Taking dive gear backpacking

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miikey87

Registered
Messages
53
Reaction score
9
Location
Melbourne, Australia
# of dives
200 - 499
Hi all,

We are embarking on a trip through SEA and beyond and are comparing backpacks to take our possessions in. Usually on shorter trips to the tropics we take all of our gear including steel plates, regs, torches etc and head out, but they are usually a week or two long not a year.

We could buy aluminium plates, travel fins, and STA-less wings to keep the weight and length down but would likely outweigh the cost benefit of brining our familiar gear than renting when we dive. We love our diving and will be wanting to fit quite a few dives in during our journey.

Has anyone backpacked with their gear before? Wish you had left some gear at home? Any recommendations?
 
I lug my gear around in SEA. No matter how light i go, its always a duffle bag to haul the gear around.

Plus you often pay extra to check luggage on local flights.

I have a duffle bag with shoulder strap that weight 15kg and my travel stuff is in a 30L backpack. Its a hassle, but i do carry 2 cameras, strobes etc. Depending on the length and the activity you will do I would suggest you consider renting gear.

Cheers,

JC
 
I've done this twice in the last two years, most recently in April. My main backpack was about 18 kg, dive gear 16 kg, and land camera bag added another 6 kg. The dive gear was in a roller, which was the better choice, I think, than trying to haul 30 kg of gear on your back and with hands.

Considerations...

Thailand diving prices include equipment rental. Indonesia adds about $20-30 USD/day.

Having your own gear is nice, but lugging it is definitely a hassle when infrastructure isn't so great. Thankfully taxis are relatively inexpensive, compared to the West.

If you're moving a lot, then it's definitely a hassle.

You don't need every piece of your own equipment. Just bring what's more personal, like mask, dive computer, and wetsuit... maybe fins.

Personally, I would rent if the majority of my trip wasn't diving related and I had no way to store my gear temporarily somewhere. Some hostels/hotels will let you leave luggage if you have a later booking with them. For example, if you were to fly in/out of Bangkok and were only diving in Thailand, then leave the gear in Bangkok, travel elsewhere, then return to Bangkok.

You'll need to add one day for drying gear and to make arrangements to either dry at the shop or in your room. On that day, you can always dive on rental gear.
 
I rented everything beyond mask/fins for many years. Nowadays I'd add a computer. Renting equipment is a good alternative if you are able to adapt quickly to varied equipment. If you are fussy you might find it frustrating. If you have room you might take along a shortie wetsuit to avoid that universal question: "Who pee'd in this last?".
I now travel with the works. This developed after getting three rental regulators in a row of dubious quality. I can fit all my gear along with 3-4 tee shirts and pairs of shorts plus misc for a couple of weeks on a diving only trip. About 35lbs in a carry on backpack plus personal item. If you are headed around the world at most bring a mask you can live with.
 
I don't travel much but I would personally always take at least my own computer, mask and regulator. maybe the wetsuit if it would fit to the bags. personally I compare a rental regulator to a rental toothbrush everyone uses, to me it is much more disturbing than having a wetsuit with unknown history and a little pee smell o_O
 
The only purchase you need is Al plate and may be a small wing without the need of STA.
Bring the rest of your gear but not the thick wet suit. A hood and vest would do if your are not prone to cold. Wash the rental suit if you are not too impressed with it.
Unless you are going to the mountains or somewhere cool, pack easy on clothing. Cheap clothing is readily available locally.

Alternatively, just bring your booties, computer, hood, mask, signalling device/smb, thermal vest and torch. This is what I would do.
 
We travel with all our gear. The last trip was 6 weeks but we were not backpacking. That adds another dimension.

We basically have a travel setup with Ali plates, plastic cam bands, STA-less wings, Hollis F2 fins. We take our regs, computer, and can lights in a regulator bag that slips into a small backpack. Lots of weight there. I switched out our hoses to miflex to save weight, but have switched the long-hose back to rubber as we found the miflex floated out of position constantly.

Analyzers, SMB's, backup lights, wetnotes etc store nicely in the fin foot-pocket.

The dive gear for both of us takes up a mid-sized hard-case roller. When i've solo travelled I've managed to fit all dive gear + clothes etc in one mid-size roller.

Normally for warm water we've taken tech-shorts and shark-skins. Last trip we took 5mm suits and I have to say that adds a lot of bulk.
 
Thanks all for your replies, great to see how you all travel with most of your own gear. I’m not sure how we will travel with packs and dedicated secondary bags for a year but it is still a consideration!
 
We travel with all our gear. The last trip was 6 weeks but we were not backpacking. That adds another dimension.

We basically have a travel setup with Ali plates, plastic cam bands, STA-less wings, Hollis F2 fins. We take our regs, computer, and can lights in a regulator bag that slips into a small backpack. Lots of weight there. I switched out our hoses to miflex to save weight, but have switched the long-hose back to rubber as we found the miflex floated out of position constantly.

Analyzers, SMB's, backup lights, wetnotes etc store nicely in the fin foot-pocket.

The dive gear for both of us takes up a mid-sized hard-case roller. When i've solo travelled I've managed to fit all dive gear + clothes etc in one mid-size roller.

Normally for warm water we've taken tech-shorts and shark-skins. Last trip we took 5mm suits and I have to say that adds a lot of bulk.

OzGriffo, your setup sounds much like the way I like my gear. Are you happy with the F2’s? I’ve been considering moving to a smaller fin for travel like the F2’s or RK3, in fact most will be smaller and lighter than my F1s! Which wings are you using without a STA, I’ve seen the tecline wings support this but little else out there around!
 
When I did some extended backpacking/diving, I took only mask and computer and rented everything else. I had to balance my load between what I needed for diving and what I needed for everything else--camping, hiking, city wear, etc. I suppose it depends what percentage of the trip is devoted to diving. For me, diving was not the majority.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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