A Noisy Way To End A Dive. Is There A Better Way? Let’s Find Out.

[coldwaterglutton]

I've been thinking of coming up with some kind of device you could carry that could absorb moisture when it comes in contact with a surface. Such a device could have many uses and with further research and development might even useful to remove small amounts of dirt off of surfaces it comes in contact with.

A towel, [the Guide] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you — daft as a brush, but very very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost." What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in "Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is." (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)

 

[kmarks]

You could call it a...."dry rag."

I don't know. "Dry rag" sounds kind of ambiguous. It could mean that it remains dry, like a dry bag, or a dry box. Or it could be mean it isn't a rag at all and sublimes at ambient pressure, like dry ice. Do I have to keep it dry? Is it no longer a dry rag when it is wet? This thing is going to get wetter as it dries.

I think I'll market a competitor called the Unwetter. It will be sold in red or blue. I'll also market the Better Unwetter, which will be green and made of sustainable bamboo fibers. Next year, I'll introduce the Tactical Unwetter. It will be black. Finally, I'll collapse my company by making a stupid marketing mistake while trying to double my market: the all pink Lady Unwetter. Wait, no, it's not what it sounds like! No, it's not sexist! Yes it is safe for work! You're not safe for work! No! Stop! Please buy my product!

 

[ATJ]

Hmmmm. . . dive with DIN regulators ??

Actually, you still need to purge after removing the first stage to get rid of the water in the thread of the valve. You can actually do it just a small amount while unscrewing the first stage - it doesn't have to be loud.

 

[davehicks]

Where is Towelie when you need him?

 

[drl]

And how likely is towelie to be dry on a boat, where nothing stays dry for long?

 

[lionfish-eater]

Towelie is rarely dry.
His stash is virtually unlimited.
Yanno... he's from Colorado.

 

[JohnN]

Actually, you still need to purge after removing the first stage to get rid of the water in the thread of the valve. You can actually do it just a small amount while unscrewing the first stage - it doesn't have to be loud.

That would only make sense only if you’re putting the DIN plug back into the valve. A bad idea IMHO since the absence of the plug is an easy way to tell fresh from used tanks.

 

[ATJ]

That would only make sense only if you’re putting the DIN plug back into the valve. A bad idea IMHO since the absence of the plug is an easy way to tell fresh from used tanks.

I own my own tanks and I fill them myself. I know what is fresh and what is used.

But even if you leave the plug out, any water could easily trickle down the thread farther into the valve to be blown in when the tank is next filled. I'd rather remove it as soon as possible.

Edit: A dive buddy of mine who also has his own compressor and dives DIN, asked me to fill some of his tanks while his compressor was being serviced. He doesn't use plugs at all and you should have seen all the crap inside the valve that I had to clean out before I filled.

 

[Mike1967]

You could call it a...."dry rag."

Lol I was thinking the same thing.

 

[NothingClever]

I put plugs in my DIN valves and caps on my DIN regs as soon as they come apart.

The DIN plugs have a small pressure relief port. I crack the valve open just slightly and any moisture is easily and quietly blown out.