Cleaning oily residue from gear

[icechip]

I have been diving in our local working harbor just off the city docks, doing retrieval of objects and mooring checks, etc. Am finding that my wetsuit (and the other gear) gets not only dirty, but also oily. To clean up, I soak it all in a large tub of freshwater with dishwashing liquid before hosing it off and letting dry. Anybody have other techniques or tips for this?

 

[Rich Keller]

Your cleaning technique sounds good but I would be more concerned about the stuff getting on your skin. You are not just coming in contact with what has been dumped in the harbor but everything that may have been dumped in the water up stream from the harbor for the last few centuries. You should do a little research into what kind of industries have been in this area in the past as well as upstream to see what might be in the sediment you are coming in contact with. You might want to consider a drysuit for this type of work, one made to be used around hazardous materials.

 

[spectrum]

Dawn seems to be the magic formula for dealing with this. They get a lot of press cleaning up birds after oil spills. As I recall from some stories the formula is uniquely suited compared to other dishwashing detergents.

I agree with the bigger concerns about personal exposure.

Pete

 

[icechip]

Dawn does works great for the clean up. On checking out the local history, I found that there has been nothing up stream for any real industry other than ice harvesting, sawmills and some boat building back in the 1800s.

 

[Rich Keller]

You could also try wearing overalls to prevent some of this stuff getting on your suit in the first place.

 

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

If it's just oil, it's probably no worse for you than getting a bit greasy working on your car. Sounds like there might be some unknowns on what else you're swimming in though.

Edit, just checked and old dirty oil is actually carcinogenic amongst other things. I should probably stop handling quite so much of it myself.