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Post by SeaRat on Jul 13, 2019 16:34:36 GMT -8
Well, I have finally disassembled my Dacor Nautilus CVS regulator, the one that keeps the Nautilus' ballast tank pressure the same as water pressure during descent. It has been off the system for over a month as I tried many different ways of getting the cover off the regulator bottom box, using a strap wrench, trying my vice (with padding), etc. but to no avail. Then, I decided to simply use my hands. I put a a lot of twisting pressure on to manually, and noted the alignment hole starting to turn. I continued the twisting, and slowly, it unscrewed from the bottom box. Yah!!! It's off, and the regulator completely disassembled. I'm about to get it cleaned in white vinegar, and will put it back together and start using it again.
I have been using my steel 72s on this Dacor Nautilus CVS, and recently thought about recommissoning one of my two AL 80s for that system. But after the discussion on the overfilling of steel 72s, where we also discuss the old AL 80s, those tanks will remain decommissioned. The Dacor Nautilus CVS was made for AL 80 tanks, and in order to use a steel 72 the tank boot needs to be removed (or the weight chute quick release won't work).
So now, to the Nautilus CVS regulator cleaning.
John
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Post by SeaRat on Jul 27, 2019 16:28:05 GMT -8
I dove my Dacor Nautilus CVS, the unit which is complete. I mated it with a Dacor Enduro regulator, which is an incredible regulator too. I dove with minimal wet suit as the water temperature (according to the life guards) was 72 degrees F (it felt more like 68 degrees later). I had only a shorty and a hood. I dove my float, which had a net bag, my fins and mask inside the zipper. The Nautilus CVS housed a single steel 72, with the tank boot removed (so the internal weights, about 14 pounds) could be easily dropped. When I got to the water, I put the float into the water just down-current from me, and waded in until I was in about five feet of water. At this point the Nautilus CVS, full of air, buoyed me up, and I also had my float. I put my mask on first, then started breathing off the snorkel. Then I put on my Force Fins (I'm using them now because they are very easy to put on and take off, and fit inside my float when I'm walking). With that, I pushed off the bottom, and was about to open the water intake valve and the lever to open the ORV, when my head bumped into something--a large branch stick in the water. Pushing it out of the way, I activated the OPV lever and flooded the Nautilus CVS. I knew I would be heavy without air, so when I got to the bottom I zapped ain into the ballast tank, then closed the water intake valve. Now, I was weightless.
The current took me around the upper pool at High Rocks, where I had already notified the lifeguards of my planned dive, and came to the marker tree. I had to carefully monitor the line from my float, and wrap it around the line keeper to keep it taunt. Then the current caught my float, and I was headed downstream. But I went at 90 degrees and get into a backcurrent, making a circle around the other side of the river. I surfaced to insure that I was there, and took my camera out and started taking a few photos of the salmon smolt in the current.
Then I was headed downstream again, and came to the old SUV auto sunk in the High Rocks hole. It now has an entire tree over it! I did not stay long, but continued down, then swam out toward the main current. I found a nice lure on the bottom. I tried putting it on my line carrier, but it fell off and I had to go back upcurrent to get it. This actually brought me to the other side, and I kinda recognized I was going back upstream in a backcurrent on the far side, so I surfaced very close to one of the lifeguards who was in the water. I smiled, threw the lure into the float, indicated I was okay, and went back down to the bottom. During this entire segment, I did not have to change the buoyancy of the Nautilus CVS.
On the bottom, I again headed downstream, and almost immediately found some kind of electronic rectangular thing that I could not ID. I put it under the leg of my shorty, and continued downstream. On the bottom, there are little fish and I got a few photos of them, then continued down, surfacing just short of the bike trail bridge, then submerging again. As I swam, I grabbed a whistle that was on a red lanyard. I was down on air, and needed to open the water intake valve then release the ORV to vent just a bit of air, as I was now getting buoyant with the draining of my steel 72. I got to 500 psig, surfaced and switched to my snorkel. I was swimming toward my exit, when I decided to submerge again and look for that little black minnow I had seen on previous dives, but to no avail. I surfaced again, and "blew ballast" by replacing the ain in the Nautilus CVS to get buoyancy and get rid of the water weight I would have on exit if I did not do that.
While balancing against a rock, I took off my fins, then carefully started walking out of the water and onto the rocks. As soon as I was out of the water, I again opened the water intake valve and the ORV, to dump any other water still in the unit by gravity. The float was now on the rocks, and as I got my legs under myself and stood up, I picked up the float. I remembered being offbalanced by the Nautilus CVS on a previous exit that had resulted in a fall (no injury) because of the center of gravity differences and the bulk of the unit out-of-water. So I was careful to keep my uphill hand on the rocks, and my balance toward the uphill side of the rocks (I was about 3-5 feet above the bottom segmunt of the rocks), and carefully made my way up the rocks, then up the incline I've climbed probably hundreds of times now, and onto the trail. I then only had to walk up the trail and out to the road to get to my Honda Pilot. I was only about twe car lengths away from my vehicle when a fellow in a car offered my a ride. I told him I was almost there, and he asked what I'd found and seen. So I told him about the lure, the salmon smolt and small fish, and that we needed to look small to see the neat things that were there.
I got out of my gear, then went back down to the lifeguards. I asked them what that electric device was that I had found, and was told it was for vaping, and cost about $40. Apparently, this lifeguard does vape, and told me he cauld use its battery. I asked about the whistle, and someone had reported in lost, so I gave it to them. Apparently, the gal who lost it told them about it, and if she did not come back, the lifeguards could use it.
Well, that was my dive today. I think the Dacor Nautilus CVS is a good unit, but it does have some CG problems (center of gravity). If I turn, it will want to keep turing. Sometimes it rotates when I didn't want to do it. But I do now have a completes Dacor Nautilus CVS unit, as I have recently overhauld the regulator for the device. And, that Dacor Quantum regulator is great!
John
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