Question What to do with very old gear

[RobinG]

Retiring from diving. What to do with old gear? I've searched the boards and not found answers.

Have it listed for sale locally with no takers. One family member wanted some newer stuff but... what to do wtih 40-year-old BCDs and 20+ year old computers and old wetsuits?

 

[happy-diver]

Maybe you could ignore it until it disappears like old people
or maybe, if you take a few photos and spread them around

 

[RobinG]

Maybe you could ignore it until it disappears like old people

Well, I am an old person and I am not sure why I should be ignored or how that applies to this question.

 

[rongoodman]

Retiring from diving. What to do with old gear? I've searched the boards and not found answers.

Have it listed for sale locally with no takers. One family member wanted some newer stuff but... what to do wtih 40-year-old BCDs and 20+ year old computers and old wetsuits?

Landfill?

 

[lexvil]

The most economical thing to do with most old gear is toss it out but you could list it here in the classified section, you are in FL so there are a lot of local ish people on SB who may be interested in some of it, be aware some of the FL SBers are the very model of “Florida Man”!

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Well, I am an old person and I am not sure why I should be ignored or how that applies to this question.

He didn't mean anything by it, it's just his sense of humor.

Great dude, lots of good info (mostly delivered in a quirky manor!) Maybe it's an Australian thing, lol.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

There are two guys that come through my neighborhood with a big blue truck twice each week snagging up old scuba equipment (soft stuff like BCDs, suits, fins, masks, schnorkels etc.)

Seriously, sent DM - old soft stuff is really really hard to move. Regs/SPGs better (unless they're @buddhasummer and it's a nice G250, and in the Kingdom of Oz), tanks yeah - around here a lot of folks buy a bunch of equipment including tanks and then never get them wet except for once or twice and leave them in the corner of the garage for a decade or two ... Negotiating for price is a whole other thing with a lot of them because they don't realize the cost and effort to get old tanks servicable: "They're like brand new! See? Shiny! Still full of air from their first fill back in 2007!" "No, they're worth about 50 to me, not the $225 that new ones would cost..."

I would suspect that old computers are a dead item. In the 20 years those have aged, most folks would have swapped out their desktops/laptops a few times. Unless they just really digging that Pentium(R) performance. Likely see dive computers in the same light.

 

[RobinG]

Landfill?

Always an option for everything but seldom a great choice.

 

[RobinG]

The most economical thing to do with most old gear is toss it out but you could list it here in the classified section, you are in FL so there are a lot of local ish people on SB who may be interested in some of it, be aware some of the FL SBers are the very model of “Florida Man”!

I've listed it locally and have a couple more places I could list it. Could list a few things here. And the last thing I need is "Florida Man" contenders but, I guess that comes with trying to sell used stuff, eh?

 

[Allen-1]

Retiring from diving. What to do with old gear? I've searched the boards and not found answers.

Have it listed for sale locally with no takers. One family member wanted some newer stuff but... what to do wtih 40-year-old BCDs and 20+ year old computers and old wetsuits?

Unfortunately, they really don't have much value as far as I can tell. As a relatively new diver, I wouldn't buy old used gear from someone I don't know really well because I'd be afraid of failure that could range from inconvenience to life threatening.

My wife bought me a BCD as a Christmas present, based upon the ones that I'd used and conversation with my instructor. My regulator was a gift from my brother; he gave it to me and went to his "travel unit". I trust him, he trusts it, and I've used it for approximately 40 dives.

I have two dive computers, one was given to me by my brother, it was his spare, and I've used it for almost every dive I've been on. The second one was purchased from a member here at ScubaBoard; I've tested it in a pool, taking it with me as my primary for my next trip - but I'll have the original with me as backup.

I suspect that experienced divers mostly have their own gear, and it's newer.

I think the real value of your gear, as you've described it, is in your memories.