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Post by Nemo on Feb 4, 2016 21:08:27 GMT -8
Back in touch with Ty. He's been going through some personal changes but I'm not going to talk about that. Businesswise, what he told me is that Aquala has proven to be mui trabajo por poco dinero, and he has more lucrative endeavors which demand his time. He still does some part time work; mostly servicing suits of well established past customers. But he's just not into making drysuits as a business at this time. Fortunately, he said he's willing to come out of "retirement" to make suits and otherwise participate if I ever land a movie deal with Disney or someone else where we'll need more Leagues rigs. Anyway, I'm just glad to hear he's doing well and thought I'd pass it on to those here who might be interested.
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Post by bigdave on Feb 9, 2016 11:20:39 GMT -8
Anyway, I'm just glad to hear he's doing well and thought I'd pass it on to those here who might be interested. Thank you for the update. I have a couple of Ty's suits, so hopefully he will support them if the need arises. David
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Post by Aquala1 on Feb 26, 2017 20:03:13 GMT -8
Hi guys, I thought I'd dig up an old thread and say hello as I just signed on to the VSS forum. Nemo was right, I had some things go down in my personal life, and it was necessary to scale things back at Aquala, and circle the wagons until things smoothed out. Things are now back on an even keel, and with my new found appreciation of double-hose regs, I look forward to learning from you guys. I also look forward to taking Aquala in a more vintage direction, so good stuff to come on that front in the next few months. Glad to be aboard! -Ty
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Post by SeaRat on Feb 26, 2017 23:23:59 GMT -8
Ty, 'Good to hear from you. I had one of your suits for a number of years. I thought you'd like to see a photo of me in Clear Lake with your Aquala dry suit. This suit, with a farmer John wet suit bottom and sweater, with wool booties, allowed me to stay in Clear Lake, temperature 37 degrees to about 40 degrees year round, for over an hour comfortably. I'm using a Trieste II double hose regulator, which I still use regularly, with a LP inflator. I had attached a power inflator to the left side chest of your dry suit, and had also glued an oral inflator from a vest to the back just behind my neck. That actually worked very well. In the 1980s, when I had gotten about twenty pounds heavier and had ceased using the Aquala dry suit (a wet suit worked at that weight for what I was doing), I sold it to someone who had an allergy to neoprene. Thank you for all your work on dry suits. John
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Post by Aquala1 on Feb 27, 2017 4:54:58 GMT -8
Thanks for the welcome John, and I really enjoy seeing our suits being used, back in the day. As with any company that's been around for almost 70 years, and changed ownership several times, many bits and pieces of Aquala's history were lost. When I bought it in 2000, the prior owner owned it because he was a New England surfer, so he pursued the surf market, and didn't care much about the diving history. My focus was completely different, and diving (having certified at age 12 in 1984) was 100% in the direction that I took the company. Through the generosity of customers, and the Historical Diving Society, I've been able to piece back much of what was lost. With that said, I still like to collect as many vintage photos, advertisements, catalogs, and vintage suits as I can to further complete that history. Do you have any other photos of your suit in use, and anybody else on the forum is welcome to share as well. Thanks again for sharing the photo!
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Post by SeaRat on Feb 27, 2017 17:56:52 GMT -8
Ty, Yes, I do have a few photos of me in the Aquala dry suit. Here's one from Yaquina Bay, Oregon. During the summer of 1974 I filled out my dive log, and started noting that I was getting cold all the time. During my 25 June '74 dive on the 3rd Finger of the South Jetty, my observations were: The water temperature was 48 degrees at depth, and I dove to 45 feet on that dive. Shortly thereafter I bought my Aquala dry suit, and began a series of experiments with it, first in the Siletz River on July 26, 1974 at Moonshine Park, then in Clear Lake in the Cascades on July 28, 1974. I wrote quite a bit into my dive logs about these dives, and if you want will reproduce them for you. I did have some problems with sealing both the front seal and the wrist on my first dives, but I also was able to dive much longer even with these minor problems. More later... John
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Post by Aquala1 on Feb 27, 2017 18:26:32 GMT -8
John, that's an awesome pic, and I'd love to see any others that you might have. Is that a NAUI patch on your left sleeve?
Also, your detailed log book entries would be great too. Anything like this that tells the story of divers with their Aquala suit, are fascinating. Anything and everything is much appreciated!
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Post by SeaRat on Feb 27, 2017 19:52:30 GMT -8
Ty, Yes, that is a NAUI Instructor patch on my shoulder in that photo above. Bruce Higgins and I went to Blue Lake, in Central Oregon near Suttle Lake, and did further experiments. Here's some photos from those activities, and my dive log entry too. Here I'm dressing, and going to try using a space blanket. The theory was that the radiation heat would be radiated back to me, and keep me warm--WRONG! The aluminum simply conducted heat away faster than either a sweater or my neoprene wet suit. This, I think, is Tom on the "cliff" in Blue Lake." The water was not as clear as in Clear Lake, and because of the lower light in the shade of the volcanic cone, a slow shutter speed had to be used, resulting in a slightly blurred photo. Bruce Higgins and me after our Blue Lake dive, me in my Aquala dry suit and Bruce in his Unisuit. First page of my dive log. Second page of my dive log. If you'll look at my first Blue Lake photo, you'll see that I'm trying a zipper entry into the dry suit. After trying and failing as many times as succeeding in sealing the front entry chute, I tried a zipper from an Air Force survival suit on my Aquala. I think I wrote up the results too. That's this dive. I think I have a few other photos of this dive somewhere, but cannot find them right now on my computer. John PS, did you guys see that I had hair back then?
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Post by Nemo on Feb 27, 2017 21:00:35 GMT -8
Hey! Glad to see you back in the saddle and Aquala back in business, Ty. You make something nobody else does: an actual real vintage drysuit. Not just "vintage style" but the real thing with the pedigree to go with it. I think that should appeal to dedicated vintage diving collectors and enthusiasts; it does me.
I can personally attest to the quality I've experienced with Aquala suits. Excellent. The Aqualaply fabric is amazingly flexible and yet strong; I've seen that myself. And Ty's craftsmanship leaves nothing to be desired. When you buy Aquala, you get a really nice vintage drysuit.
Ty's company made the suits used in Disney's 20,000 Leagues back in 1954; and over the years he and I have preserved the science behind those old experimental rigs. We're hoping Disney will call us to work on their forthcoming Leagues prequel "Captain Nemo." If they have any sense at all, they will get their gear where Harper Goff and Manfred Zendar did way back then.
If they do, they do; if not, oh well. I will still continue to build and dive Leagues rigs and Aquala is the only suit that I'll use. When they weren't available any more I thought of trying to make some myself. Couldn't do it if I wanted to try. SO glad to see Aquala back in business!
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Post by DavidRitchieWilson on Feb 28, 2017 4:38:02 GMT -8
As with any company that's been around for almost 70 years, and changed ownership several times, many bits and pieces of Aquala's history were lost. Through the generosity of customers, and the Historical Diving Society, I've been able to piece back much of what was lost. With that said, I still like to collect as many vintage photos, advertisements, catalogs, and vintage suits as I can to further complete that history. Ty, I am so glad that Aquala is now on an even keel. You probably have already come across the following online references to Bel-Aqua/Aquala, but they may be useful to others: 1. 
Phil Nuytten's article Bel-Aqua Watersports about the early (1950s) history of the company. 2. The Skin Diving History website's "Early Manufacturing and Retailers" collection of advertisements and correspondence relating to Bel-Aqua and Aquala Sport Manufacturing Co.. 3. The 1958 Bel-Aqua catalogue, probably the last before Bill Barada (below) sold his Bel-Aqua company during that year. 4. The Aquala suit entry in the 1960 issue of the Divemaster catalogue: A month or two back I took out a subscription to an online historical archive of American newspapers and I am now looking forward to locating ads, pictures and stories about Aquala suits and their wearers using this source. I'll post anything I find. David
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Post by Aquala1 on Feb 28, 2017 20:07:30 GMT -8
John, thanks for posting your log, and it's fascinating reading about how you were trying to improve the thermal quality of the drysuit. Many divers new to dry suits, think that the suit keeps you warm because it keeps you dry. They fail to realize that it only keeps the undergarment dry, so that the undergarment can keep you warm. Really cool that you were experimenting with a space blanket to find an undergarment that would maximize warmth.
The additional pics are great too, and any more will be greatly appreciated. The one of you diving it underwater looks like it's from a movie still.
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Post by Aquala1 on Feb 28, 2017 20:24:15 GMT -8
Hey! Glad to see you back in the saddle and Aquala back in business, Ty. You make something nobody else does: an actual real vintage drysuit. Not just "vintage style" but the real thing with the pedigree to go with it. I think that should appeal to dedicated vintage diving collectors and enthusiasts; it does me. I can personally attest to the quality I've experienced with Aquala suits. Excellent. The Aqualaply fabric is amazingly flexible and yet strong; I've seen that myself. And Ty's craftsmanship leaves nothing to be desired. When you buy Aquala, you get a really nice vintage drysuit. Ty's company made the suits used in Disney's 20,000 Leagues back in 1954; and over the years he and I have preserved the science behind those old experimental rigs. We're hoping Disney will call us to work on their forthcoming Leagues prequel "Captain Nemo." If they have any sense at all, they will get their gear where Harper Goff and Manfred Zendar did way back then. If they do, they do; if not, oh well. I will still continue to build and dive Leagues rigs and Aquala is the only suit that I'll use. When they weren't available any more I thought of trying to make some myself. Couldn't do it if I wanted to try. SO glad to see Aquala back in business! Hey Pat, thanks for the kind words. It's funny that you mention quality. After I signed on, I searched the forum for any Aquala related threads, and found one commment that said the quality wasn't as good as it used to be. I guess quality is subjective, but I've always strived myself, and impressed upon the guys working for me, to produce a hand made suit with machine made precision and finishing. I'm sure that we don't always get it right, but we sure try at every turn. For everything that's awesome, I really hope that Disney stays true to their roots and keeps the Leagues rigs in the prequel in-line with the original. Whether we make the gear for it or not, it would be a shame if they butchered the aesthetic.
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Post by Aquala1 on Feb 28, 2017 20:32:39 GMT -8
David, those links are great! Do you know if all of the ads from the "Skin Diving History" page, are all from old Skin Diver magazines?
Also, really cool find in the Dive-master catalog. No telling how much other stuff is out there. Hopefully the newspaper archive will turn up some more. I really appreciate you helping out with this quest.
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Post by SeaRat on Feb 28, 2017 22:28:51 GMT -8
John, thanks for posting your log, and it's fascinating reading about how you were trying to improve the thermal quality of the drysuit. Many divers new to dry suits, think that the suit keeps you warm because it keeps you dry. They fail to realize that it only keeps the undergarment dry, so that the undergarment can keep you warm. Really cool that you were experimenting with a space blanket to find an undergarment that would maximize warmth. The additional pics are great too, and any more will be greatly appreciated. The one of you diving it underwater looks like it's from a movie still. Ty, I have a funny story for you about dry suits. When I served as an USAF Pararescueman in 1968, I was stationed at Kansan, Korea. We flew the HH-43B Huskie local base rescue helicopter. Part of our mission was water rescue, and we needed to train on water hoist missions. Well, my NCOIC (Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge) was a Pararescueman named John Carlson. We know that wet suits were not ideal in winter in Korea, so he wanted to try a USAF survival suit. Like you stated above, he thought the survival suit would keep him warm. I tried to tell him that he needed to wear a winter flight suit under the survival suit, but he would not hear of it. He insisted that he would be just fine wearing his regular flight suit under the survival suit, as that was what the flight crews wore when they flew. I told him that the suit had no insulation value, and urged him to at least wear the bottoms of his wet suit under the survival suit (which essentially was a surface dry suit). Well, he would not listen, so we went on with the training, and let him drop into the reservoir in February in Korea. After he was out of the helicopter, we flew a circle for about five minutes before lining up for a hoist operation. I think I was operating the hoist too, but it may have been the flight engineer. Anyway, we picked John out of the reservoir, and he was blue with cold (water temperature was just above freezing). TSgt. Carlson became a believer in the need for insulating clothing under a USAF survival suit; the flight suit did nothing for him. This photo was taken of a land Hoist operation, and not the same training mission as the reservoir water Hoist, but the Hoist is the same. John
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Post by DavidRitchieWilson on Mar 1, 2017 5:33:40 GMT -8
David, those links are great! Do you know if all of the ads from the "Skin Diving History" page, are all from old Skin Diver magazines? Also, really cool find in the Dive-master catalog. No telling how much other stuff is out there. Hopefully the newspaper archive will turn up some more. I really appreciate you helping out with this quest. I'm so pleased, Ty, that the images were of interest to you. The pictures from the Skin Diving History website are all, I agree, likely to have been sourced from old Skin Diver magazines, although I can't confirm this because I don't have access to the magazine. The site is a great repository of old diving ads and my only regret is that they aren't always dated so it's hard to use this material to create a timeline for a company or product. I've done an initial search of the newspaper archive and there are certainly a few classified ads from the 1960s posted by Aquala suit owners. I'm hoping that further searches will yield bigger ads from sporting goods stores that stocked Aquala suits from the 1960s onwards. In the meantime, I have created a shared online Bel-Aqua and Aquala folder containing three items: 1. The 1958 Bel-Aqua catalogue I mentioned in my previous message. 2. An Aquala catalogue sent to me in the mid-1980s. You mentioned Aquala surfer's suits and one is featured in the flyer/price list alongside an Aquala "hunter/fisher's full-body waders" suit. 3. An undated lowish-resolution Aquala flyer (below) entitled "Aquala: Front or Waist Entry" that I found somewhere online. Hope they are of interest too. David
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