I should put it on youtube.

[Creed]

I just cracked open my new 50 Fathom. It appears to have the Polaris 50 mechanism. Is this common?

[gj1963]

Nice find!

[Greg Barlow]

If it has a blue cycolac housing. If you can post a picture of the back can's label, I can give you additional information. The V-55 Blue 50 Fathom reg contained the same valve assembly as that of the V-22 Polaris 50.

Greg

[Creed]

No, Greg, it is in a metal case. I posted one picture of it here viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7420

[Bryan]

The Voit 50 Fathom by Greg Barlow

[Creed]

I've read Greg's paper. Not sure if it covers this. The cans are visible in the earlier picture. The internals are identical to the one on the lower left in the following picture, which is from a VDH search on the subject. The references I've found so far have mentioned Mistral and downstream style bodies in the 50 Fathom. This appears to me to be a Polaris body.

[SurfLung]

- Would it have come that way from the factory? The Voit advertising from that period makes such a big deal of the uniqueness of the "Compensated" 50 Fathom. My downstream rebuild works great. But I've heard a lot of negatives about that system and Voit DID ultimately discontinue it.
- I wonder if the original downstream reg was sent back to the factory after the downstream version was discontinued... And instead of repairing or adjusting it, they just replaced the mechanism with the new Polaris system?

[Creed]

I don't know. I've had a downstream Voit before, and the cases and hose clamps were the same. This one had what looked like the original hoses, mouthpiece and hose clamps(stamped "Voit"). So, I suspect that the changes(if they were indeed not factory original) date back pretty far.

- Would it have come that way from the factory? The Voit advertising from that period makes such a big deal of the uniqueness of the "Compensated" 50 Fathom. My downstream rebuild works great. But I've heard a lot of negatives about that system and Voit DID ultimately discontinue it.
- I wonder if the original downstream reg was sent back to the factory after the downstream version was discontinued... And instead of repairing or adjusting it, they just replaced the mechanism with the new Polaris system?

[Robohips77]

Abstract thought but could a 50 Fathom serial tag have ended up on a Polaris Reg Does it look tampered with? I am sure you have thought of that. Or could someone have pieced together the reg with a can from 50 fathom and the rest from a Polaris? The 50 fathoms I have seen have all been with the downstream valve.

[Creed]

I don't see any signs of a changed body. The label could have been changed rather easily, so I don't know how I could tell. I assume that both Polaris and 50 Fathom cans had two holes in the top can for pin which held the body in place, right?

Abstract thought but could a 50 Fathom serial tag have ended up on a Polaris Reg Does it look tampered with? I am sure you have thought of that.

[Greg Barlow]

When one considers how easily an owner could "mix and match" regulator parts, I'm afraid that all of our thoughts are merely conjectures. With that thought in mind, though, it could be that you have a transitional reg. By transitional, I mean that it could be that Voit installed the upstream system that was normally found in the V-22 Polaris 50 or the V-55 Blue 50 Fathom.

Something similar to this occurred with Voit's creation of the "Blue Label" Voit Lung VR-1. The VR-1 with the green label contained the same upstream system as that of the USD Stream Air. This common reg was superseded by the rare "Blue Labeled" Voit Lung. This reg contained the USD Mistral system, rather than the Stream Air. Both the top and bottom cans were finished with the satin chrome, and the label was painted with the same blue enamel as that of the 50 Fathom. I know of four of these examples, and they all had two indexing pin holes in the top can, unlike the single hole commonly found in the earlier versions.

So.... Yes, you could have an original reg. The factory could have begun installing the "new" upstream valve assembly in remaining chromed VCR-2 50 Fathom cans. Of course, you may just have a reg that had the downstream system replaced....

The mystery will likely never be solved unless you obtained it from the original owner.

Greg Barlow

[simonbeans]

I agree with Greg. It has been said that some of the divers in Sea Hunt would change the mechanism in the Blue can 50 Fathom as they did not like the way it breathed. And an easy "fix" was to replace the downstream body with a USD Mistral. Same can, and the Mistral was a proven performer. Your reg is a prime example of modification or business economics. We might never know for sure, but it is fun to speculate.

[Robohips77]

It would be fun to investigate to try and find some of the original "factory workers" that assembled these regs or to find some of the notes made by individuals or even if they were kept. History is important. I just finished reading a hand written letter from General Anthony Wayne (the original letter) and had to wear white gloves and the whole bit. Very exciting and just makes me think, that was over 219 years old, so why not maybe some of these Regulator factory documents are still somewhere even though they are only 60 years old. Greg, I did not see if in your info on Voit if you had an locations of the voit factory?