How do you wash and store gear when traveling?

[Aloha Joe]

I’m having trouble keeping up since the places I’m staying at don’t have hoses or good places to hang my gear. Any tips/tricks? The wetsuit and BCD (BP/W) are the two most cumbersome it seems.

 

[JohnnyC]

I put them in the shower. Leave them for a couple minutes, turn, flip, etc. For stuff that you can make smaller, get one of those "kitchen sink" packable tubs. A folded up wetsuit will fill inside. If you remove the wing from the backplate and fold it you can do the same.

Sea to Summit Kitchen Sink - 20 liter

Use a spool and double ender to make a clothesline in your hotel/apartment/rustic beach cabana.

 

[diversteve]

Most shops have rinse facilities you can use - even if you're just getting tanks from them - carry a couple plastic bags to protect rental car trunks. I've seen things like this used for wetsuits but I only dive a skin which dries fast.
Hangair Wetsuit Hanger Drying System

Wet gear can put you over the checked bag limit and be costly. We carry a luggage scale for that reason - Balanzza Ergo Hand-Held Digital Luggage Scale USB

My gear only gets a good cleaning once I get home. It doesn't seem to care.

 

[joe10540]

A shower rod is something you can pick up cheap and should hold the weight of a BCD without weight pockets and or your wetsuit and reg to dry. Usually I don’t soak and wash my gear until I get back from a trip, just a good rinse and let dry. When I get home everything gets broken down and soaked in warm water for an hour before being dried and reassembled and packed away for the next trip.

 

[Soloist]

When we first started we obsessed over cleaning all of our gear at the end of every dive day. It was time consuming and a lot of work. Our gear seemed quite expensive at the time, but a fraction of what we have invested now. So as previously stated on this thread we do a VERY thorough cleaning upon returning home, but very little during our trip. When traveling we dive every day, sometimes 4 to 6 times in a day so things can get funky, but for obvious reasons I am not a fan of community dunk tanks. We soak computers, cameras, lights and second stages every other day back at the room and if possible rinse out the wetsuits a couple of times on extended trips.

 

[RayfromTX]

At least once a week we soak our wetsuits for at least an hour in a basin with some sportswear soap and listerine to kill bacteria. We rinse every day. The shower is good for a rinse. The sink is good for lights, cameras, computers and such. One of the often forgotten benefits of a bp/w is that it dries more quickly. Ability to clean and hang our gear is an important consideration as to where we stay.

 

[Alucard]

Back in the days when I stayed in a hotel room while diving, I used to ask for extra towels from the front desk. The dive gear went into the shower to be rinsed well. Anything that could hang on the shower rail did, everything else was set up on the floor on towels. A few puffs of air in the BCD and it would stand up on its own. The a/c in the rooms would usually dry everything while we were out for dinner and overnight.

 

[NatureLVR]

Back in the days when I stayed in a hotel room while diving, I used to ask for extra towels from the front desk. The dive gear went into the shower to be rinsed well. Anything that could hang on the shower rail did, everything else was set up on the floor on towels. A few puffs of air in the BCD and it would stand up on its own. The a/c in the rooms would usually dry everything while we were out for dinner and overnight.

+1

Wash in shower (with detergent). Let dry in hotel room. Repeat daily.

 

[Alucard]

I tended to save the detergent until I was home I had too many badly-rinsed bits of gear with soap or detergent on them which made the start of a dive less than nice...

 

[Scott]

I try to avoid the community rinse tanks for anything if at all possible.
Gear takes a shower while I shower.
If there are no means to hang wetsuits or other garments. As mentioned above a spool makes a handy clothes line.
BC’s and regs can be hung on the back of a chair.