How do you rinse your scuba gear

[Bogie]

I am very meticulous about how I rinse my gear and I rinse thoroughly with a hose then soak for a short while then rinse with a hose again.

I'm curious on how others care for their gear.

I have a Halcyon Infinity BP/W. How do you properly rinse your BP/W? Do you take off the wing? Do you put water in your wing to rinse it? Once or more times? Do you drain through the inflator hose or dump release?

How do you rinse your regulator and cameras? Do you soak them? How long, warm or cold water? How about rinsing your drysuit? Do you rinse your tanks?

Just want to find out the best ways to care for all my gear?

 

[TMHeimer]

I rinse everything (weights, tanks included) with hose. I empty BCD of salt water & wrinse inside with fresh water & baby shampoo. I rinse every nook & cranny of outside of BCD. Stll using the same used stuff after 5 years.

 

[Zieg]

Rinse? Rinse? What are you talking about? Oh yeah, I try to give my gear a salt water rinse as often as I can.

 

[Selchie in LB]

I got two big plastic buckets, probably half as tall as the outdoor bins. I got the McNet kit with all kinds of wash stuff, 1 for neoprene, 1 for BCD, 1 sink the stink great for boots, and other stuff in the kit. Anyway, I put the Reg and BCD in bucket and use the BCD wash. I put the neoprene items in the other with neoprene wash. Fill em both up and let things soak awhile. The BCD wash recommends putting the wash into the BCD through the inflator hose. Tricky at best. Now I just remove one of the dumps and pour some and fill with water and let it soak. picking up the BCD and swishing the water around. Adding some air helps. Then I hold the BCD upside down and let the water drain from the inflator hose to rinse it out. finally rinse everything. Every couple of washes I use the sink the stink on all of the neoprene. You can even use it on your BCD if it gets stinky. I usually put a couple drops in each boot after every dive and let them soak separate.

What ever you do rinse rinse rinse! & the hangers make it sooo much easier to keep things from failing of hooks or standard clothes hangers!

 

[Scuba One]

A mistake many divers make while on vacation is to rinse their gear daily in the rinse tank at the dock and then hang it to dry. Those rinse tanks are not salt free plus the dust cap on the regulators are not necessarily water proof, so water can potentially enter the regulator.

Generally salt water causes damage when it is drying, not wet, so even if you rinse it in fresh water, if you are on a trip diving daily in salt water, you are better off NOT hanging your gear to dry, but keep it wet the whole time you are gone.

A well known camera buff has recommended keeping your camera soaking in water during an entire trip, only to take it out of the water to change batteries and memory cards. Keeping it in salt water, if fresh water is not available, is better than no water, just so long as the gear does not dry.

 

[themagni]

I keep all my gear in a couple of rubbermaid-style buckets. I take out the dry gloves then rinse off everything else with tap water. I let the regs soak for 30 minutes or so while I rinse off the suit and the rest of the gear. I fill the buckets with the overspray and use a garden hose with a jet attachment to get all the nooks and crannies on the suit. The tanks and weights just get a quick rinse.

For the wing, I soak that, then take off the twist valve and fill it partway with water (a couple of litres) I then run water down the hose with the deflate button on. Then I orally inflate the bladder, swish the water around, and then empty it. Repeat until empty, then store it inflated.

The drysuit I hang up with the zipper open and the boots touching the ground. (Manufacturer recommended)

I dry all the stuff with the towel I took to the dive and put it away. It takes about 45 minutes.

 

[TMHeimer]

Scuba One, Thanks for the tip. I was never high on rinse tanks anyway. I'll be going on my first "dive" vacation soon in Panama and will insure that I wash stuff either with a hose or in the motel bathtub. It wouldn't dry out anyway in 12 hours indoors. I guess if you use a tank/rubbermaid bucket and it's only your gear that is OK. I do use those to keep the car dry.

 

[fsa]

I rinse with fresh water when I finish each day on boat, dock or in shower. Then soak with white vinegar after I return from salt water trips to remove any encrusted salt.

 

[Jax]

One thing I learned the hard way is to not soak your gear more than a few hours. I hosed down everything when I got home from salt water diving, and then stuck it in a trash can to soak. By the middle of the next day, there was a fine coating of slime. I was scrubbing and soaking with disinfectant for a few hours. hbrother:

 

[WonderlustOji]

First rinse tank, then hose the outside of the BC and reg thoroughly. I rinse the inside of the BC via inflator hose every other day. Hang it to dry.

Nothing too crazy, but I've had my gear for about 4 years now. I've had to seal 1 hole in the BC though...