Wetsuit Cleaning

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Clammy

Contributor
Messages
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Location
San Diego, CA USA
# of dives
200 - 499
How frequently should you clean your wetsuit?

I generally shampoo my wetsuit as soon as I get home but that's because I know I won't be using for at least a few weeks. However, if I know I'm going to dive one weekend and then again the following weekend, should I still shampoo my wetsuit or is just a freshwater rinse good enough?
 
That generally what I do... I used to totally overkill and use wetsuit shampoo every time it was in the water, even if I was going back the next day. Eventually I figured out that rinsing was good enough for multiple days of diving and washing with wetsuit shampoo before storing was the way to go.
 
I generally just rinse it with fresh water, and then after 4 or 5 daily uses (if they are close together) I will throw it in the bath tub (with just enough water to submerge it) and some sink the stink stuff. I step all over it like grapes, then let it soak for a bit. Come back rinse it with fresh water and then let it drip dry.
 
I only use water. I have never used soap or shampoo. I soak it in the laundry room sink or in the tub with some weight on top. Then when I am taking a shower I rinse it with warm water and hang it up. If I have not rinsed it for a couple of days on a trip I may use a small amount of Sink n Stink. I use the wetsuit year round in the Pacific Ocean.
 
After each dive trip, I soak it in Woolite while I rinse all the other gear. Then I rinse and hang dry the wetsuits.
 
I use my pelican box to rinse my gear in my driveway. I always wash my gear with some soap. In a container in my garage I have some Tide (coldwater soap), Wetsuit and Drysuit shampoo, BC Life, Sink the Stink, and fabric paint (you know that puffy stuff in a squeeze bottle) in neon yellow (used to mark my gear).

I don't know why sometimes I use the Tide and other times I use the Wetsuit shampoo.
 
All of our neoprene gets a vigorous tub rinse in sun warmed water after every dive day and then hangs inside to dry.

If and only if a funk begins to develop will I marinade the gear in sink the stink or some such product. Most times the funk happens is from diving in poor visibility where the water had an uncommonly high bio-load. Last year we stayed "clean" for 100+ dives.

Pete
 
I find it easy to throw in a bit of shampoo (J&J baby shampoo, el cheapo Costco/Kirkland, a bottle from the hotel room --- whatever is handy).

I might be able to get by with just fresh water, but sometimes that wouldn't quite do it. So now I just alway drop in a half-ounce or so of shampoo for the neoprene and bathing suit.

Sink-the-Stink or Mirazyme is reserved for the times when my gear is truly funky --- most often after not getting it fully dry before packing it into a suitcase for the flight back.
 
Make sure to submerge your booties really well in the sink the stink shampoo. If you don't the booties will smell like old sneakers when they dry...
 
I've never seen this sink the stink!! It sounds intriguing!! I want some now! Thanks for all the advice!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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