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rhwestfall
Master Diver
Posts: 631
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2014 2:34 pm
First Name: Robert
Location: "La Grande Ile"

Re: First DH Reg - Vintage or New Argonaut Kraken?

Thu Aug 18, 2016 3:52 pm

I haven't used one yet on a charter, but one shop immediately put me on their FB page when I showed up for a shore drift dive with my Kraken. To date, they seem unconcerned, and this included a Phoenix/HPR DA. I have not yet been out with the other shop (whom I've done all my technical training with) with one....
Bob

No Longer Awaiting my Kraken.....

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DaveMann
Lung Diver
Posts: 61
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2016 11:12 am
First Name: Dave
Location: Fort Myers, Fla., USA

Re: First DH Reg - Vintage or New Argonaut Kraken?

Thu Aug 18, 2016 5:14 pm

Bryan wrote:Twice in Key Largo, two different shops......

Gearing up on Molasses Reef......Dive Master says YOU ARE NOT DIVING THAT OLD CLUNKER.....Captain says ...NOPE NOT ON MY BOAT...... I'm going diving so I take the shit box MK2 from the boat bilge they had and dive with it.

Next Trip....Different shop.....Go to check in, present Instructors credentials, Guy sees my Royal on my gear bag.....NO WAY ARE YOU DIVING THAT MUSEUM PIECE....Who do you think you are Cousteau.....Me.....Well I spoke with the owner and he's cool with it.......Kid gets on the phone with the owner....Couple minutes later kid hands me the phone....Owner says it's the captains call and he's calling BS on your gear.....BUT....BUT we will be kind enough to provide you a regulator and not charge you for the rental.....I'm there to dive and I go diving.

It may never happen to YOU.....But it has happened to ME and several other divers I know personally.

Education. It's a wonderful thing.

The question becomes how do you educate a 22 year old kid (or a 45 year old man) who already knows everything there is to know? Tell me how to do that and I'll gladly start street corner preaching the virtues of vintage equipment.

swimjim
Master Diver
Posts: 1694
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:28 am
First Name: Jim
Location: Belgium WI

Re: First DH Reg - Vintage or New Argonaut Kraken?

Thu Aug 18, 2016 5:57 pm

Once they hear I dive Lake Michigan in 35 degree water, they usually back away and leave me alone... :shock: :lol: :lol:

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ScubaLawyer
Master Diver
Posts: 1649
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 11:25 am
First Name: Mark
Location: Laguna Beach, CA

Re: First DH Reg - Vintage or New Argonaut Kraken?

Thu Aug 18, 2016 7:07 pm

Do what I did and buy your own dive boat (albeit 19' and trailerable ). Now the only A-hole captain I have to deal with is me. :D Granted, it's not much help when travelling but I've been very lucky and haven't had any real bad experiences with a DH on charter boats. Sometimes is better to adhere to the old adage "it's better to seek forgiveness than permission." After getting flack a few times I just turned it into an educational experience and have even talked a few dive master/owners into diving DH who 30 minutes before were calling them death traps. 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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georgeaustin
Master Diver
Posts: 274
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:41 am
First Name: george
Location: Los Angeles CA

Re: First DH Reg - Vintage or New Argonaut Kraken?

Fri Aug 19, 2016 6:41 am

There once was a flurry of snickers and raised eyebrows from a few zero to hero PADI instructors and some GUE acolytes on a couple charters but I kind of make an effort to be very helpful to the "new to skin diving crowd" - I think I kind of freak them out swimming around an old wreck at 130 ft in swim trunks, T shirt, VDH plate and harness with no BCD and a double hose regulator (PRAM/HPR) from 1967. I'm diving a steel 72 and they're doubled up with 85's and in dry suits (75F water temp) and what not with reels and scooters and searchlights and slates - two masks, extra bailout tanks - spare regulators . . . . Pretty fun.

The one thing I require personally, for myself is the SPG. The modern SPG's are of much better construction and for me, there's just no reason to not use one - I've never had captains or crew give me grief for DH use but they probably would if I was J valve diving - especially on deeper stuff.

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Nemrod
VDH Moderator
Posts: 1434
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2005 1:53 pm
First Name: James
Location: Kansas

Re: First DH Reg - Vintage or New Argonaut Kraken?

Fri Aug 19, 2016 11:24 am

I have never really had any issue diving any double hose, especially the Phoenix and Argonaut, on a charter even in the Keys. Much of it is presentation. If the equipment, that being your entire rig, looks the part, is well maintained and complete I have never had anyone bat an eye. Mostly they think I am on a rebreather. The other part is the diver, if he/she again looks the part they will mostly leave you be, if you fumble about, O-rings popping and hoses and regulator hissing and stuff falling apart you will get the evil eye.

Let me say this now, unless you have some pull somewhere, NOBODY is going to put you in the ocean without a BC, octopus, power inflator and dive marker and spg. YOU CANNOT DIVE SEA HUNT VINTAGE.

What will get attention, pulling out crap equipment with duct tape, no functional BC, no spg, no dive marker and spool (Florida especially on the east coast) and no octopus or reasonable means to share air, no computer. I dived solo for every dive save maybe one where I took a buddy because he did not have one on my most recent SoFla/Keys trip. People love the Argonaut and bright red hoses. I was rigged with a pony bottle for full redundancy since I was solo and I did/do NOT have an octopus on my Argonaut purposely when using a pony. I am also solo certified.

Another thing that grabs the wrong attention, SP Bend-O-Matics and those old computers that look like bricks with vacuum tubes hanging out of them gobbed back together with RTV that seem popular amongst certain of the vintage set, yeah!

If you present yourself as competent, your equipment looks professional and ship shape you will not have problems. Act like you know what you are doing, listen attentively in briefings and come back aboard with the specified amount of air in reserve. If you look like you just came from the thrift store or garage sale and actually show up to dive on a charter without a functioning BC, prepare to get interrogated by the SCUBA police, especially if you flounder about and run low on air. As far as double hoses are concerned, the few who even know what they are think they are AL Mistrals which they have often seen or even had in their (associated) stores.

Occasionally I will have somebody tell me they are dangerous and usually after the first dive they shut up. Such was the case recently when a boat captain from another shop shared the charter, yes, he was diving with another shop on his day off!. He was kind of interested in the Argonaut but told me double hose regulators are old fashioned. The captain put him in first (courtesy) and me second solo, ahead of the main group so we could hopefully photo the rather shy goliath grouper resident on the wreck. I passed that fellow like he was dragging a parachute, beat him to the grouper and got my shots and was done before he ever showed up. Afterwards when I was rinsing my camera at the stern, I noticed him looking my equipment over, then me, then again my rig, then my fins (which are nothing but Mares Avanti cheapies), I think it was occurring to him that his universe had just expanded.

Nem

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