Gear to & from Boat (how to keep from damaging)

[bosshogg357]

I recently purchased all my own gear. I was instructed that I should rinse the regulator while the air is connected so as not to get water in the line. I was also told not get any water in the first stage upon disconnecting from the tank and to do all rinsing while connected.

Question: What precautions do I need to take during the time I am hauling my gear (sometimes in waist deep water) to the boat and then between the 1st & 2nd dive of the day. Also, after we are done, what should I do while lugging the gear back through the waist deep saltwater back to the shore? I won't have fresh water on the boat & I don't want to damage my new equipment (regulator was specifically the item that seems at risk per the conversation with the instructor). He wanted me to be very careful to keep the first stage dry after I removed from tank. It seems like it will get water on it at some point between dives.

Please help me keep my gear new & undamaged! (haha)
Thanks

 

[Marek K]

Hey--

There was a discussion a few months ago about this, here.

You absolutely have to keep water out of the inside of your first stage -- causes corrosion. The ideal way to do it is to rinse it while it's pressurized, still on the tank. But that's obviously not possible to do on a lot of resort-type boat dives, where you break your equipment down on the boat, and the tanks go ashore separately after the dive(s).

What you have to do then is make sure you've got your first stage inlet capped, which is something you should do instinctively as soon as you take it off the valve. (There's was also a debate -- go figure! -- on whether you should use a short blast of air from your valve to dry the cap off first, or a towel, or what...)

Any decent inlet cap should be watertight enough to allow you to swish the first stage in the rinse tank that will be available. You'll typically then hang the regulator from the first stage, with the second stages in the rinse water to soak them. Make sure you don't depress the purge buttons when you're doing all this, because that can let water up the hose into the first stage too!

--Marek

 

[Rastaman]

I would second what Marek K wrote. All my dive gear for a dive is transported in a Rubber Maid laundry basket with a bungee tied across the top. The basket allows air to pass through the wet gear and help dry the items. I also use soft bags from Akona for mask, computer and other gauges when traveling in the basket. At the end of a boat dive all my gear less BC and suit is put in a mesh bag and then dunked in a cleaning tank of fresh water. BC and suit is washed and I let everything drain for a few minutes. Everything is then re packed in the basket and home we go. At home everything is hung up to dry as many times I will be using it the next day. I can think of only a few things worse than putting on cold wet gear. (We should give The Order of the Great Scuba to Gold Core's or whatever other name is used inventor) I am unable to say it is the right way to keep your gear but it works for me.

 

[Scubakevdm]

Could you assemble the gear before hauling it through the waist deep water to the boat?

 

[Marek K]

What precautions do I need to take during the time I am hauling my gear (sometimes in waist deep water) to the boat and then between the 1st & 2nd dive of the day. Also, after we are done, what should I do while lugging the gear back through the waist deep saltwater back to the shore? I won't have fresh water on the boat & I don't want to damage my new equipment (regulator was specifically the item that seems at risk per the conversation with the instructor). He wanted me to be very careful to keep the first stage dry after I removed from tank. It seems like it will get water on it at some point between dives.

Hi!

I just re-read your question, and I missed something I'm still not clear on...

Scubakevdm alluded to this, but I assume you're assembling your gear (including tank) on the shore before hauling through the water onto the boat, and then disassembling it once you're back on shore? Or not? Maybe the tanks are already on the boat, and you're just carrying your disassembled equipment?

If the latter, what are you carrying your disassembled gear in? Backpack? Some kind of basket?

In either case, I stand by my advice... keep the dust cap on the inlet of your regulator whenever it's not on the tank... the cap comes off just before you attach the first stage to the tank, and the cap instinctively goes back on immediately after taking the first stage off the tank -- after drying the cap.

What your instructor meant -- quite rightly -- was you have to keep the inside of your first stage dry when it's off the tank. With the cap on, any dunking in salt water on the way to and from the boat -- or dunking in the rinse tank -- won't hurt the first stage.

Make sure the cap is in good shape, obviously.

--Marek

 

[CD_in_Chitown]

Pelican makes a mighty fine drybox that holds all of the gear I usually carry for a day of diving.