Double Hose Regulators Good, Bad, Ugly! - Vintage Scuba: S01E09 

We love diving with them, it's so different from the modern regs.

Alec, thanks for this great video. Not too many people, knows and so much and actually used them, about the "Golden Years" of regulators. Keep the good work. Appreciate your time and effort in showing your vintage collection and your knowledge.

This is the best kind of videos I back to and watch. Lovely collection Alec

WOW I've been looking for info on my first regulator. And it turns out to be the Diluter Regulator. Great info.

Alec, I have the very same book of the "New Science" in the 1962 and 1974 editions. They're great. Thanks for sharing again.

Hi Alec - I really appreciate your series. I'm only 53, so I missed out on the double hose era. My main reg is an Aqualung Mistral, but I dive vintage double hose for fun. Just about to do a trip with Spirotechnique Mistral and Royal Mistral regs. One of my Royal's was given to me by Colin Doeg, who holds the SSI Platunum Pro award and co-founded the British Society of Underwater Photographers in 1967. I also have a Dacor Clipper 3 donated by the late Peter Scoones, the underwater cameraman. I really value the regs these guys gave me for their history. I'm really enjoying your insights into the pioneering days of the sport. Great show. Thank you.

Thank you very much for this video. Although I was fully equipped with modern stuff, now and then I enjoyed using my Royal Mistral two hose regulator, at least until it was stolen from me. It was fun to shallow dive, 12-15 mt, with little equipment, no BCD or pressure gauge, no redundant equipment, just the 18 Lt - 220 ATM - tank, the two hose regulator, mask and snorkel, fins, short wetsuit, knife and weight belt. No dive computers either, they were not so common yet, just US Navy tables - when needed -, a watch and a depth gauge. A bit of tech dives, with no much space for mistakes.

lot of fun thinking and making his own diving equipoment, the only restriction is that you must master what you do

Awesome channel!!!

Enjoyed the classic style regulators. Alec your wonderful to listen to, I'm here in Nevada and they have on Cox Cable Sea Hunt with Lloyd Bridges 4:30 am ran from 1958 to 1961 i still love watching Mike Nelson using his double hose reg. Another show from early 60s it says in credits diving equipment furnished by Dacor, yes they were huge. Wasnt there a company called Healthways making masjs & fins ? I can sit having some coffee and your deep knowledge of scuba's early years. I find it exciting and brings back many fond memories. I see us divers still makes same mask from 1972 purge valve, always liked them. This is a hobby i am considering getting back into again, I've been out of scuba since late 70s and wow so much change. I still like the old style double system. Everything was made to last and often overbuilt and beautiful looking. Be well alec and stay warm. 👍

Really fun video Alec. You always make me laugh the way you tell some of your stories. One of the things I enjoyed the most when I attended the Sea Hunt Forever event at Silver Springs this year was seeing your collection of gear, and all the vintage gear the club members had. I was probably a nuisance walking around taking pictures of tanks, regs and all the other dive gear everyone had. But I thoroughly enjoyed it and really appreciate how you and the group put all that vintage dive equipment to good use.

I really enjoy your videos Alec.

Thank you Alec great video :-) would love to see more scuba equipment maintenance videos your other ones are really useful. Thanks again.

Awesome video! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.

Your Knowledge is top Notch!! Thank You for Sharing!!!👍

Alec I just found your channel and watched a few of your clips and am impressed by your wealth of knowledge. I started diving back in the 70's and am a Padi Divemaster. Haven't been going diving much for the past few years but have been getting the Bug again. For a long time I have wanted to try a Double Hose Rig but had been put off by the fact that you couldn't attach anything to the first or second stage. Then I found the Kraken..it wasn't too long until Bryan had a special deal for the unit with a pressure gage and a safe second so I ordered one. Then the fun started..My goal was to end up with a modern tech style rig but with the double hose reg. Long story short I ended up building two rigs because I had to use bits and pieces from a variety of sources and had a lot of parts left over. The end result is a VDH backplate with a Hog wing and a harness that is part Dive Right and part Hollis. It has a Scubapro Cumberbund and backplate pad, an Air2 inflator and I ended up using my old Scubapro G200 second stage as the safe second. So far I have only had it in the pool a couple of times and each time I make a few more changes and now it's ready for the ocean. It is quite a bit different in use..I wouldn't recommend one for a novice. There is a big difference in the ease of inhalation depending on your attitude in the water. Getting the reg down between your shoulder blades helps a lot but after using it I started thinking of all the times going head first down the anchor line hence the old G200 second stage. Just shut off the DSV on the Kraken and switch regs ..problem solved..Kind of a hybrid solution. All in all a single hose setup is a lot easier to use but not near as much fun as trying to make a modern rig with a double hose reg..Also it is really interesting seeing how people react to seeing it..it ranges to disbelief to I want one..

Every video is wonderful and a wealth of information. Thanks so much for doing these Alec! I grew up using double hose regulators at a YMCA camp in Wimberley, Texas, where as a nine/ten year old we listened to a record narrated by "Mike Nelson", after which we strapped on a small tank and off we'd go. But I wish there were safe and reliable double hose regulators for use today, if only to remove the bubbles to behind my head so I wouldn't so easily scare the fish when photographing. Would that be a reasonable proposition today Alec? One wonders where to obtain a double hose regulator and how to keep it maintained.

Very interesting double hose regulators. probably different experience them individually. each of them seems to have pros and cons too. thanks for sharing

hey Alec, awesome videos. I am a brand new to the diving world. love this series, really makes me appreciate how you experienced divers would use your gear. this makes me so happy to be a part of the sport, you got a thumbs up and a new subscriber. one question though, would you still be able to use a two hose now a days. I think it would be cool to use one. great video

NAUI certified in 1971. Had a US Divers "Aquamaster" 2 hose regulator. I think they made a higher end one called the "Royal Aquamaster". A single 72 CF tank (always wanted a pair of twin 40's). A knife big enough to cut down a tree with a super thick wet suit with boots, hood, gloves much needed for the cold Canadian waters of Tobermory.

Thank you Alec

I'd definitely build my own gear. I'm sure that they wouldn't let me use it on any charter boats though. Heck, a place in Fort Lauderdale made me add an alt secondary to my old kit before allowing me to get in the water. The kid on the boat didn't seem to know that we didn't start using those until relatively recently.

great video

Ive got a Kraken DH reg and I love it! From Vintage Double hose in FL.

Замечательное видео , так держать ! )))

There is a company in Florida that’s bringing the double hose regulator back and has put high pressure and low pressure ports on the reg.

Enjoyed this video, thumbs up from us and cheers from sunny IGY Simpson Bay Marina, Sint Maarten in the Caribbean.

Vintage Scuba is what I really like

Also would love to see more videos from your training pool. Scuba diving tips similar to your free flowing regulator video.

Hey Alec, fantastic part of SCUBA history! Just got my first " Royal Aqua Master " square label double hose reg. Gonna send to VDH for a phoenix upgrade. Just wondering how to store a double hose reg and how to maintain it?

I love this. I am interested in starting to dive but I don't dive. None the less so cool!

Like your videos a lot. Many things cleared for me. Q. How about maintaining double house return loop from algae, after diving and wet breath, it must be maintained - disassembled and washed every time after using?

XTX50 is where we staying, certainly would like a pair of Poseidon but service them is a pain in the ass.

Where can one find vintage gear nowadays? I’d love to dive it just to experience it.

I do not recall the company but do you remember the first one hose regs. One company came out with a one hose that had both inhale and exhale hoses made into one hose. Both hoses were incorporate into one. Exhaust still came out the back. Also a friend of mine had a USD Royal Aquamaster (early 80') he wanted to have rebuilt. He wrote USD and their reply was they would do the work but would not guarantee its return.

Hi Alec and thanks for another great video! I always had the question "why 2 hoses?". So, was the second hose only supposed to take the exhaled air in and remove it from your back so that you don't have bubbles on your face?

I just started Diving, taking my Advance soon. Didnt know vintage scuba gear use to be so complicated @_@

Cool video. How about something on no-fly times after diving. Recently an instructor wanted me to dive the last day of training before flying home the next day. He told me to just jump in the pool at the hotel with my computer and breathe 100% o2 until the nitrogen was gone. Will this work?

I have always wanted dive with a two hose regulator. That's on my bucket list!

How did old divers learn about the effects of nitrogen build up in the body? Also do you have vintage dive tables and how were they developed in the early days of diving?

No Seibe Gorman "Mistral" ? or the best ever twin hose DV the Seibe - Gorman "Merlin". ??

Alec, have you seen the Argonaut Kraken new double hose regulators by Vintage Double Hose? Just came across them recently and wondered what your thoughts were and/or if you've ever tried one. Looks like fun. Thanks!

My brother and I built my own regulator 20 years ago Still have it somewhere... we had access to shop tools. Used a tire shrader valve. A piece of aluminum tube and part of a plastic yoyo. And a diaphragm was a piece of tire tube.... it looked like an Poseidon Cyklon. We built it out of our head and and encyclopedic.... we did not copy anything...

Can you please make a video on how regulators work and how they were made

Wow an old school scuba. Double house regulator, no BCD and rubber suit.

Alec, again thank you for a great video. I, of course, have another question for you. How did you fill your air tanks? Was it like it is today and you had to find someone with a purified air compressor or did people just take the risk with the one in their garage/shop? By the way, I looked up those old dive gauges you mentioned in your last video, very interesting, thank you.

Damn ! That was great ! I don't care what all your ex-wives say about you- You're Kool ! Gonna watch all your other vids. Yup - I subscribed.

How have you kept your one-piece hose in such good shape? My original US Divers one-piece has started to crumble and split.

Apologies I should have said early divers not old divers. So I will ask in a better way. How did early divers learn about nitrogen effects and do you have early table that you can share in a video about vintage diving?

How do you like aqualumgs new Mistral ?

thanks, but what was the benefit of double rather than single one in design?

Also the Nemrod (Spain) and Dreager (Germany) and Spirotechnique (France) series of twin hose regulators.

Imagine today buying a book for 25 cents with detailed instructions how to build your own scuba gear. Impossible

can a smoker scuba?

Pimp my regulator..... :)

Being 70 years old i was trained on 2 hose

Doubles hoses look cooler