Budget-minded gear

[jwalko]

Hate to break it to you, but I and many others have already done the rope and pool noodle thing. Several pictures have been posted on SB over the last few years. Put some stainless fender washers between the knots and the noodles to keep the knots from pulling through.

Yeah, I know...I actually got the idea because I saw someone was selling these. They looked really easy to make.

Thanks for the idea for the washers...I was going to use knots...the washers are a better idea.

John

 

[ZzzKing]

I also use baby shampoo for mask defog.

And you call yourself cheap...:shakehead

Spit is free!

 

[talonraid]

-I buy brass snaps and and connectors at sporting goods stores to save a bundle over the LDS prices.
-I use baby shampoo for my wife's mask defogger and the even cheaper spit for mine.
-I Bought a marine whistle from Academy for about $1 that works and looks just like the $7 safety whistle sold in the LDS.
-Buy huge quantities of enzymatic cleaners for wetsuits from the pet store or grocery store at a fraction of the cost of the little bottles at the LDS.

 

[MichiganDiver]

Nice thread. Some good ideas here.

I'm just getting started, and I don't get enough opportunities to dive (does anyone?), so I spend my spare time thinking about diving. I made a couple of wrist slates by cutting a piece of 3" PVC pipe in half lengthwise and attaching bungies. A small piece of clear plastic tubing (Tygon tubing) holds the pencil. The surface is roughened with sandpaper. Easily erased with a little sand.

I made a couple of tank bangers from some more bungie cord and a short piece of 1" stainless steel bar stock, drilled through. (Bungie is available by the foot at the hardware store in various diameters.)

Big ol' duffle bag for a gear bag. Trying to finish my video camera enclosure now, too.

-Buy huge quantities of enzymatic cleaners for wetsuits from the pet store or grocery store at a fraction of the cost of the little bottles at the LDS.

Tell me more about this one.

 

[The Kraken]

And you call yourself cheap...:shakehead

Spit is free!

Yeah, it is !!!

But that J&J Baby Shampoo, known as "Kraken's Spit" down here, has a whoooooole lot of uses:

1: Mask de-fog
2: Lube inside of seals for dry suit donning
3: Rinse out B/C bladder
4: Clean wet suits after dive
5: Put on ankles and wrists to don wet suit
6: Wash hair, if ya have any

the K

 

[ZzzKing]

-I use baby shampoo for my wife's mask defogger and the even cheaper spit for mine.

We're in total agreement there. My wife and gets the good stuff. I can make do.

 

[TSandM]

My favorite is my "rock boot substitute" -- the Chuck Taylor high-tops I wear so the same boots will work with my dry suit and when diving wet. Boy, do they get comments!

My buddy, dsteding, has the most wonderful save-a-dive kit, which is a fishing gear box he bought at GI Joe's. It's got a deep compartment at the top and lots of drawers with little compartments, just right for o-rings and boltsnaps and zipties and all the other little things divers end up needing. And I can't remember what he paid for it, but it was somewhere around $20. I have a simpler version of the same thing, bought at Home Depot for $9.99.

 

[MichiganDiver]

My 'dive' gloves are 3mm fishing gloves from WalMart. $6.00. Watch out for the ones that don't have glued seams, though.

I went to WalMart looking for these gloves, but didn't find them. Could you describe them more fully?

-Buy huge quantities of enzymatic cleaners for wetsuits from the pet store or grocery store at a fraction of the cost of the little bottles at the LDS.

What is this product sold for at the pet store?

For something like $2.99 I picked up some round (pan cake) heavy twill bags made for holding a 50 foot compressed air hose. They make nice regulator bags.

I imagine that jumper cable bags (also round) would work well for this purpose, too.

 

[Plug]

I bought a "net" trailer cover made of bungie for $3, got about 40ft!

 

[talonraid]

What is this product sold for at the pet store?
.

I think it's used to clean pet stains out of carpets and things of that nature. But to be honest, I'm not positive.