New 7/8th's doubles manifolds are pretty rare these days.
This Phlipper fellow is onto something. OMS's face seal manifold
is not the piece of junk it was made out to be. Here's an
entertaining post by former WKPP diver Jess Armantrout back
in 1999 about how rugged they are in a real world situation.
Enjoy :D
http://www.aquanaut.com/bin/mlist/aquanaut/techdiver/display?33864,from
From: "Jess Armantrout" <armantrout@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: WTB: Used OMS iso manifold
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 1999 21:01:31 -0500
And now, for the rest of the story.
(insert your own Paul Harvey voice here)
Robert was a novice cave diver looking for experience. You see, in his home
state, cave diving was all but unheard of, and competent cave diving buddies
were hard to find. But as luck would have it, one day young Robert met up
with another cave diver and they began planning to make the 12 hour drive to
Mecca...Lake City, Florida.
One the eve of the fateful trip the two adventurers began loading Robert's
plush conversion van. It was obvious that all of the gear for the odyssey
was not going to fit and the other diver offered to rent a U-haul trailer.
"No need", said the thrifty Robert "I have a trailer." Well now this wasn't
your ordinary trailer. No, this was a Sears fold up trailer made of sturdy
American made aluminum, complete with ten inch wheels and rated for 1000
pounds!
The trailer was quickly loaded with 2 sets of doubles, 8 stage bottles, 1
scooter, 3 T cylinders of oxygen, 2 sets of miscellaneous dive gear and one
Nikonos V and strobe packed neatly in a nifty Pelican case. Now, as it
turned out, most of Robert's gear wound up in the van, and the other diver
was a little nervous about the capacity of the trailer. He suggested
ditching the van, loading the excess gear into his truck and following
Robert to Florida, but Robert insisted the little trailer could do the job.
Off into the night our adventurers drove. The dawn found them well within
Florida and doing a comfortable 70 mph down I-10. As Robert drove, the
second diver rested on the bed in the back. Suddenly, the unmistakable
sound of metal against asphalt shattered the calm and as the diver on the
bed looked out the rear window, he saw the trailer trying to pass Robert to
the left. Now, Robert was in the left lane and this left little room for
the trailer to maneuver. With it's tongue still attached to the trailer
hitch and now dragging on the pavement, the little trailer headed for the me
dian where it began flying through the air end of end.
By the time Robert was able to U-turn and get back to the scene of the
disaster, the smoke had pretty much cleared. Gear was strewn over a 50 yard
long stretch. It looked very much like those pictures you see of airplane
crash sites. Amazingly, the oxygen cylinders did not explode. The pelican
case did it's job. The scooter case did it's job. Most of the
miscellaneous gear was fine. Despair had been replaced by hope. That is
until the two divers sadly examined the doubles. The set with the Dive-Rite
manifold and bands, though not leaking, were goners. The top band had
failed and the manifold was now Z shaped where the relatively thin threaded
spool sections with the double barrel o rings had been bent.
Turning to the other set of doubles, the ones sporting the OMS manifold and
bands, the two were amazed! After digging the sod out of the valve outlets
and blowing them clean, it became apparent there was no damage! None
whatsoever. And Robert Laird and Jess Armantrout were able to successful
complete their pilgrimage.
And now you know, the REST of the story.