Patrick, I can tell you from nine years of making these things that
there are problems beyond belief in getting it right and keeping it
right. I have developed them out to where they can be counted on, and
that means I stand behind all of them indefinitely, something that you
expect when you pay ANY amount of money for a device like this, and
something that can not be done by the amatuers and would be part time
bit players in this game. The save-a-dime nicket rocket mentality out
there never ceases to amaze me - those who would like to get a cheap
knock off will be the first ones crying like babies with indignation
when these things screw up and they can not get any satisfaction from
the maker, or get socked with giant bills to fix them like that idiot
does to the poor slobs who wander into his little "repair" scam.

There is nobody out there who has been able to do jack with a fake ,
including the great and famous "engineer" Bill Stone - his multiple
attempts at making these are a well-documented example of frustration
and failure, eventually dooming a one million dollar dive project to
pitiful results. Sure you can blame it on the fact that he had no
divers, but the "divers" tell us it was the fact that none of the
scooters worked. 

Cheap scooter is not the answer. I sold two Mark 5 Farralons ( the
originals, not the new ones) for $500 each. The guy who bought them got
one or two dives out of them and spends the rest of his time trying to
fix them. 

Scooters are an unnecesary luxury. They are a toy. I know that when I go
to play with my toys on the weekend after I have busted my chops all
week and had my chops busted, I want my toys to work, and I would be
really hot if my toys did not. This is why I started making scooters - I
lost too many weekends at the hands of dumb asses like Curt, and when I
finally had three weekends in a row of aborted scooter diving and then
had one implode on me on the Kendric in Key West, that was when I got
serious.

I made a metal one that is what the Usdct copied for their "fat man",
but it cost me $8,000 to build. Then Gavin came up with the easier to
build plastic scooter, and we worked that out to where it could be
produced consistently for much less money.

Originally, there were DV 100 motors and old teknas around that we used
the parts from, so the first few scooters came off on the relative
cheap, and we allpooled our money to get it going, but as we realized
what had to be done to make it perfect, the cost came up, but has
leveled off. The new motor costs a good deal to produce, but it is worth
it. The new design covers all of the previous problems and is worth the
extra material and machine time. The parts that could break are stocked
and interchageable.

We know what works, we know how to hanble any of the problems, and we
maintain constant watch over the existing fleet. Everyone knows they can
come to me and get back in business right away with no bullshit, even
when it is their own fault for screwing up the scooter. They know I have
the parts and can fix them in a flash. I do not jury rig anything - it
is all new stuff and done properly, or I throw it away aned give them a
new one.

This is the cost and the benefit of doing this - the WKPP results prove
it. If I did not make these things, we would not be doing what we are
doing, and we do it on a grand scale. If others did not buy them and use
them for thier diving and their projects, we would not be able to afford
to do this at all. If we could not do it, then the other projects would
be at the mercy of the "curts", and the rest of the dive community
sooner or later will figure that out and stop trying to fight us and
learn that we are doing a good job and doing it right.

I mean really , take a look - while I have been plastering line into
every cave in Flroida, the talkers have been sitting around yapping
about scooters for ten years. At some point reality has to come into
play in diving.


Patrick Duffy wrote:
> 
> Who in their right mind would purchase an unproven scooter for that
> price when they could get something that has obviously been tested for
> $100 more?
> 
> It looked like a cheap copy because the nose cone seemed distorted (kind
> of like putting ice cream on a cone).
> 
> What really offends me is that it was false advertising!  Even if this
> was a the real thing, I would rather see the profit go to the WKPP
> efforts than save $100.
> 
> Just my thoughts.
> 
> Patrick
> 
> kirvine@sa*.ne* wrote:
> >
> > Jim, anyone and everyone who wants a "Gavin" scooter can buy them from
> > the WKPP , either from me, from Carmichael, or from one of his dealers.
> > Having some dumb f--- making bullshit copies and selling them for 100
> > dollars less than we do is not the answer. Having scooters with no
> > support in place is bullhsit. Having scooters with hit or miss parts and
> > qualitly is bullshit. Having scooters made by dumb asses like Curt, or
> > mark Long, or Mark Meadows, or anyone else who is a proven idiot is
> > bullshit.
> >
> > Look at what Stone went through trying to copy these things. It ruined
> > his whole project ( or at least provided a convenient excuse for the
> > failure of his project). Stone had King's money, he is an "engineer", he
> > stole one of mine to copy, and look at the result.
> >
> > The dive game is full of jerkoffs - don't let them get your money. We
> > make these things for the project, you buy them from the project, the
> > proceeds support the project and they suport the outstanding fleet. The
> > value of our scooters holds up for those who have bought them, and we
> > stand behind them and have done so for the last nine years.
> >
> > Don't be making comments about Corvettes and Ferraris. My best friend
> > has a Ferrari, and I have a Corvette. My Vette will not only eat his
> > Ferrari for lunch in any realistic contest, like 100 mph up and stopped
> > by the next traffic light, but the windows roll all the way down, the
> > air conditioning works, you can listen ( actually hear) to music and
> > breath in the car, and all I have to do is put gas in it. I do not even
> > know how to open the hood - it is not necessary. I take it to the Chevy
> > dealer, not some bucket shop bullshit toy store full of fags with fake
> > British acccents every 3000 miles and he changes the oil , services the
> > car, and waxes it, while giving me one to drive. Sound like a fair
> > comparison? It is.
> >
> > The market for Corvettes and Gavins is the some - those who want them
> > can get them from real players, not assholes.

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