I don't pee in my wetsuit very often. But, when I do, then whenever I get home from that excursion, I rinse my suit, booties and all my hoods with Mirazyme. My main wetsuit is 2 1/2 years old now and still looks good, with no smell. Ditto for my booties.
For my hard gear, I bought a 50 gallon Rubbermaid tub for the garage. It's big enough to completely submerge my double 120s in. When I get home from a saltwater dive, I fill that tub and let my tanks and all my other gear soak over night.
It SEEMS like (to me) that salt water can dry and leave salt crystals very quickly. Once the crystals form, it SEEMS like it's a lot harder to get rid of them by simply soaking than by just rinsing the salt water off before it dries. So, I try to give my stuff at least a quick dunk in a rinse tank as soon as the boat gets into dock.
I read a book on dive accidents and it seems like one of the fatalities was a CCR diver who simply didn't rinse his unit properly between the last dive one day and the first dive the next day. His death was a result of salt crystals that formed in some orifice somewhere that resulted in his unit not operating properly. Of course, there was a lot more to it than JUST that. He screwed up in a bunch of ways. But, it all started with simply not rinsing his unit right after he was done diving.
It's not that likely for salt crystals to produce a potentially fatal condition in OC gear, like it could be with a CCR, I guess. Nevertheless, it just seems like a good idea to give regs and BCD (inflator and exhausts) a quick dunk in fresh water before they dry with salt water on them.
Semi-related: I have heard from a couple of different sources that Kevlar (e.g. knee patches on a drysuit) tends to have a relatively short (RELATIVELY) lifespan when used in salt water. Again, the explanation is that when the salt water dries, it leaves tiny salt crystals in the woven fibers of the Kevlar. Those crystals gradually cut the Kevlar fibers over time. Kevlar is strong, but it is not especially abrasion resistant.
For my hard gear, I bought a 50 gallon Rubbermaid tub for the garage. It's big enough to completely submerge my double 120s in. When I get home from a saltwater dive, I fill that tub and let my tanks and all my other gear soak over night.
It SEEMS like (to me) that salt water can dry and leave salt crystals very quickly. Once the crystals form, it SEEMS like it's a lot harder to get rid of them by simply soaking than by just rinsing the salt water off before it dries. So, I try to give my stuff at least a quick dunk in a rinse tank as soon as the boat gets into dock.
I read a book on dive accidents and it seems like one of the fatalities was a CCR diver who simply didn't rinse his unit properly between the last dive one day and the first dive the next day. His death was a result of salt crystals that formed in some orifice somewhere that resulted in his unit not operating properly. Of course, there was a lot more to it than JUST that. He screwed up in a bunch of ways. But, it all started with simply not rinsing his unit right after he was done diving.
It's not that likely for salt crystals to produce a potentially fatal condition in OC gear, like it could be with a CCR, I guess. Nevertheless, it just seems like a good idea to give regs and BCD (inflator and exhausts) a quick dunk in fresh water before they dry with salt water on them.
Semi-related: I have heard from a couple of different sources that Kevlar (e.g. knee patches on a drysuit) tends to have a relatively short (RELATIVELY) lifespan when used in salt water. Again, the explanation is that when the salt water dries, it leaves tiny salt crystals in the woven fibers of the Kevlar. Those crystals gradually cut the Kevlar fibers over time. Kevlar is strong, but it is not especially abrasion resistant.
