cleaning your gear and drying it

[RAWalker]

Whether it's a lake, pool or saltwater the enemy is allowing the equipment to dry before rinsing. For this reason I use a large plastic container to transport my gear and keep it wet until cleaned. I don't advise letting it stay sealed in the container any longer than necessary otherwise mildew will start to make it stink. If your gear stays wet until it is thoroughly rinsed including inside the BCD then that is all that will be needed. Otherwise soaking is needed to rehydrate the contamination before it will release it's hold on your gear. Chlorine does it's damage over time the longer it is on your gear the more time it has to do it black magic so limiting exposure is the main thing. With salt the crystals do the damage so keeping crystals from forming is the trick and they only form during drying. You need to get the salt off and out during the time the gear is wet. It's simple just dilute with plenty of clean fresh water. Lake water is the least problematic a good rinse to remove any organic matter that was floating in the water and you're good.
You can then speed the drying process with a fan but stay away from excess heat like a hair dryer. Good air flow is the ticket but on a humid day it will still take a while to dry. The bladder should be drained as well as possible and completely inflated. Pick a purge valve and hang the bladder so it is the lowest point tap the sides of the bladder to help the water move to that point and then open the valve to release the water spray. Reinflate and repeat until little or no spray is apparent. Leave the bladder inflated to dry overnite before releasing the pressure for storage. Also UV exposure over time will do damage to almost anything even if it is UV stabilzed so drying in the sun may not be the best course of action.

 

[fnfalman]

Some regulators can be soaked all day and night without being pressurized and will be just fine. Some regulators (Atomic Aquatics brand in particular) will have water work its way into the 1st stage if soaked without being pressurized. But we're talking about leaving your regulator in water for hours though. A fifteen minutes soak is plenty fine.

As far as quick drying the wetsuit, there are wetsuit hangers that have a mini fan with heating element ala hair dryer built in.

 

[Hatul]

Some regulators can be soaked all day and night without being pressurized and will be just fine. Some regulators (Atomic Aquatics brand in particular) will have water work its way into the 1st stage if soaked without being pressurized. But we're talking about leaving your regulator in water for hours though. A fifteen minutes soak is plenty fine.

As far as quick drying the wetsuit, there are wetsuit hangers that have a mini fan with heating element ala hair dryer built in.

Boots are notoriously hard to dry and have a tendency to smell. I solved the problem with a boot dryer from Amazon, which dries boots with no heat after they are drip dried.

Adam

 

[Kaliber35]

The fast and simple way.

Soak everything in fresh water for a few hours BC and regs too. Remove and place eveything like boots, gloves, and weights on your AC intake fan outside. Use your weights to weigh them down. Its normally the end of the day so the sun is going down. Your items will be dry in no time. I let mine sit till I go to bed. They are then bone dry.

Now, your wetsuit. Pull it up and out of the water several times. Do this while opening the neck. As you pull it out of the water the fresh water is flooded threw it. Turn it right side out and do it again. Hang in your shower. Its dry the next day. Add smell good stuff or detergent to the water when needed.

"Douche" your BC several times. Fill, swish, rinse, repeat...most effective.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

After an ocean dive I like to go to the quarry/really big rinse tank or do a fresh water cave dive to rinse the gear. In really clear water as is found in many N FL springs, you'll see your own personal halocline when you first get in. But those opportunities are very rare.

Portable and cheap rinse tank/dive bag:

The large plastic totes with wheels on them make great gear bags. They roll so they function as rolling gear bags, they prevent water from wet gear from dripping in your car on the drive home and when you get home, you stick the garden hoes in it and fill it up to create your own rinse tank. They take up too much space on dive boats though, so you need a squishable duffle type gear bag to keep the stuff in when you are actually on the boat as a courtesy to the rest of the boat.

Regs:

As indicated above, some regs, noteably Atomics, have a poppet that acts as a seat saver device by keeping the orifice off the seat when the reg is not pressurized. It's one of those great ideas that really isn't as it leaves the system open and vulnerable to water, dirt and small critters looking for new places to live.

If you have a reg other than an Atomics, just be sure you use a good dust cap - one that is o-ring sealed. You can test the water tight integrity by installing it and then trying to inhale through your second stages. You should get no air at all (this also serves as a great pre or post dive check for pin holes in diaphragms, leaky exhaust valves, leaky case o-rings, cracked mouthpieces, etc).

Just be sure not to depress the purge buttons while the reg is soaking, and then hang the reg by the first stage to dry. If you think the purge buttons got depressed during the rinse, hang it by the first stage with something to kep the purge buttons depressed for a couple hours to allow any water in the LP hoses to drain. Once the reg is TOTALLY dry, you can put it in a bag and for long term storage an air tight 2 gallon zip lock works well - again only after it is TOTALLY dry.

Ideally, hook the reg up to a pony tank and then soak it and run a bit of air through it afterward to ensure it is dry inside.

One thing I often see is divers blowing air from the tank through the filter. This is a monkey see- monkey-do mistake from observing divers using air from the tank to dry the dust cap and mis-interpreting what they are doing. A lot of regs get ruined this way. If you dry the dust cap this way, that's fine, just be sure to keep the pad of your (dry) thumb firmly over the inlet to prevent any water from getting blown into the reg.

BC:

During the dive you should end up with a cup or so of water in the BC - if not it is an indication that you are probably not using it as much as you should and/or that you are possibly over weighted at the end of the dive as it should be dumped to the point of being near empty, where you'd have the dump open with no air exiting (and water entering). Drain as much as you can at the dive site.

After you get it home and soak it, take it out of the rubbermaid rinse tank/dive bag, drain any water in it out of the OPV/dump valve. Then fill it about 1/4 full of fresh water, and swish it around really good to remove any dirt, salt water and any salt crystals that may have started to form. Drain part of it out each dump valve or OPV and the rest of it out of the inflator.

Store it partially full to prevent the bladder from sticking togther if it drys and has something potentially sticky in it (silt, salt etc). The chlorine in the tap water you rinsed it with is normally enough to kill off anything that would otherwise grow in it during storage.

Everything else:

Let it soak in the rubbermaid tote, and swish it around now and then. Flush items with confined spaces like boots, gloves, etc with a hose to ensure they get thorougly rinsed. Dump the water out of the tote, hang everything to dry, rinse the tote and let it dry as well. Then when dry, put it all back in the tote and you are ready to go diving.

 

[Hatul]

After an ocean dive I like to go to the quarry/really big rinse tank or do a fresh water cave dive to rinse the gear. In really clear water as is found in many N FL springs, you'll see your own personal halocline when you first get in. But those opportunities are very rare.

Portable and cheap rinse tank/dive bag:

The large plastic totes with wheels on them make great gear bags. They roll so they function as rolling gear bags, they prevent water from wet gear from dripping in your car on the drive home and when you get home, you stick the garden hoes in it and fill it up to create your own rinse tank. They take up too much space on dive boats though, so you need a squishable duffle type gear bag to keep the stuff in when you are actually on the boat as a courtesy to the rest of the boat.

Regs:

As indicated above, some regs, noteably Atomics, have a poppet that acts as a seat saver device by keeping the orifice off the seat when the reg is not pressurized. It's one of those great ideas that really isn't as it leaves the system open and vulnerable to water, dirt and small critters looking for new places to live.

If you have a reg other than an Atomics, just be sure you use a good dust cap - one that is o-ring sealed. You can test the water tight integrity by installing it and then trying to inhale through your second stages. You should get no air at all (this also serves as a great pre or post dive check for pin holes in diaphragms, leaky exhaust valves, leaky case o-rings, cracked mouthpieces, etc).

Just be sure not to depress the purge buttons while the reg is soaking, and then hang the reg by the first stage to dry. If you think the purge buttons got depressed during the rinse, hang it by the first stage with something to kep the purge buttons depressed for a couple hours to allow any water in the LP hoses to drain. Once the reg is TOTALLY dry, you can put it in a bag and for long term storage an air tight 2 gallon zip lock works well - again only after it is TOTALLY dry.

Ideally, hook the reg up to a pony tank and then soak it and run a bit of air through it afterward to ensure it is dry inside.

One thing I often see is divers blowing air from the tank through the filter. This is a monkey see- monkey-do mistake from observing divers using air from the tank to dry the dust cap and mis-interpreting what they are doing. A lot of regs get ruined this way. If you dry the dust cap this way, that's fine, just be sure to keep the pad of your (dry) thumb firmly over the inlet to prevent any water from getting blown into the reg.

BC:

During the dive you should end up with a cup or so of water in the BC - if not it is an indication that you are probably not using it as much as you should and/or that you are possibly over weighted at the end of the dive as it should be dumped to the point of being near empty, where you'd have the dump open with no air exiting (and water entering). Drain as much as you can at the dive site.

After you get it home and soak it, take it out of the rubbermaid rinse tank/dive bag, drain any water in it out of the OPV/dump valve. Then fill it about 1/4 full of fresh water, and swish it around really good to remove any dirt, salt water and any salt crystals that may have started to form. Drain part of it out each dump valve or OPV and the rest of it out of the inflator.

Store it partially full to prevent the bladder from sticking togther if it drys and has something potentially sticky in it (silt, salt etc). The chlorine in the tap water you rinsed it with is normally enough to kill off anything that would otherwise grow in it during storage.

Everything else:

Let it soak in the rubbermaid tote, and swish it around now and then. Flush items with confined spaces like boots, gloves, etc with a hose to ensure they get thorougly rinsed. Dump the water out of the tote, hang everything to dry, rinse the tote and let it dry as well. Then when dry, put it all back in the tote and you are ready to go diving.

That's a great use for a pony tank. Thanks for the idea.

Adam

 

[sassyalice]

I have found that my front load washer is great for doing my suit and boots 1/8 th of a cup of detergent and they come out sweet and refreshed

 

[Davidstealey3]

if you want to use the washer thas fine, but i have seen suits get ruined this way. the plastic storage container, new trash can, or a basin tub with some woolite or sink the stink is the best way. levae the suit inside out ( thats the side you would of peeded on ) and hand aggtiate for 10 minutes, hang or layout to dry inside out, turn right side out to finish drying and store.

bc shold be rinsed off well with fresh water , and then add water to the blader. wait till it is full and pull the bottom dump valve after about 30 minutes. refill with water and this time pull the dump valve when full while continuing to fillwith water. this will flush out most of what is in there. blow up with air and allow to dry. when dry, drain air from the bc putting the dump valve at the lowest point to get out the remaining water. buckle up all the buckles and tighten all the straps ( makes it smaller for storing ) and store.

i allways heard not ot soak the first stage in water, but some fell it is ok, and i wont argue this with them. they have serviced more regs then me so i will consider them the knowledgeable ones. but here is an option. hook the reg up to a tank and turn oh the air. wash off with a hose or sit in water. makw sure you move the equipment in a way to wash out ant sand and dirt from the little holes in piston regs, and the holes in the plastic cover over the diaphram on the second stages. purge the reg with the air still on and in the water to get any particles off the internals of the second stages.

mask and fins. rinse off and let dry. if you still have the box your mask came in use it for storage. if not, dont store the mask in a fin pocket. i have heard the rubber will break down the skirt, and discolor it.

we hae done this with our rental equipment, and personal gear, and it has lasted for years. and it gets a lot of use

 

[sassyalice]

Your right a washer could damage the suit. Let me be more specific. Use the delicate cycle as it 'handwashes' your suit. My suit is over 5 years old with over 150 dives. and it is in great shape. The front loader does not have an agitator to damage suits.

 

[Starcruiser]

I soak my wetsuit, bc, boots, gloves, hood, etc in a tank overnight. Reg and camera get a seperate tank to soak in. Next day after work, everything comes out and hung up on a store garment rack in the garage. If I'm going out soon, I'll turn a box fan on, especially the boots and wetsuit, to get them dry quick. BC gets rinsed inside after every dive with fresh water and then inflated to hang on the rack.