My wife and I are doing our first liveaboard with Blackbeard's at the end of August. We're super excited for it and have read/watched a lot regarding the trips and what to bring and not to bring. One thing I was curious on is gear maintenance. I've always been pretty diligent with our gear especially when diving in salt water but it seems like all gear maintenance will just have to be dismissed for a week while on the liveaboard. Is that ok or should I take any precautions during the trip to help maintain our stuff? Either way, I figure everything will need a thorough flush once we get home.
Blackbeard liveaboard gear care
- Thread starter jfw432
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Yeah, you just have to accept that your gear will go without a rinsing for the week. It's not a big deal, as you'll be diving so much it will stay mostly wet anyway. Then, as you say, just give it all a good soaking and rinse when you're back home.
Enjoy Blackbeard's! It's a blast.
Enjoy Blackbeard's! It's a blast.
GreggS
Contributor
That's about it. You will place your gear on a tank with your name on it before ever leaving the dock. It will stay that way for the week until all dives are completed. They do have a couple of rinse buckets for cameras and some small gear but fresh water is very limited on the boat. Even in the shower, you wash and rinse with cold salt water and then are allowed 30 seconds of fresh hot water to complete the rinse. Unfortunately, it doesn't get hot until after 15-20 seconds. So with fresh water so precious, rinsing your gear is not an option.
But you should have fun. As Blackbeard's is commonly referred to--it's camping at sea.
But you should have fun. As Blackbeard's is commonly referred to--it's camping at sea.
San Diego Climber
Contributor
The AC condensate hose is the way... for gear and yourself if you don't want to deal with the tiny below-deck showers. There's real showers back at the marina at the end of the trip to get yourself back into shape. But as others mentioned, if you're doing most of the dives it isn't going to really matter much, especially since all the gear lives outside exposed to salt spray anyway. I don't think I've ever rinsed gear mid-trip on any of the liveaboards I've done, or noticed others doing so.
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