Marking Gear

[elbig]

Do you mark your gear? If so, what gear is marked? Do you use a paint stick? Do you just put your initials or do you put contact info?

 

[swimlikethefish]

I mark my gear with an Ultraviolet Paint Marker. Only visible under UV light. I learned the trick after my tree stand grew legs one year while deer hunting. Last initial + last four of Social. (prior military thing I guess).

I have seen people mark their last name and local dive shop they frequent, which is a great idea as most in the dive community would go extra distance to try and return your gear if found. I have never had anything grow legs while diving which is a blessing as most of my gear would cost a tremendous amount to replace.

 

[JohnnyC]

Depends. Initials on things like BP/W's, fins, tanks, e-mail inside camera housings, scooter housings, etc.

 

[Damselfish]

Paint pen, black or silver sharpie, depending what works best on an item. I used to use initials but ar some point asked myself - if I forgot this on the boat/dock/locker/wherever, would they easily know whose it is? So name or name & initial on most everything depending what fits. I generally dive at warm water resorts. For local diving phone/email may be more useful. (For something expensive with space, maybe the more the merrier.)

 

[Fin Finder]

I teased my dad for writing his name on everything. Now that I'm older, I've realized his wisdom, and I do the same. Especially my dive gear.
Dad, if you can hear me up there... I apologize.

At shore diving sites I've found a lot of lost dive gear (mostly fins) with just initials written on them. Useless.
If there had been a phone number or an email address the owners would have gotten them back.

 

[kelemvor]

Depends on the piece of gear. On metal things that don't have a coating, I might use a dremel to engrave my name. Most gear gets either black or silver regular sharpie or a sharpie paint pen (cloth for example). Except for engraving, all the marks have to be occasionally replaced as they wear.

They're not going to stop someone from intentionally stealing your stuff. They will hopefully prevent someone from accidentally pick your gear up from the boat deck and stick it in their bag. I've had that happen to me, and even did it myself once. Clearly marking gear helps reduce "accidents".

I've also now got several manufactured "tags" in various incarnations from yourbagtag.com . These are very nice and won't wear out like anything marked with a marker. However, they don't go on everything. I don't think I'd want to attach a tag to my regulator or fins or dive skin or booties for example. I have one on my bcd and one on my wet bag, and I'm planning to get them for my luggage before my next vacation. All the gear that I've got a fancy "tag" on still gets marked with a marker - just in case the tag comes off. My wife and I have had the BCD tag for at least a year now and so far it hasn't come off at all. They also sell the sharpie paint pens but I think I got mine from walmart or home depot.

 

[Doctorfish]

I mark anything that might get picked up by mistake in the gear room or boat. I don't think that much gear "theft" is intentional, it's just that a lot of stuff looks the same and it's easy to pick up someone else's equipment.

 

[Damselfish]

For wetsuits I replace any zipper pull cords with something unique, like the craziest narrow webbing I can find at the fabric sore or a printed neck strap from a trade show id tag. My hope is it will catch someones attention and prevent them grabbing the wrong suit off the drying rack out of the other 20 similar black ones. (I was inspired to do this after that happened to a friend, who wound up diving in the last-on-the-rack too small skin once when someone took his. The other person must have been delighted they lost weight on vacation.)

 

[billt4sf]

We mark everything.

In addition to what has been posted above, I highly recommend "Mabels labels". They stay on far longer than I would have thought. I have had Mabels labels on the bottom of my fins for probably 100+ dives and still no signs of them coming off.

- Bill

 

[kelemvor]

We mark everything.

In addition to what has been posted above, I highly recommend "Mabels labels". They stay on far longer than I would have thought. I have had Mabels labels on the bottom of my fins for probably 100+ dives and still no signs of them coming off.

Which ones do you use?