Stainless steel parts not good for liveaboards

[Dogbowl]

I just got back from my very first liveaboard on the Belize Aggressor IV and learned many lessons, and here is just one of them. As those of you who have been on liveaboards know very well, everyone attaches their bcd’s to their tanks as soon as they board and leave them there until after their last dive. Being the newbies onboard, we did what everyone else did and didn’t question it. Fast forward to the very last day, when we removed our bcd’s from our tanks and the cam band rings (not the buckles themselves) were rusted. So what’s the deal with that? Should we have rinsed the bcd’s after every day of diving? Should we not have bought bcds with stainless steel hardware on them?

Our week was fraught with rainy/overcast weather most of the week so not sure if that had anything to do with it.

Needless to say, I’m frustrated. It was a new bcd.

Now I’m concerned about the fittings on my hoses and all other metal parts.

Please tell this newbie what she did wrong.

 

[KevinNM]

I’d bet that you found which part of the rig is really stainless and which isn’t.

Good quality stainless steel should not rust like that. If you have a strong magnet handy, check if the “stainless” parts are magnetic. I’ll guess that the rusty ones are magnetic and the non-rusty ones are not magnetic.

 

[tomfcrist]

Unless it’s 301 stainless...which is absolutely magnetic.

 

[Scared Silly]

As said above many of the metal parts are probably not stainless steel but chrome plated steel and thus will rust.

As for what you did wrong nothing per say just bought a BCD with lower quality than others.

 

[tomfcrist]

On another note, yes...you should probably rinse your gear at least daily on a trip like that. Salt doesn’t care what the water making ability of the dive boat is. Rinse your stuff.

 

[Wookie]

I have cam bands that lived on the back deck of a liveaboard for 15 years and got rinsed once a year, when we went on vacation. My rings never rusted, and still haven't.

 

[Zef]

Stainless steel or not one should rinse their gear in fresh water at the end of each day of diving unless it is not possible to do so such as a liveaboard where conservation of potable water is necessary and the captain/crew do not permit the rinsing of gear. If conservation was not a factor then proper care of your equipment dictates that it is broken down and rinsed at a minimum of the end of each day of diving. Going multiple days without rinsing your gear is just asking for trouble.

-Z

 

[Lorenzoid]

I'm sure we'll hear back from Dogbowl shortly on this, but from what I have seen in her posts, she doesn't buy shoddy/cheap gear. Still, it is common practice to leave BCDs attached to tanks for a week--and for that matter, for all manner of stainless steel marine/scuba hardware not to get rinsed for a week or much more--and it does NOT rust.

 

[H2ODoc]

Can you post a pic of the rust? I was thinking it could be galvanic corrosion (two dissimilar metals in contact with eachother), but if stainless is in contact with aluminum (your tank), aluminum would rust, not stainless. I'm wondering if the cam band rings are made of two different metals in contact with each other.

It's probably surface rust and doesn't affect the strength of the metal at all.

 

[Wookie]

I'm sure we'll hear back from Dogbowl shortly on this, but from what I have seen in her posts, she doesn't buy shoddy/cheap gear. Still, it is common practice to leave BCDs attached to tanks for a week--and for that matter, for all manner of stainless steel marine/scuba hardware not to get rinsed for a week or much more--and it does NOT rust.

It's actually kind of amazing that as manufacturing of Scuba equipment switches from Europe to the far east, the quality of equipment has taken a downward turn. I've bought a lot of valves, cylinders, and gear in my time in the scuba industry. Safe to say millions of dollars worth. I never saw milling debris left in cylinder valves and regulators until seeing valves starting to come from China. I never saw air compressors that were made on off (knockoffs of Ingersoll Rands) that had to be sent back to the factory to be refurbished. Or shoddy grades of stainless steel.

Another liveaboard that I am acquainted with was doing some interior modifications. The Coast Guard made them rip out all of the aluminum that they had recently put in at considerable expense because of a lack of traceability of the aluminum.