Spent $300 on a used Kirby Morgan Band Mask and it saved my butt in the Gulf

I do a lot of inland work around bilge tanks and sewer outfalls, so visibility is usually zero. I picked up a used Kirby Morgan Band Mask from a guy retiring out of Louisiana for $300. Took a while to get the seal right because the skirt was a little stiff, but once I dialed it in, I could actually see what I was grabbing down there. Last week I was pulling a grate off a intake pipe in Mobile Bay and without that mask I would have been feeling around blind for an hour. The communication piece works too, so I could tell the tender exactly where to pull. Anyone else find a good deal on used gear that actually held up?

3 comments

3 Comments

loganthompson1mo ago

That bit about the stiff skirt taking a while to dial in is exactly what I went through with a used Dive Rite I found on Craigslist. Spent a weekend just soaking the thing in hot water and working the rubber till it finally felt right, but once it did it's been solid for over a year now. It's always a gamble with used gear but when it pays off it feels like you beat the system.

oscarb771mo ago

Picked up a used aqualung for a third of retail a few years back and it's still kicking. That $300 Band Mask is a steal considering you can communicate and see at the same time.

hayden_butler271mo ago

Damn, thats wild. My buddy grabbed a used Oceanic for like 200 bucks a couple years ago and it crapped out on him after like 5 dives. He had to take it to some shop and spend another hundred just to get the regulator rebuilt. You definitely lucked out with that aqualung.