Looking for a scooter under $1000.. mostly for rec. ocean diving use. Let's see what ya got!
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WTB: DPV Under $1000
Looking for a scooter under $1000.. mostly for rec. ocean diving use. Let's see what ya got!
Last edited by Jax; 06-06-2012 at 01:43 PM. Reason: :-D
The blue one is about 750rpm, To your door for $1k, has all the upgrades, 813 505 3527
http://www.ezscuba.com/mako_scooters.htm
Fairly close with this one, and a known member
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showt...nd-18ah-bodies.
Strazz has one also, but it might be out of your $ range.
You'll laugh, but one of those silly box fan looking things works better than I could have ever imagined. 8 or 10 divers passed the thing around for an hour and it was still going. Magnus it isn't, but it does pull you along at a leisure swimming pace. Trying to remember what it's called, couldn't have weighed 10 lbs and looks like a box fan, sounds like it runs off a Dewalt drill motor or something.
On edit, Bladefish maybe?
Or maybe this? SEA DOO SEA SCOOTER AQUA RANGER 95001Originally Posted by a64pilot
Thanks for the info everyone. I'm new to the world of scooters. I'm getting into spearfishing in South Florida and want a scooter for hunting and some shore dives. A lot of guys here use the tusa sav-7 (apollo av-2) for hunting off boats because of the saddle & hands free operation. The price on those gavins seems great but with the large body and the need to hold on to it, wouldn't it be less than ideal for spearfishing?
You don't actually "hold" a Gavin. You let it pull you from a cord clipped to your crotch strap. You only need one hand to operate the trigger, but that same hand can hold other things, like the speargun.
Bladefish and Seadoos aside (which in almost anyone's opinion are not suitable for technical diving, and I personally would not want one for recreational diving). About the only scooter you'll find under $1000 is the Oceanic Mako or its Tekna predecessors.
They vary widely in terms of general condition, motor wind (RPM), hubs and blades, nose plates, batteries that are installed and battery condition.
With 21Ah Powersonics they tend to neutral in salt water, but negative in fresh water unless you add a neoprene sleeve. The sleeve is a good idea anyway as it protects the o-ring grooves between the lower, mid and upper bodies, which are easily damaged and if damaged, leak. You can install 18Ah Powersonics and it will lighten the scooter up, but they don't do as well providing current if the motor has been upgraded to a 1000 rpm wind.
Trim wise, they tend to be tail low, although with a sleeve and a lightweight set of batteries you can place enough weight in the nose to get them almost level in salt water. Still, it will never be up there with most tube scooters in the trim department.
Motor winds apparently varied a bit on the stock scooters between about 650 and 750 rpm (and a 650 rpm Mako is a real dog). We have three of them, two that are 1000 rpm scooters we had reworked by DPV repair and a 750 rpm Mako that we use as a spare. A stock 750 rpm Mako is probably the lower limit for technical cave diving with doubles and a stage, but it will get the job done running around close to 9 pitch. 7 or 8. A 1000 rpm Mako will stay with the lead acid SS and Gavin scooters in terms of speed and give a comparable run time to the 18 Ah tube scooters. With 21 Ah batteries we can generally plan on 45 minutes of continuous run time, or about 60 minutes split over two dives, so 20 minutes of penetration time is about as far as I feel you can push them prudently.
Nose plates vary and te stock plates have a bad habit of imploding around 130-140' despite the original 180' rating. Some of that might be due to the age of the plastic in the plate, but it's prudent to upgrade them to either aluminum or 3/4" lexan. I prefer the lexan nose plates as we run data recorders in ours and we can read the voltage and amps used during the dive with the clear plate. Nothing predicts battery and motor performance like past performance, and I think it makes more sense than burn testing based on imaginary numbers and estimated amperage loads. With a lexan nose plate, the Mako is *probably* a 210' scooter, but I would not push it past 180' anyway. The major weakness of the Mako is the fairly fragile hull, so you need to take care with the o-rings, be careful how you store it and understand that it won't take the beating that most tube scooters will.
Props and hubs make a difference and I've noted significantly different power draws between otherwise identical motors.
Battery connectors matter as the trailer type stock connectors and 14 ga wiring tends to get hot on extended runs with a 1000 rpm Mako, so IMHO, if you upgrade the motor wind, or buy a 1000 rpm Mako, you need to run 12 ga wires and use Anderson connectors. The larger 75 watt format Anderson connectors are overkill, but they are very solid and will not come lose during a dive.
Some of the hubs out there intended for SS and Gavin scooters lack a stop pin and as such allow what amounts to about an "11" pitch. This gives you more speed, but it can result in the motor running hot so for reliability purposes I put those hubs under the drill press and install a brass stop pin to limit the pitch to "9" as on the stock Mako hubs. A 1000 rpm Mako doe snot need more pitch anyway as they'll already run around 200 fpm with a diver in fairly cleanly configured doubles.
The Mako has both right and left handles, but when running it one handed with a tow cord (the way God intended) the "lower" one is prone to snagging and also picking up sand. Sand in the grip can jam the trigger and result in a run away, so we removed ours and installed an aluminum plate over the fitting.
IMHO, unless you already own one, upgrading a Mako is a waste of money as you can get a Gavin or SS for the same money you'll eventually have in it. However, that also means that well upgraded Makos almost always sell for a lot less than they are worth, so if you can find a 1000 rpm Mako in good condition with a lexan nose plate you'll end up with a lot of scooter for the money.
Unmodified Makos seem to sell between $650 and $850 with upgraded Makos selling for $800-$1000. $600 or so can be too much for a worn out Mako in need of a new motor and general refit (that will set you back another $700-$800). But $1000 for a 1000 rpm Mako in great shape is a really good deal provided you don't need to go below 180'.
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