Duct-tape divers

[nolatom]

Both of your fins match??

None of your gear has surgical tubing replacing a strap that broke three years ago?



Newbie..

 

[Bob DBF]

When I grew up it was baleing wire, or twine, duct tape was yet to be invented.


Bob

 

[Buliwyf]

I've seen deep sea divers ductape over the seals on their drysuits.

 

[Reku]

I've seen deep sea divers ductape over the seals on their drysuits.

I've duct taped my seals on before when two ripped and I couldn't be bothered to replace then at that moment - the dive must go on!

 

[CuzzA]

I've never used duct tape on dive gear... yet. But I always keep some on hand.

Like this near crisis that was averted at the Gasparila day parade a couple years ago. Without it the outcome would have been catastrophic and ruined the day.

 

[Doc]

Duct Tape is good,
But I'm also a
Cable Tie Guy

 

[Colliam7]

Is this phrase part of wider diving vocabulary or just something he came up with?

I haven't heard that particular phrase applied to diving, but I am not altogether surprised to hear it used. The concept is certainly part of the wider diving lexicon. I have seen duct tape used on scooter housings, drysuit neck and wrist seals, drysuits themselves, wetsuits, fins (and fin straps), BCDs, LP regulator hoses, etc. If there was ever a scuba equivalent of the Red Green Show, I am sure duct tape would take its rightful place in many episodes.

And, although I think the term 'careworn' is a descriptor most aptly applied to people, some of the adjectives that appear in most dictionary definitions of 'careworn' - 'sad', 'tired', etc. - could easily be applied to gear.

I won't say that I am, or have been, a regular duct tape diver but I have used duct tape for several of the applications mentioned above (not the regulator hose, though). A roll of duct tape goes with me in my save-a-dive box. And, I confess, just like the Deets character in Lonesome Dive, er, Dove, as a diver I 'ain't one to give up on a garment just cause it's showing its age”.

 

[agilis]

'Care worn' can only be applied to a sentient being, someone capable of being worn down by emotional burdens. I've never heard the duct tape reference, but I've sometimes been called a 'junk yard diver' because of my tendency to rebuild and use very old equipment, especially regulators, and my reluctance to discard anything that has even the most remote future possibility of being useful or providing a part.

 

[boulderjohn]

Maybe there is a solution other than the duct tape.

Quite a few years ago, before my knee replacement surgery, I was looking for the easiest kicking fins I could find to lessen the pain. I bought a pair of Mares Volos for that reason. They worked OK for a couple of years, but then they broke (both fins) at the hinge point on the blade. (See a picture to understand.) I used duct tape to hold them together, and I dive for a surprisingly long time like that. I was by then working for the dive shop that had sold them to me originally, and they sent them in to Mares, apparently believing an instructor with duct tape on the gear was not good advertising. I had had them for 5 years, but Mares sent me a brand new pair. You never know.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Duct tape is old school, nobody uses that anymore. Besides, there is no good duct tape anymore, all of it is crap made in China that's thin, rips easy, and doesn't stick well.
The new thing now is Gorilla tape!