WCC Tech Notes - CO2 Over the years we have found a few tricks on the high pressure side of the regulators. The Rock-the-Boat regulator for small ships, quick connects for the hoses and entenders for dealing with tight spaces. None of these may be useful in your ship or they may be the only thing that allows your ship to be built!

The WCC has one very unusual ship. She is the HMS Roberts, a British Coastal Monitor. She is a two unit ship with one std 50 round gun and a one unit pump. Being a fairly small ship, weight and size are important. So she is equiped with a Rock-the-Boat regulator and uses 16 gram CO2 cartridges.

The source of these componets is Palmer Pursiut, a high end paintball engineering outfit in California. It is run by Glenn Palmer who designs most of the stuff himself. He is a kick to work with. After calling to find spare parts and being asked why they were needed, he came back with a note saying that the parts were on the way and that if you make this modification, the orignal problem will be taken care of. The newer regulators now come standard with the modification.

The Rock-the-Boat is a variation of Palmer Pursuit's Stabilizer regulator. This regulator screws onto the top of a standard refillable CO2 bottle. Both regulators are adjustable. Hook up a pressure gauge to your system and turn the hex screw on the top to dial in exactly the pressure you want. I have run mine from 100 psi to a bit over 160 psi with no effort. I don't know how far the regulator can be adjusted. They are not cheap though, both the Rock-The-Boat and Stabilizer run about $75 each. Even so, these can not be recommended too highly!

Palmer Pursuit also carries the 16g CO2 cartridges for the Rock-the-Boat regulators. The last batch I got [02/00] cost $1.05 each. Shipping was modest and delivery prompt. Palmer Pursuit is a really nice bunch to work with!

Another must-have item is the press-in tubing quick connects. They are available in both large and small sizes. Just too simple, reliable and easy to use. Airtronic in Bellevue (also our local clippard dist) carries them. They only accept cash from walk-in sales.

A couple of out ships have space issues. Both of these ships have their CO2 tanks in their bow and found that putting the regulator in line with the tank didn't work. Talking to our local paint ball folks quickly solved the problem. They use a variety of hoses to hook their large CO2 tanks to their guns. Since this stuff is all manufactured for full CO2 tank pressure, it meets our requirements. The system has a small adapter for the tank with a 1/8" threaded hole on the side. The adapter is aluminum and suprisingly light weight. Quick connects that use blue hard plastic tube connects into an adapter that goes from 1/8th to the threads on the regulator. This adapter is readily available at your local hardware store. Also pictured here is the standard Williams regulator.