Maritime Gear Manufacturer

1966: Company registered.

1970: Zero industries concentrates on diving market.

1972: Imports Poseidon regulators and cylinders. Establish their Cyklon 200 / 300 2nd stage as the bench market regulator for diamond divers on the West Coast through service and constant availability of spare parts.

1973: Modify Mauser 4600 to 2 needle machine, unique!

1980’s:

• Recreational SCUBA divers catching crayfish initiative, rejected by the Department of Fisheries.
• Establish Southern Oceanics with partner David Park Ross, Zero sells it’s shares, the company evolves to Hydra Marine, it’s owners and managers must be saluted they have created a world class hyper baric manufacturing company.
• 12 Caledon Street Cape Town purchased, Ground floor our retail SCUBA store, complete with internal dive tank, lecture room seating for 12, hydrostatic testing station, hardware service and repair facility and a 4 man re-compression chamber!
• 1st floor commercial offices, despatch and warehousing, Engineering (AGA Interspiro, Bristol compressors and Calepda Pumps agents)
• 2nd floor life jacket and clothing manufacture.
• 3rd floor wetsuit gluing and assembly.
• Harrington House top floor, Rebate store, neoprene cutting area.
• Hosted demonstration of SAM 1 atmosphere suit at our building 12 Caledon Street, Cape Town.
• Artificial reef initiative, sinking three ships in Smitswinkel Bay. SA Navy Frigate’s SAS Good Hope and Transvaal,
• later I & J trawler Princess Elizabeth and Oritavia added.
• Life-jackets added to product range.
• Annual treasure dive at the wreck site of the Antipolis.
• Annual canon dive, a rely event “a 300m SCUBA swim with a concrete replicate of an 8 pound English gun.
• A visit to Taiwan, provide technical assistance to build neoprene manufacturing plant.
• Build a skate board park at Kenilworth Shopping Centre, the “KC Skate Board Park”,
• ° added to Zero.

1990: 5000sqm land acquired at Viben Street Stikland Industrial Area for a new factory, a raw chemicals for material to finished garment plant. Acquire “test” scale production machinery: single jersey weaving looms, rubber mixing machinery, 5 platen jump press, bun press, slitting machine, glue applicator, nip roller (made by Match Box South Africa), lamination hot roller. Project shelved due to unstable political environment.