Post vacation gear cleaning

Hi All,

Just wanted to get a few thoughts on some cleaning practices. I recently returned from family vacation in Maui. I was fortunate enough to get in three days diving. I did rinse my wetsuit with the shower after the last dive but didn't immediately soak and gave the regulators, BC, fins/mask, etc. quick rinses at the dock after each trip. After the last dive of the vacation I put all the gear in the hotel bathtub in warm water for 30 minutes for a good soak then drained the tub and let the gear dry. During the last cleaning I did rinse the bladders of the BC's with warm water and rinsed them as well. It spent about 5-6 days then after being dried in the bag before coming home. I did unpack the wetsuits and left them out until we packed to come home so they wouldn't wrinkle and could dry out some more.

Once we got home I simply put the gear away thinking I already soaked the gear after the last dive. But, I'm still not sure if I should have re-rinsed all the gear before putting it away. Also, I tried laying out the wetsuits flat but I keep the gear in a spare bathroom bathtub. I've been laying them flat on top of all the bags but noticed that one suit had slipped and got wrinkled up in the legs. I did read that you could roll the suits up loosely around a towel and store them that way to help prevent the wrinkles. I did try a wetsuit hanger once but noticed the shoulders got a little flat where they met the hanger. So,

1.) How many of you would have re-rinsed the gear or just put it away?
2.) How many of you store your wet suits on hangers, rolled, or flat?

Thanks!

For saltwater dives(of any number) I take all my gear, put in a bathtub & fill it up to cover everything...Kinda shake it around a bit & leave it soaking(covered in fresh water) for a day........Drain the tub the next day & refill the tub & soak everything(covered in fresh water) for another day.......Drain the tub again & let most things dry in the tub......Been doing it that way since 1985 & it's worked---ie nothing ruined--in over 70 overseas type trips etc........

After a day of freshwater diving, I just cover & soak over nite, drain tub on day 2(1st soaking) & let everything drain & dry for a day or 2........---then put everything up......

EDIT-----I store all my(dry)wetsuits folded(neatly) in an extra dive bag---------so far so good(even though some not to ie hang em up etc).......

Up here freshwater diving is how I rinse my gear. Just hang to dry.

I have a plastic 55 gallon drum I cut the top off and use to soak my gear after a every trip. I even installed a drain valve at the bottom. I use Simply Green, soak for a day and then hang everything up to dry in the shade of the patio. I then move everything into the house into a spare closet until the next trip. I also double check everything when I move it to the closet. I do this for every dive trip. I normally start packing for a trip about a week in advance. This allows me to change batteries, lube zippers, and get last minute items from the LDS.

freewillie:

1.) How many of you would have re-rinsed the gear or just put it away?
2.) How many of you store your wet suits on hangers, rolled, or flat?

Thanks!

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Always do the prolonged soak at home. So I answer YES to #1. At the end of the trip I am more worried about trying to dry things to reduce weight and prevent growth of green furry things as opposed to rinsing them to get rid of salt - since we always soak afterwards.

#2 - wetsuits lay flat.

We only dive in salt water, mostly every week or every other week. If I'd go trough all the washing all the time I'd have a full time job. So what we do on trips over sea, which means liveaboards: we rinse it on the boat as good as it gets. Then when home it goes in the bath tub and is rinsed like after every other dive. The wetsuits are hanged, just like the BCD of my wife. I remove the backplate from my wing and hang that to.
The camera gets all the buttons pushed several time after soaking 30 min (or during dinner) and then I put it on a towel to dry for a couple of days (which means till the next dive most often). I always take it apart the day before a dive to charge the batteries and reassemble it the night before (preventing flooding is mostly done by not being rushed doing on the last moment). Most of my current gear is 7 years old and still performs well. My wife's wetsuit has a kneepad that needs fixing, she sat down on some oysters (we dive amongst tons of them), but otherwise they are fine while hanging on hangers.
Btw also on liveaboards the regs get rinsed after every single dive. My wife had a Sherwood she used for 10+ years. Then it needed service, but as there is no dealer anymore in this country it meant sending it to Germany and that raised the price to over $200. So she ditched it. I had a Mares reg and that failed me after 7 years, 500 dives. There was a part corroded somewhere inside. The dealer wouldn't guarantee that after fixing it, it would last long. Fins and and my wife mask have been around for 15 years. My mask gets replaced every 4-5 years due to the prescription glasses that need changing now and again.

Btw we have a separate room where the gear sits, it is rather filled

I would have soaked everything for 12 hours in a fresh water bath on arriving home. Then let everything dry thoroughly. If outside on a dry day that might be 8 hours, or it might take a couple of days. Once everything is thoroughly dry, everything goes in an air tight plastic storage container. I used to hang wet suits and bcds, but now I have them in a storage unit so I want them all sealed up.
DivemasterDennis

For cleaning, I don't know, I have Jeeves, one of my minions in the Dive Sherpa Unit handle all of that drudgery.

My wife has found that wetsuits hung in the basement seem to shrink in the dark.

I seen it.

I hang the wetsuit on "fat" plastic hangers. I never soak stuff, just rinse well with a hose. Baby shampoo & fresh water to clean inside of BCD (after expelling all the salt water of course). I bought most of my stuff used 9 years ago. No problems yet. It's also OK to wait a while to rinse it as long as it doesn't dry out with salt water or chlorine on it.

So I'm a new diver. I live on Guam, and dive 3-4 days a week in saltwater. Should I be soaking my gear? I just rinse after the dive then let dry. I sincerely hope I'm not ruining my gear!