16957818

Sun Aug 18 '19 Announcement
over 4 years ago – Sun, Aug 18, 2019 at 12:34:45 AM

We’re shipping in September!

A big "Thank you!" from me

Please confirm your order details

You will receive an email from me in the next day or so which will enable you to confirm your order details through my (“Backerkit”) order management software. If you wish, you will be able to:

- Change your shipping address

- Upgrade to the SCORKL PRO

- Upgrade your pledge level

- Add Add-ons

I need you to review and confirm your order please so that I know exactly what to send and where. The email will look something like this:

Seeing as though everyone has already paid, you won’t need to pay anything other than in the following circumstances:

1. You upgrade your pledge or add Add-ons
2. Your shipping address is within the EU. Shipping is free for everyone, including to the EU, but I am required to collect the VAT payable on EU orders to be able to deliver orders there
3. Your shipping address is outside the USA, EU and Australia. Shipping is still free to these (40+) countries but you may need to pay a customs release fee (but only when you actually collect your order) depending on the policies of your country

How the Products Finally Turned Out

There’s too much to say about the final features of each product to go into detail in this update I’m afraid but I’ll do that in extra updates over the next week or so. I’ve held out on revealing photos of how everything finally turned out until now to prevent the scammers/copycats from stealing my imagery again, so thanks again for waiting.

To see the final products in detail and to learn more about the new Add-ons that are available, including the SCORKL PRO and the Retractor, please go to your unique order confirmation link that I will send to you via email (as mentioned above).

Shipping Date: September 1 – 15

Ideally, everyone will confirm their order details by September 1. That’s probably too optimistic though since there are 3,500+ orders to cover off. We should hopefully be able to have everyone’s orders locked down, and start shipping before, September 15.

Extra Inventory

To allow for pledge upgrades and the ordering of Add-on items, I manufactured about 20% extra stock during this run. Unlike the Kickstarter backers, none of my Indiegogo customers (1,500 of you) have had the opportunity to purchase Add-ons yet, so I expect the extra inventory to go fast. Please be aware that there is a real chance that I may run out of extra inventory. Be sure not to delay in confirming your updated order if you are considering adding extra items.

Also, seeing as though it will take another 3+ months to be able to manufacture and send out subsequent batches, be sure to tell anyone that you know who is interested in purchasing, to purchase as soon as they can on Indiegogo here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/scorkl-breathe-underwater-with-total-freedom/x/16957818#/. If they don’t purchase before the extra inventory runs out they will have to wait another 3+ months after this shipment to receive anything.

Bonus Items, New Features

I had originally included only one scuba tank refill adapter with each pack but now  every SCORKL or SCORKL PRO comes with a scuba tank refill adapter. I’m also now including a compressor refill adapter in each SCORKL and SCORKL PRO too. These bonus items are a small token of my thanks to everyone for being so patient.

The SCORKL cylinder now also has a capacity 13% bigger than originally offered: 510mL (31 cu in) water volume compared to 450mL (27 cu in).

You will see in the final product photos, when you confirm your order, that the regulator now has a pressure gauge permanently in the field of view of the user. This means that the air remaining in the cylinder can now be monitored at all times during a dive. It is an exciting new feature that I’ll share with you in more detail in a later update.

Three new air filtration features were added to the pump from the original prototype model. It’s difficult to see them in the photos at the order confirmation link but I’ll explain them in more detail in a later update.

Sorry for being a bit cagey about these new features until now. I had to try to keep things close to my chest because of the scammers/copycats!

Next steps

As soon as you can, please update your order details (including any pledge upgrades or new Add-ons) by accessing your order at your unique link that I will email you. Go through all the steps and click on Place My Order at the end.

Note:

- If you add any extra items (or are shipping to the EU and need to pay the VAT) your credit card won’t be charged until I officially lock down everyone’s orders just prior to shipping. I’ll be sure to give you warning on the day before but it should be sometime during September 1 - 15

- If you can’t see the email that I have sent be sure to check your spam folder (including for messages from "backerkit")

The order management system is pretty straightforward but if you are having trouble navigating it, I’ve put together an explainer video HERE. If you have any other questions after watching that, please feel free to email me at [email protected] and I’ll try to get back to you as quickly as I can. Please be patient though because I’ll be managing 3,500+ orders at once.

Thanks as always for your interest in the SCORKL and your support. I can’t wait to get your orders out to you!

Sincerely,

David

Mon Aug 5 '19 Announcement
over 4 years ago – Mon, Aug 05, 2019 at 06:17:27 AM

Hi everyone.

More great news to report thankfully. Manufacturing is now practically complete and almost all of the items have now been delivered to my packing and distribution warehouse.

Manufacturing and Warehousing Schedule

Each part is at the following stage of completion and warehousing:

• The regulators have been manufactured and delivered to the warehouse
• The cylinders have been manufactured and delivered to the warehouse
• The retractors have been manufactured and delivered to the warehouse
• The scuba tank and compressor refill adapters have been manufactured and delivered to the warehouse
• The hand pump air filters have been manufactured and delivered to the warehouse
• The packaging has been manufactured and delivered to the warehouse
• The user manuals have been printed and delivered to the warehouse
• The hand pump filter housing and high-pressure hoses have been manufactured and delivered to the warehouse
• The hand pumps have been manufactured and are currently in transit, arriving in the warehouse mid-August
• The waterproof cases are scheduled to be manufactured by mid-August and arrive in the warehouse mid-August
• The hand pump air filter bag had been manufactured and delivered to the warehouse but unfortunately were defective. A new, non-defective batch will arrive mid-August

The size and scale of this initial order is quite impressive. As you can imagine, transporting the following parts from six different manufacturing locations, and warehousing it, has been quite a task. The order is made up of:

• 17 ton of Hand Pumps (4,000 units)
• 15 ton of (empty) Packaging (12,000 units)
• 12 ton of Waterproof cases (1,800 units)
• 5 ton of Cylinders (8,000 units)
• 5 ton of Refill Adapters, Filter Housings, High Pressure Hoses (16,000 units)
• 3 ton of Regulators (8,000 units)
• 1 ton of Air Filters, Retractors, User Manuals (13,000 units)

That’s a total of approximately 63,000 units weighing 58 tons!

(* “ton” used here to represent metric tonne = 1,000 kilograms = 2,200 pounds)

Shipping Date & Order Confirmations

I’ll wait until all the parts have arrived in the warehouse before asking everyone to confirm their shipping address and order details. Fingers crossed that will be in about a week. If everything continues to run smoothly, I’ll hopefully be able to start deliveries in September.

In the next update I’ll provide photos of what the final products, and packs, looks like. I’m super excited to show you because I’m really pleased with how they turned out. For now though, please enjoy a few images of the manufacturing run below.

Hand Pumps

Cylinders

Regulators

Retractors

Packaging

User Manuals

Air Filters

Next Update

Stay tuned over the next week or so for the next update. Things are about to get exciting! Thanks as always for your patience and support.

Sincerely,

David

Sun Jun 30 '19 Announcement
almost 5 years ago – Sun, Jun 30, 2019 at 09:38:50 AM

____

Hi everyone.

Some great news to report. Manufacturing is well and truly underway!

There’s a bit of information to digest below but before boring you with the detail, please enjoy a few photos and videos of the manufacturing run of the 8,000 SCORKL cylinders.

Cylinders on painting conveyor

Cylinders coming off painting conveyor

SCORKL logo being applied

Cylinder inspection

Regular vs PRO cylinders

So many cylinders!

Manufacturing run complete!

Cylinders Manufactured

As you can see above, all the SCORKL Regular and PRO* cylinders have now been manufactured. They will be packed and delivered to my assembly and distribution warehouse over the coming week.

(* - Indiegogo backers haven't been given the opportunity yet to upgrade to the PRO cylinder but that will come just before I lock all the orders down - see timing below)

Manufacturing Schedule for Everything Else

Manufacturing of the other items are at the following stages of completion

-     The retractors* have been manufactured

-     The hand pumps are scheduled to be manufactured by the end of the first week of July

-     The hand pump air filters are scheduled to be manufactured by end of the third week of July

-     The packaging is scheduled to be manufactured by the end of the third week of July

-     The waterproof cases are scheduled to be manufactured by the end of the third week of July

-     The regulators are scheduled to be manufactured by the end of July

There’s a lot of exciting stuff going on at the moment and I look forward to sharing all of it with you. Stay tuned for a few more updates like this one over the next couple of weeks. There will be more manufacturing photos and videos and also a few surprises that I’m confident you’ll enjoy!

(* - Indiegogo backers haven't been given the opportunity yet to add the retractors to their order but that will come just before I lock all the orders down - see timing below)

Timing, Upcoming Updates

The remaining manufacturing schedule; the receiving, assembly, packaging and labelling of orders; and the delivery process itself, will need about a month each. This means that the earliest that orders will go out will be September.

I’ll need to lock down everyone’s orders and delivery addresses soon but I won’t do that just yet. I want to send a few more updates over the next couple of weeks with the latest manufacturing and other news first. So stay tuned. Things are about to get exciting!

Thanks as always for your patience and support.

Sincerely,

David

Wed Apr 24 '19 Announcement
about 5 years ago – Wed, Apr 24, 2019 at 11:18:59 PM

We got there! It took the better part of eighteen months but we have now finally received international certification for the SCORKL! I received the product certificate a couple of weeks ago (the first stage of certification), and the factory quality control audit certificate (the second stage) just today so it is officially ALL SYSTEMS GO to get all these orders manufactured, assembled, packed and shipped! Hooray!!

Oh my it has been a bit of an ordeal to get to this stage finally. I had originally anticipated the certification process to be much more straightforward however, as you know, it turned out to take longer than expected. I’ve since found out that the time it took us to get through everything is pretty standard for SCUBA products so we actually haven’t been too slow in the overall scheme of things, but I thank you again for your patience and support throughout, particularly since I communicated quicker expected timeframes earlier on. 

International certification was so important to be able to provide you all with absolute confidence in the safety and performance of the SCORKL. It took a while but was definitely worth it.

Next Steps and Timing

We can now start the process of manufacturing, receiving parts, assembly, packing and shipping of all the orders. The manufacturing and receiving of parts will take about six to ten weeks, as will the assembly, packaging and shipping of the orders. This means that the first orders won’t be sent out till September at the earliest. 

I’ll certainly be doing my best to move things along that timeframe but there may be delays so please continue to be patient as always.

Manufacturing 

The manufacturing process and receiving of parts will be occurring over the next two months so I look forward to sharing photos of that with you. As an example, the four thousand hand pumps weigh almost seventeen tonnes and take up the space of an entire shipping container, so should be a sight to behold. I look forward to getting good photos of that if I can.

Next update

The next update will be sent by the end of June at the latest but probably before then. In that next update I'll start confirming everyone’s orders (including for add-ons like the SCORKL PRO, Retractor and cases), shipping address and explaining how deliveries will occur for different countries. 

Thanks as always for your patience and support. We're entering the home stretch!

Sincerely,

David 

Tue Feb 26 '19 Announcement
about 5 years ago – Tue, Feb 26, 2019 at 11:08:10 PM

Hi everyone.

I hope you have all had a great start to the year so far. Time for another SCORKL update below:

Waiting to hear back from international certification agency

Just before Christmas I mentioned that now that we had submitted our application for international certification, we were hoping to gain approval by the end of February. That hasn’t happened yet unfortunately. We initially had to wait in the queue for a few weeks but are currently under assessment for the first (product) stage. Fingers crossed we gain the all clear for that in the next few weeks. I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as we do! After that will be the second (factory audit) stage.

Certification Application Documentation

To give you a better idea of what is involved in the submission, here’s a photo of the 600+ pages of documentation:

Submitted Documentation

Amongst other items, it includes:

-     the design and manufacturing drawings of the components and sub-assemblies, as well as descriptions of each part and manufacturing instructions

-     the results and reports of tests carried out to verify conformity with relevant safety standards

-     quality control processes and manuals

-     the user manual

As you can see in the photos below it’s very comprehensive, to the extent that even basic parts such as springs are considered in detail.

Drawing of Cylinder

Cylinder Hardness Testing

Plastic Regulator Body Drawing

Plastic Material Spec Sheet

Regulator Performance Testing Results (one of many)

Drawing of Spring

Quality Control Documentation for Spring and Regulator Core Seat

Scams/Copies 

As some of you have already noticed, a Chinese copy product has popped up, with names like “SMACO” or “SCOPEL” (amongst others), often using video footage or images from the SCORKL Kickstarter campaign in their marketing material. Since the Kickstarter campaign concluded in July 2017 I have never advertised the SCORKL for sale on Facebook, Instagram or anywhere else. If you come across any advertisements for a product that either looks like the SCORKL, or uses video footage or images of the SCORKL in their advertisements, it is either an unsafe fake or a scam. Please report them for me (to Facebook, Instagram, etc.) if you come across any in the future. Thanks!

Next update 

I’ll post the next update either as soon as we gain approval for the first stage of international certification, or by the end of April at the latest.

Thanks as always for your patience and support. We’re definitely getting to the pointy end of things now finally so the next couple of updates should hopefully start getting exciting!

Sincerely,

David