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Mark -- thanks for the useful info! You said: > the major >problem with the old yoke sherwood "selpac" manifolds. -I'm assuming >that's the one on the set of double 80's that Roger is trying to sell.- Don't know if it is a Selpac. An interested person would have to contact Roger to determine that before making a judgement of the value. >Not even counting the fact that it is a yoke manifold, Which can be argued that, when well-maintained, is a non-problem.... the real weakness >is at the center tap behind the divers head. At that point the crossover >is welded to either side of the valve/yoke creating not one but two >potential points of failure. Add to that the fact that the crossover is >very thin in diameter and the welds are weak and you have a recipe for >disaster. I have personally seen three of these fail under the following >conditions: > >2 failed following moderate impacts with the cave. >1 failed during installation and assembly of a doubles set. the failure >occured when the tank bands were being tightened. Tho' this prob. has been mentioned on these lists before, it's worth bringing up again for those who have only recently subscribed -- important info, for sure. Other questions: are all other Sherwood manifolds (those *not* marked "selpac") constructed well enuff to be safe? Any other probs. with the selpac or other Sherwoods? >All three failures began as moderate leaks which increased in intensity >as the tank pressure was reduced. Strange -- intuitively that sounds backwards -- but I'm certainly not arguing with your experience! >In contrast, the old scubapro yoke manifold of the same era was a bullet >proof piece of equipment with an exceptionally low profile. In fact >Exley used one on his first big dive in Mante, If you look at the >pictures of him you can easily identify it by it's telltale profile. Again, that may be what Roger's offering. And since lots of air/shallow/swimming divers do use 80's in FL and Mex. caves -- comfortably, safely, and with no problems whatsoever -- the tank setup may actually be a good buy. >The Selpac however is a death trap, and it has always surprised me that >we never really heard of anyone getting themselves killed with it, but >that is probably because the divers that were using it realized how weak >it is and installed valve cages, rams heads and all kinds of other stuff >to protect it. Yup -- futile attempts to re-engineer/overcome a weakness, which only adds to the mess. >As for all that other stuff, I don't know Me either -- I just passed along some info. Direct inquiries, rather than jumped conclusions, may/may not profit any potential buyers. Thanks again for your help! Christopher A. Brown The Technical Diving Video Library deepedge.com/TechVid Phone (US & Can.):606-272-0255; Fax:606-272-7279 Life is short -- this is not a rehearsal. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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