Dive gods: How well do you clean your gear?

[TMHeimer]

OK, I didn't use the hose to wash everything when I was assisting OW courses at the ocean and staying in the city at my step daughter's apt. But I did wash off my reg with a bottle. Just be PRUDENT.

 

[KeithG]

You are just jealous because you don't have people rinsing your equipment for you while you shower and drink mint tea while they hang your equipment for it to dry.

PLEASE, don't hate me because I am beautiful!!



(I am laughing so hard now, my wife is asking what's going on)

Well I do. But this only happens on a LOB. And I think they do it because I pay them way too much...

 

[Centrals]

You are just jealous because you don't have people rinsing your equipment for you while you shower and drink mint tea while they hang your equipment for it to dry.
PLEASE, don't hate me because I am beautiful!!
(I am laughing so hard now, my wife is asking what's going on)

The washing is tedious and time consuming but I would still rather do it myself than relying on someone else.
As for the mint tea, Moroccan standard in sweetness?

 

[BoltSnap]

As for the mint tea, Moroccan standard in sweetness?

Little less

 

[Saniflush]

I do not rinse between dives over a weekend. When I get back home either Sunday night or Monday after work I douche everything pretty well and hang

My dives are typically day trips, salt water. So me and gear all take a bath or shower afterward at "home".

Plus rinsing the insides of my BC, with Scope added for the last repetition. If everything goes south and I have to take a last breath or two from my BC in order to (maybe) make it to the surface, it is important, whether dead or alive, to have minty breath.

And think how thankful the first responder will be

 

[The Chairman]

FWIW, I do love the way my hair feels after a long spring dive. Man, that makes it soft as silk. I'm sure the fabric of my BC is also more supple after such a soak.

 

[Scubamat]

Newbie diver and I fly to dive salt water. I rinse my gear at the shop I'm diving after a day of diving. I try to get as dry as possible before I fly home water logged wetsuit weigh a bit. When home everything get a soak with a suitable cleaning agent, dried and then packed down ready for the next trip.

 

[Colliam7]

But it got me wondering... How much time do the much more experienced divers here spend cleaning gear? What do you make a priority, and what do you let slide? I'd love to save the time if I'm wasting it.

The amount of time differs just a bit between salt and fresh water. But, in general: at the end after a diving excursion (a day, or a weekend), I soak gear in fresh water for several hours. Basically, I fill a large tub, and put everything in it and leave it (drysuit excepted) - that includes fins, mask, wetsuit, plate, wing, regulator, lift bag, safety sausage, slates, etc., etc. I will also flush my wing with fresh water after a dive, be it is salt water or fresh - the 'fresh' waters I dive in are algae-laden so I figure it won't hurt. For my drysuit, after salt water dives. I actually suit up at home and climb in the shower for a thorough rinse.

One thing that I also do is rise (hose down) my cylinders after salt water dives. I see A LOT of surface corrosion in cylinders brought in for VIPs, and I suspect it results from a failure to think about the cylinder needing a rinse.

Possibly overkill, but that's what I do.

 

[David Wilson]

There's plenty of advice on the Web about cleaning basic gear - masks, fins and snorkels - that would otherwise end up looking like this:

Here's how one Hawaii operator cleanses basic gear:

Further details at
How Do We Clean Our Gear? - The Snorkel Store
How to Clean Snorkeling Equipment

And one last thought. Did you know that Latin, the language of the ancient Romans, has a curious twist in that although "urina" does mean “urine,” the verb "urinare" means “to dive,” and to the ancient Romans a "urinator" was a "diver", particularly one who swam underwater to search for submerged objects?

Look it up at Latin Dictionary Headword Search Results. "Not a lot of people know that" as Michael Caine might have said...

 

[Resqdivemedic]

I rinse everything with a hose after every dive, salt or fresh. I also wash my wetsuit, hood, boots, and gloves after every 4-5 dives with wetsuit shampoo, then a good rinsing. I have opened my plastic tote I carry my gear in and have been nearly rendered unconscious by the smell, usually the boots are the culprit.