Maintenance is essential now more than ever!

For questions, articles and discussions regarding water blaster maintenance and repairs.
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TylerK
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Maintenance is essential now more than ever!

Post by TylerK » Sat Jun 03, 2017 11:42 pm

Maintenance is essential now more than ever!

It’s nothing new; we all will eventually face the truth that there is going to be no return of the great performing CPS blasters. There isn’t enough demand, so manufacturers can’t make profits on big guns. Or vice versa; manufactures haven’t created/marketed anything to create interest, so there is no demand. Either way you look at it, they aren’t coming back yet. Yes, there has been Gargantua and the Adventure Force Super Storm, but nothing that can compare to the old super soakers.

In light of this, maintaining the current supply of good soakers is quite essential. Funny thing is, almost all breaks are fixable unless something really catastrophic happens. I just had a water war on Memorial Day after fixing up a bunch of broken ones. It was great fun! Yes, afterwards I had some minor fixes to do, but it was worth it! We need to show the next generation what they are missing out on.

Something I’ve slowly come to realize is in light of the coming shortage of CPS soakers, performance modifications are not as recommended to do anymore. K-modding and pressure relief valve disabling will just increase the time it takes to maintain them. Unless absolutely necessary don’t be increasing the internal pressure on these soakers, as the years go by the long term affects will rear their ugly head. I’ve used so many tubes of marine epoxy fixing leaks and reinforcing trigger valves, especially on any soaker that has had a k-mod. The performance is already so good are these old soakers anyways; if you really want to increase power just make a homemade soaker. Note: If you have the time and money by all means do whatever modification you want. :cps1500:

Plus, modified soakers do not do well in the hands of inexperience users; they end up over pumping and bursting the seams. We want to be able to host water wars and hand out soakers to new players without them breaking halfway through the game. Remember to create demand, we need to create interest, we create interest by having some really great fun. Soakers blowing up halfway through aren’t very fun.

So if you have some broken soakers sitting in the closet why not drag them out and fix them this summer. Don’t be afraid to pick up broken ones at thrift stores and ebay; with forums like this one or old sscentral articles, there is no excuse for lack of information and help. It doesn’t take that long to do most fixes once you’ve done them at least once. Honestly, I actually find it kind of relaxing to fix one after a long day. So take this as a friendly motivator to getting your arsenal in tip-top shape. Or if you don’t have an arsenal, you can build one, one broken soaker at a time.

Drenchenator
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Re: Maintenance is essential now more than ever!

Post by Drenchenator » Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:46 am

I totally agree. I never modified my blasters because I was scared that it would be just break them or limit their life. The classic CPS guns already perform so much better than current ones that modifications don't make much sense (at least to improve range and output). I think features like the safety release valves are good features to keep since they limit the total stress the blaster feels, prolonging the life ultimately. It is probably wise to try to include similar features in homemades.
The Drenchenator, also known as Lt. Col. Drench

marauder
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Re: Maintenance is essential now more than ever!

Post by marauder » Mon Jun 05, 2017 3:14 pm

I extensively modify my blasters, but I do so in a way that most others don't.

https://hydrowar.wordpress.com/modifications/

E.g. I do lots of durability and reinforcement mods and anything else to improve a blaster's ergonomics. I also replace nozzles and swap out PCs on simple AP blasters. E.g. my XP 70 has an XP 110 PC, my SS 100 has a Max D tapered nozzle, and my 600 has a homemade nylon spacer nozzle.

These mods do not detract from the overall durability of my blasters. That being said, there was a time, somewhat recently in fact, where I did try a lot of performance mods where I messed with CPS PCs, tried to replace pumps, etc. What I found is that a lot of blasters can't really be improved upon so easily (Hydrocannon, PPB, Gorgon, Colossus 2...) without jeopardizing their durability.

Lastly, I recommend replacing the stock screws with machine screws. Stock screws are no good and strip easily.
https://hydrowar.wordpress.com/
SEAL wrote:If you ain't bloody and muddy by the end of the day, you went to a Nerf war.

DX
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Re: Maintenance is essential now more than ever!

Post by DX » Sun Jun 11, 2017 3:03 am

I used to do some pretty heavy mods, but that was when things like 2100s were readily available for $6.99 at Sports Authority. Nowadays, I usually leave rare soakers stock or near stock, only modding common models (1000, 1200, 150, etc) that I know can easily have parts replaced. Instead of doing power mods, I'm also mainly looking for individual bladders with above average performance and swapping them in. The 1200 MK1 that I was rocking for a while was displaying power comparable to a moderate K-mod, but with superior, stock stream cohesion. Once I find another compatible 1200 body, it will just be swapped in. 1000 pcs are also valued for swapping...that 1021 now owned by the Seals is one hell of a soaker, outperforming a regular 1000 with 40 balloons on it. So, basically, K-modding is dead. Removing the PRV is definitely dead.

CPS aging out has been a topic for a long time now, but...I still like the 1200 platform in particular, going forward basically until homemade tech catches up. If you bought up every 1200 on Ebay in the past month, you'd have 20 of them, even one NIB. A fleet of 1200s might still be functional a decade from now. These things might be old, but they were manufactured under a different quality paradigm than modern toys. I'm constantly reminded of that when using Larami nerf blasters, with their large, solid screws and Made in Mexico stamps. CPS kind of reminds me of the Tappan Zee bridge - built cheaply as a stopgap bridge, but the construction materials were of such high quality back then that it has handled more than double its intended daily vehicle load for 14 years after its service life technically expired. The new Tap certainly looks impressive, but the bright blue girders remind me of Buzz Bee pot metal levers. I don't see it matching up to something like the George, which has stood since the 1930s with its original cables and exposed superstructure.

Even homemades...might not last as long as something like an XP 150. McMaster LRT goes bad, PVC goes bad...how many 2004 APHs/CPHs are still operational now?
marauder wrote:You have to explain things in terms that kids will understand, like videogames^ That's how I got Sam to stop using piston pumpers

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SEAL
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Re: Maintenance is essential now more than ever!

Post by SEAL » Sun Jun 11, 2017 10:27 am

This is a very interesting topic.

I never did much modding for this very reason. The slight performance improvements weren't worth the risk of increased reliability issues. The only time I modded soakers was when they were already broken, such as my MD 6000 and CPS 12K.

I think that homemades are the future, but we just need that big breakthrough that's long overdue. Now that I'm no longer broke AF, I'm going to set up a workshop in my house and see if I can't come up with a homemade design that will rival the best stock soakers on the field. I have several other items I want to buy first though, so it will be a little while.
~Hotel Oscar Golf~

We probably won't be back, but the legacy lives on.

jja
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Re: Maintenance is essential now more than ever!

Post by jja » Wed Jun 14, 2017 3:17 pm

Totally agree with everything said so far. But as well as repairing our older blasters we need to keep searching for ways to improve the best of the newer blasters such that they are as competitive as possible - most people will never be fortunate enough to own a CPS - we need to make sure new water warriors are finding and engaging with our community within the scope of the better items available on store shelves.

marauder
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Re: Maintenance is essential now more than ever!

Post by marauder » Thu Jun 15, 2017 7:02 am

jja wrote:Totally agree with everything said so far. But as well as repairing our older blasters we need to keep searching for ways to improve the best of the newer blasters such that they are as competitive as possible - most people will never be fortunate enough to own a CPS - we need to make sure new water warriors are finding and engaging with our community within the scope of the better items available on store shelves.
Just curious, but what is the best blaster available in the UK right now?
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SEAL wrote:If you ain't bloody and muddy by the end of the day, you went to a Nerf war.

jja
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Re: Maintenance is essential now more than ever!

Post by jja » Thu Jun 15, 2017 9:11 am

Exactly the same for the last 5 years, colossus 2 and python 2 - they are widely available eBay, amazon smiths toys ect, nothing newer has ever been sent over by buzz bee. good to have these but makes our game meta a bit stale as both are very similar, we did have the Hydro power sphynx a few years ago but they were 3x the price of a C2 or P2...

marauder
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Re: Maintenance is essential now more than ever!

Post by marauder » Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:21 pm

jja wrote:Exactly the same for the last 5 years, colossus 2 and python 2 - they are widely available eBay, amazon smiths toys ect, nothing newer has ever been sent over by buzz bee. good to have these but makes our game meta a bit stale as both are very similar, we did have the Hydro power sphynx a few years ago but they were 3x the price of a C2 or P2...
Wow, that's interesting. Well, you are missing out on the Gargantua, the Waterlord, and the Drench Force. Unfortunately, the only one of those that was readily available was the Gargantua, and even that was only for 1 year (last year). The Waterlord is pretty powerful, but awkward. The Drench Force looks like it is even more powerful, but single shot per pump. I imagine that those would change your battles quite a bit just because they are all rather different and force you to fight differently.

2017 has been a super down year in regards to product availability here in the US, or at least where I live. It's pretty bad.
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SEAL wrote:If you ain't bloody and muddy by the end of the day, you went to a Nerf war.

HBWW
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Re: Maintenance is essential now more than ever!

Post by HBWW » Sat Jun 17, 2017 2:51 am

The most common issue now is that gaskets and seals are rotting. Things aren't going to end well, as the means to make useful and meaningful repairs are just out of reach for the most part.
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