City Water and Funky Gear

[spectrum]

I'm on private well water hence no chlorine is is my gear cleaning water supply. On occasion if we encounter the right bio-load in a dive site the neoprene, especially the boots can develop a miserable funky stink. We the break out the sink the stink for a marinade and all is well in the world.

Do those of you on city water with some level of chlorine find that it helps with this?

Obviously hardly anyone is in a situation to do a controlled study of this but are there any observations?

Pete

 

[rhwestfall]

Pete:

My experience has been that it is more about getting the stuff dry ASAP. The only time I rinse my gear is if it got muddy, scummed up from surface crud, etc (I won't comment on the urine issue). A "normal" dive here in fresh water is followed by hanging it to dry, turning what I can inside-out, and pretty much baking it in the sun. Booties, by their nature seem to just be that one thing that will get somewhat "nasty". Aside from S-T-S, I don't know of a universal solution (pun intended). The best I do is get them on a hanger that allows them to drain.

I'm curuious to see what others have to say.

 

[tstocum]

Like rhwestfall said, it's a matter of getting the gear dried out as fast as possible. My boots used to get pretty nasty by the end of summer, even with a rinse after every dive. This year I started using a Field & Stream Boot Dryer after every dive and I have to say, it's worked wonders. My boots are dry within a few hours with no nasty smell.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I am a big sink the stink fan and use it for a good soak after every salt water dive trip. I use is after the summer season of local diving, because even though there are fewer dead creatures in the neoprene after a fresh water dive than a salt water dive, there is still residual algae, maybe a stray ecoli bactrium, and so on. A 24 hour soak followed by drying in indirect sunlight out side has keep gear usable for hundreds of dives and many years, though it all wears down sooner or later.
DivemasterDennis

 

[fire_diver]

I soak in my clorinated city water in the hopes it might kill off some of the bacteria, but I agree with others that getting it outside in the air to dry is the best cure.

 

[CT-Rich]

I have seen a couple of posts about chlorine in water this week. Chlorine is a gas that has a very short life once it comes out of a tap. If you want to get out of your drinking water it will disappear with in 24 hours if you put it in a container in the fridge. I doubt a tapwater rinse will kill anything worthy of killing. It might be able to kill marine critters, but the drive home out of water is probably more effective. Don't store gear where it is humid. I keep mine in an open barrel in the garage during the season, with the Wetsuit and BCD on hangers. Direct sunlight will kill critters, but it will also be tough on materials, especially neoprene. I usually let the stuff air dry/drain for a couple of hours and then leave it in the garage where they can breath. If you are diving every day you are faced with more funk issues than someone like me who is happy with a couple of times a week. Fresh air is the cheapest solution for most people.

You might also remember to remove treasures from your BCD pockets... My daughters used to love collecting shells and stuff....

 

[TSandM]

Well, although I have no data, I am dubious about the ability of chlorine to kill marine organisms. We have a swimming pool, and use it for some scuba activities. It's lightly chlorinated. We have had the worst problems ever keeping the pool clear, since we started diving in it, and my theory is that some of the algae we bring home are highly tolerant.

We are also on a well, and I don't have any stink problems with neoprene items if they get rinsed and dried promptly.