Dacor regulators

Question
G'day Mike
Do you know of anybody in/around the US who might still carry service kit spares for Dacor XL regulators and first stage.
Mine have served me well for the last 22 years and now spares are'nt available in South Africa any more.
I have reluctantly purchaced a new set of Scubapro reg's on my last dive trip but would still like have my old XL's as a backup set.
Regards
George Myburgh

Answer
Hi George

As you've discovered, repair parts for Dacor regulators are getting very hard to find.  You may know that Mares bought Dacor several years ago and has discontinued the Dacor name.  In 2003 (I believe) Dacor sent letters to their dealers (I was one)advising us that they were no longer going to support their "older" regulators.  That would include your XL's.  Many of us bought a supply of repair kits in anticipation of the upcoming scarcity.  We've been using these kits to maintain Dacor regs for the past 7 years and supplies are dwindling.  Finding kits is now a matter of searching the internet for someone who has repair kits for your particular regulator.  I have a few repair kits here but only two left for the XLB,XLP,XLPG and XLS.  These second stages all use the same repair kit.  I have no parts for the XLE,XLT or XP.  The problem with parts for the XL series are the seats (both high and low pressure).  Dacor had a proprietary seat and it didn't fit anything else.  The seats even varied between models of the same regulator and weren't interchangeable. The seats were constructed as a single unit and could not be repaired or rebuilt...they had to be completely replaced.  Other parts such as O-rings were common to other regulators and so are still fairly easy to find.  

Unfortunately, the same story is true for Dacor's first stages.  Parts (especially seats) are particular to the specific model and are not interchangeable.

George, I wish I could provide some positive recommendations for you but, as you've seen, the dependable old Dacors are quickly becoming paper weights.  We simply cannot get parts for them anymore.  As I suggested, you might try some internet searches and see what you can find.  I'm sure there are a few repair kits for your XL's out there but most repair facilities will only furnish kits for regulators that they repair themselves.  Shipping your regulator to a distant repair facility could be costly and will only delay the inevitable.

It might be time to retire your faithful Dacor regs and start a new relationship with your new Scuba Pro's.

Best Regards and Happy Diving,

Mike Giles
Mike's Dive Center
mikescuba.com