Posted by Karl S. on December 27, 2001 at 15:10:26:
In Reply to: Re: New diver here. Need help on choosing new/used equipment. posted by Steve on December 27, 2001 at 14:31:12:
Hello Steve. Its been awhile. Good to hear from you again!
I agree with you that since our Dolphin is bargain hunting, that he/she will probably have to catch as catch can.
If that also involves tanks, I would make sure of opening a tank and looking inside of it before you plunk down your money too.
I recently learned that my fairly new HP120 had been almost totally ruined with rust from bad fills due to bad compressors as yet not fully identified or known.
It could have happened on the boat dives, when the deck hands are in too big a hurry to purge dry the tank valves before locking on their air fill connector, since they are in a hurry. I mostly use this large tank for boat dives, which I carry it onto the boat for. From now on, I think I will just use the boat's tanks instead of my own to avoid the risk of this happening again.
It could also have been at one of the several dive stores that I get fills at. It was particularly eggregious (a word made famous by Marssha Clarkk during the O.J. Simpsonn criminal trial) because this tank had been O2 cleaned and was being used by me for EAN32.
So caveat emptor, if you decide to go for a used tank, this early in the game.