Vintage scooter

[Ron Hearn]

Hi


Recently I've become interested in vintage scuba scooter for diving. Does any one know were I can gain any information on older scooter types.

Thanks

Ron

[nemrod]

Ron, I have looked around but other than the scooter plans that used to be in Popular Science and I think they were linked in a previous thread I started, I have not had much luck.

As of now and including a scooter thread in the DIY section of scubaboard.com the motor of choice is the Minn Kota for homebuilt scooters. I doubt you will find scooters from the 50s and 60s period, they had to be rare and probably long ago rusted away.
Not vintage, but the Tekna scooter was the first real modern scooter that was cost effective, It has the same propeller assembly and shround and the same GE 24V direct drive motor that you find in the 3,000 dollar super scooters like Gavins etc. These can be rebuilt or stripped for parts and assembled into a home made PVC tube--which is essentially what the high bucks modern scooters are--a PVC type round/cyclinder body with the same innards as the Tekna.

Yep, take a close look in the movie, Deep Blue, the scooter he was using to blow the sand with, that is the same motor, prop, shroud as an old Tekna. The motors can be hot wound for more power. the Tekna produces up to 60 lbs of thrust compared to the SuperCharged SeaDoo at 12 to 16 lbs of thrust. The Tekna is fast and easily pulls a loaded diver. The main problem with the Tekna is the plastic case is not very strong up front and this is where the tie bolts that compress the case O-ring get their tension. The inner bulkhead cracks out releasing tension on the O-ring and then of course it leaks. This can be repaired, many used ones are on the market for that reason including the two I got. Number one is now repaired and fully functional, number two has a few more hurdles to cross and probably will not make SDIII--darn that. Eventually I am going to strip them and build new housings. Hope this is helpful to you. I know quite a bit about Tekna--lol.
James

[Ron Hearn]

Thanks Nemrod

I guess I'm just 60 years to late of picking up anything old to hang from the ceiling.

Ron

[nemrod]

"I guess I'm just 60 years to late of picking up anything old to hang from the ceiling."

Well, anything is possible, there have been a couple on ebay, one looked like a rocket ship and was from USD and it went reasonable. I bet you can find one if you hang in there especially if you just want it for display. I thought you wanted one to dive with.

Here is a possibility, there is a scooter called the Torpedo and it is exceedingly vintage looking, reasonably priced (compared to many) and I think it probably uses a Minn Kota motor. The website is torpedodpv.com I think. I have seen them in person and they do look very vintage much like the scooters you see on SeaHunt.
James

[duckbill]

nemrod said:

Yep, take a close look in the movie, Deep Blue, the scooter he was using to blow the sand with, that is the same motor, prop, shroud as an old Tekna. James

Do you mean "Into The Blue"?

[JES]

Here's a link to a Tekna scooter that was recently sold on ebay:

cgi.ebay.com/Tekna-Scooter_W0QQitemZ7213804282QQcategoryZ114236QQcmdZViewItem

I'm not sure if it's like the one's that Nemrod is discussing.

[nemrod]

Yes, Into the Blue with Jessica whatever and yes that ebay link is for a Tekna scooter such as I am describing. They show up regular.

That little Torpedo scooter realy does look vintage, looks like it could have been in a SeaHunt episode. Sometimes you just have to make do. Back then people used to make stuff that they buy now. Kid wanted a go-cart, dad and son built it, now everyone just buys the stuff already to go. I guess what I am saying is that I bet many scooters and things like that in the 50s and 60s were home made.
The modern scooters that use the "Tekna" style prop have variable thrust. It is a ten position hub. The motor runs at more or less constant RPM but the pitch is increased on the prop for more speed and of course higher amp draw. The position number two is about equal to the fastest SeaDoo scooter. The position ten will dang near blow your mask off. Cruising is done at positions five and six.

[duckbill]

nemrod said:

The modern scooters that use the "Tekna" style prop have variable thrust. It is a ten position hub. The motor runs at more or less constant RPM but the pitch is increased on the prop for more speed and of course higher amp draw.

Now THAT'S cool! Does it have reverse too ?
We had a home built go cart. Wish we still had it

[JES]

Nemrod,

After reading your post above about the Tekna scooters, I now find myself searching the internet for either a Tekna or a Mako scooter to add to my diving equipment.