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-----Original Message-----
From: vpg [mailto:vpg@li*.ne*]
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 1999 10:13 AM
To: Bill Mee
Subject: RE: WKPP Scooters: Yet Another Knockoff


What you need is a WKPP / DIR approved supplier scheme, basically anyone who
wants to produce a DIR piece of kit submits a sample for approval and pays
WKPP an agreed royalty/license fee to say its WKPP or DIR approved.

Its natural to copy part or all of someone else is design, thats evolution,
even your stuff has its base in other products - you did not invent the DPV
or wing bc.

My suggestion would benefit both parties and remove this need for conflict
over copying - what do you think? Its particularly relavent to companies
outside the States, by the time you add shipping and import duty its getting
too expensive but if UK manufacturers could manufacture a DIR approved
version in return for paying WKPP a royalty, everyone benefits.

Best Regards,



Vinny

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Mee [mailto:wwm@sa*.ne*]
> Sent: Friday, March 19, 1999 9:44 PM
> To: cavers
> Cc: "Cost effective home improvement"; techdiver@aquanaut.com;
> kirvine@sa*.ne*
> Subject: WKPP Scooters: Yet Another Knockoff
>
>
> There is always a new snake in the grass. This particular reptile
> slithered
> out into view today. It seems that one Curt Deremer, formerly employed by
> Dive Rite Manufacturing, is now building and selling unauthorized
> copies of
> WKPP scooters.  DeRemer operates as DPVRepair.com and apparently
> is a dealer
> for AUL scooters and parts.
>
> It was bad enough that Bill Stone built a defective copy of the WKPP
> scooter, but now it seems that every shade tree basement engineer
> is giving
> it their best shot.
>
> Anyone who thinks that they are being smart about purchasing a knockoff of
> the WKPP scooter design had better think again. For openers, Bill Stone
> spent tens of thousands of dollars attempting to copy the WKPP scooter and
> never succeeded in producing a reliable facsimile. While the
> average redneck
> grease monkey may think it is as simple as a short trip to the Home Depot
> irrigation parts department, reality dictates otherwise.  These
> scooters are
> built out of precision CNC machined components, which must be
> very carefully
> assembled and tested.  The propulsion system, based on the Oceanic
> continuous duty 24Volt DC motor must be precisely modified to obtain the
> high performance observed on the standard issue WKPP unit.  Every single
> connection and fitting is carefully specified out and selected for
> reliability and excess to normal operating capacity. The
> completed scooters
> are tested for balance, vacuum tested to validate seal integrity
> and current
> rating tested under simulated continuous load operating conditions.
>
> We never cease to be amazed at the ingenuity of persons buying WKPP
> scooters, who somehow feel that they or their volunteer engineer
> companions
> “know better”. Some remarkable things have come back to George Irvine and
> myself, which if they weren’t such a costly and time consuming
> mess to fix,
> would actually be roll on the floor, spit your coke funny.  Such things as
> lubricant sprayed in the motor compartment, which shorts the
> commutator, to
> jury rigged spacers, which throw off the correct balance, to hastily
> reassembled motors with shims and spacers placed in backwards, to
> blade and
> clutch assemblies improperly assembled and other egregious messes too
> numerous to mention.  The stories and excuses we hear, such as
> “it was like
> this when I got it”, “it just plain  blew up for no reason”, “I don’t
have
> any idea why the motor is so slow” or “I don’t know why the scooter sinks
> directly into the mud” or “it just floated away by itself” and on and on.
>
> Let me say flat out that there is no profit in WKPP scooters.
> When you buy
> one of these devices you effectively get a lifetime parts and service
> warranty against defects in the manufacture.  If you are a WKPP
> team member
> or involved in a bona fide exploration project (which describes just about
> everyone who buys these things), you will receive any upgrade or
> improvement
> at no charge. These things are extremely expensive and time consuming to
> build correctly. At any given time George has to have huge sums of his
> personal funds outstanding in order to assure that there is a stock of
> components and other spare parts in inventory to keep all of the
> scooters in
> the field operational.   For example, a single nose cone costs in
> excess of
> $600 to buy the material for and machine.  It is completely impractical to
> make these scooters in anything less than quantities of 15 – 20 because
> otherwise the parts will be prohibitively expensive.
>
> WKPP scooters are built to exploration tolerances and quality and
> there must
> always be a cache of parts and subassemblies available to support ongoing
> exploration projects. This is what you pay for.
>
> When we observe returned scooters which show obvious signs of
> carelessness,
> user error or user modification it does not make for a pleasant situation.
> It is further galling to find out that some bonehead thinks that
> he can save
> a few dollars when in fact he has created an inferior and very dangerous
> product.
>
> It is no joke and no exaggeration to say that these scooters are very
> dangerous. If the batteries off gas and this hydrogen seeps into the motor
> compartment the scooters will violently explode upon triggering.
> Thus, it is
> exceptionally important to observe simple safety precautions such as
> removing the nose cone o-ring immediately after use and storing
> the scooter
> with this ring removed or the nose cone off. It is of further
> importance to
> ascertain that the motor compartment bulkhead o-ring is securely
> seated and
> not extruded and one must take pains to verify that the battery assembly
> does not free float within the main compartment.  A loose battery pack can
> allow the motor compartment bulkhead to pop off when the internal air
> becomes heated.  These are just a handful of simple but important safety
> observations, which unfortunately are all too often ignored.
>
> Mr. Curt DPVRepair is in for a big surprise. He thought he was very cute
> about this and knew quite well what he was getting into.  When we have
> finished with him he will wish that he had been smart enough to buy a real
> scooter the honest way.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Bill Mee
>
>
>
>
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