>>IF there is anyone out here using one of George's scooters in 33 degree =
water at depths in the 200+ range  and could take the time to provide me =
with an opinion on the performance, pros, and cons it would be greatly =
appreciated.

Also, If anyone is using any other scooter under these conditions =
successfully or otherwise, I would like to here what you have to say.


Jon Guizar
<<

Jon,
I got one of George's scooters in August last year. I have never met George
personally, and dealt with him only via phone, fax or e-mail. He handled
everything with the scooter deal in a professional manner, did what he said,
there were no unexpected delays, and I got the scooter perfectly packed and
ready to use. 

I have not used the scooter very much til now, because I had some other projects
running with sumps where a scooter would not make sense. So far I have tested it
initially about 15 hours open-water and about 20 hours in the cave. I have three
aquazepps( two of them are just sold) and some other scooter toys, which give me
a scale for comparison.

The first I did after receiving it, was to dissemble it completely. This can be
done very easily, and should any of the electrical components ever fail, it will
only be a matter of minutes to change the defective part. This is a very
important point, because the caves I dive in are between 600 and 1300 kilometers
away, and repairing in the field is important. 

I have done speed and endurance tests. The scooter produced the same speed like
the zepp on speed 3. For absolute speed numbers it is important to know the
configuration. On the test I used a standard hogarthian cave rig with double 18
liter tanks( the water content is about 10 percent bigger than the PS104),
carried all the cave stuff like canister light, backups and safety reel , and
complete cold water protection( drysuit, mitts, thick hood,  argon bottle).  In
this configuration the speed was 59 meters min( about 194 ft/min). 
I did also tests with three stage bottles and a towed aquazepp and got 48
meters/min ( 158 ft/min). But it is important to place the stages in the right
position, having one on the wrong spot and the speed will break down to about 42
mtr/min (138 ft/min) with the same total number of cylinders. But having only
two stages will get better speed. 

The real fine thing is that the scooter runs more than the double time than a
zepp with the same speed. It is also much better towable than a zepp.
There are a lot of other features which are really well thought. 
No problems in cold water and deeper than 200 ft. 
I have asked a pressure engineer to look at the weekest points that is the
center tube and the sliding seal at the motor. The calculation showed that an
unsupported tube of this size would be fine to 100 meters, but it is supported
at five points and therefore will hold up much deeper. The sliding seal at the
motor will be fine to approx. 150 meters. So there is enough margin for any
reasonable dive. 


Regards, Reinhard
____________________________

Dr. Reinhard Buchaly
Huenxer Str. 339
D-46537 Dinslaken
Germany

Tel. +49-2858-1576 home
Tel. +49-2064-37500 office
Fax +49-2064-35286
E-mail 100420.252@co*.co*

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