Renting dive gear

[Palaupete]

In my 25 years of diving I have always carried my personal dive gear on trips regardless of the destination. Now, with the airlines ripping off dive travelers with extra luggage charges, for the first time we are going to use the resort's rental gear ( I happen to be going to Wakatobi in November). I calculated that it would cost us an Xtra 400-500 dollars in excess luggage charges to take our own. We are just taking our mask,fins & snorkel and relying on them for the rest. What are other dive travelers doing about this problem? Why is the flying public putting up with this ripoff? You book a ticket online for $500.00 and by the time you pay for taxes,fuel surcharge, and extra luggage charges the ticket escalates to $800.00. Has anyone had a bad experience with rental gear - do you think it depends on the resort as to the quality,etc. Has anyone used the rental gear at Wakatobi by chance?
Thanks

 

[SlowRain]

Hmmm 400 to 500? Really? I went to the Turk/Caicos this summer and took the dive gear I needed (including a stainless steel backplate)...which was basically everything except weights and tanks...and it didn't cost me a nickel. You just have to pack wisely and keep your bags under 50 pounds each. I did carry on my regulator/guages/computer and checked the rest.

To answer your question rental gear condition is as you identified it. It really depends on the place renting the gear and how good their maintenance program is. I have seen gear that was like new and flawless, and I have seen gear that frankly scared me to death...and everything in between.

Perhaps a compromise? Carry on your own regulators/gauges/computer? Rent the BC's, cylinders, etc.

 

[John512]

Last time I looked it was ~$50 for the first bag if i was under 50 lbs. With 1 checked bag and 1 carry on you can probably get most of your gear - I don't know if you were serious but $300 sounds pretty high unless you are carrying a lot of stuff.

As far as why do people put up with it? That is simple economics, supply and demand. The airlines are all starting to charge so what other options do you have? There is a reason people are flying less and airlines are canceling flights or changing routes all the time - lower demand.

I would probably also at least bring my regs, gauges, and computer along since they are pretty small but depending on what they rent can make a big differnce.

 

[DandyDon]

Who are you flying? Continental allows 2 - 50# bag per person free. Even I could do that if I had to. And my roll-on would certainly have my reg, masks, computer, with cameras in backpack.

 

[ligersandtions]

I'm not sure what airline you fly, but the ones I fly allow one checked bag less than 50 pounds for free (for the record, I would avoid flying any airline that charged for your first checked bag if at all possible....which may not be since you've presumably already bought your tickets).

My hubby and I flew a couple weekends ago and brought BC's, 7mm wetsuits, fins, snorkels, masks, and soft weights in the checked bags....and kept the expensive stuff, like regs and computers in our carry ons. Whatever extra weight we had over 50 pounds, we'd transfer the soft weights to the carry ons. In hind sight, we wouldn't have traveled with the soft weights and would have just rented hard weights at our destination. But between all our gear, two checked bags, and two carry ons, we had more than enough room and were well within our weight limits.

Pack smart, see if you can get all the gear you need into the bags without going over a weight limit....and if you find that you cannot, bring your reg because you don't want to risk it with rental regs (imo).

 

[Doc]

Has anyone had a bad experience with rental gear - do you think it depends on the resort as to the quality,etc. Has anyone used the rental gear at Wakatobi by chance?
Thanks

Go to your LDS and ask for a mini-course on how to evaluate rental BC's and Regs. It is irrelevant as to the experience that someone had last week.

Rental gear can be just fine- just as long as you understand what you are seeing.

As to catastrophic failures- the same training would apply whether its your trusted gear (unlikely to fail) or iffy rental gear (possibly a different failure rate). You must still know positively what to do and when if you have a failure.

The most simple failure is a disconnection of the LP Inflator hose from the BC. As common as this is, the majority of divers an not diagnose this condition nor react to it in any other way than ascending and aborting.

Go learn what to look for on a BC- the straps, the valves the failure points. Learn what to worry about, learn what is a cosmetic issue. Learn enough about regs, hoses and mouthpieces to know if you're good to go.

Unfortunately, when traveling long distances to exotic destinations (Wakatobi is on the list) , you have entered into a different league of dive traveler. What works in one instance, no longer will work in your world. Such as checking weights. Or bringing them. You will find that among this long distance group, the likelihood of checking everything is high. (talking about the 3 far flung trips a year + diver) Most experienced boondocks travelers prefer to carry nothing except for a prescription mask, and these days... as much bottled water as you can!

Renting isn't bad, but you have to get past the US ingrained mentality of "I must carry my own life support equipment". Some one else's will work fine... if it's working fine. Easy to tell.

 

[trigfunctions]

If you like your regs, I would take them instead of renting them. You could carry them on for free. Rental BCs should be fine, but may not fit as perfectly as your own gear.

 

[DandyDon]

If you're flying Korean air for $1400 Rt, they allow 2 - 50# bag each free, and even if you needed to pack one 70# bag - at $1400, I think an extra $100 is a small thing.

50# bag, 70# bag, 40# roll-on, 20# backpack: I can do that and still take a 12 cup coffee maker as well as my 19 cf pony. But I dress pretty casually, even tho I do wear a fresh T-shirt every day.

 

[dewayne405]

My wife and I just got back from a little quick trip to Florida, we wore our BCs on the plane, with our soft ditchable weights, and carried our computers, camera, and regs in our carryon. May look a bit odd, but just make sure you take off the knife and you can wear your BC just like anyone else wearing a vest or coat. And it stores right into the overhead with everything else.

Our Carry-ons contain a couple swim suits, Wetsuit, and the breakables of our gear. That way if the airline loses our luggage, we can still dive.

We have gone to this after a bad experience with rental regs and BCs.

 

[battles2a5]

I usually cart my gear. Never had a problem w/ weight limits even w/ a SS BP and cave gear. Just bring what you need, leave the rest at home. For weekend single-tank trips I'll just rent. Not worth the hassle of packing and checking bags. At this point, it's sort of a novelty to wear a pup jacket and full foot fins