Dive ops handling wetsuits

[t4e]

Wouldn't it be easier to just switch dive ops than carry large trash bags around?

I'm amazed at how much people like to wear their wetsuits. At Sabor I see people having breakfast in wetsuits. At Blue Angel I have seen people strutting around at 7 in the morning in their wetsuits, and they have a 45 minute boat ride so they must really like wetsuits. Some people never take them off the whole day. I never found one I like to wear so I don't put mine on until I see the DM putting theirs on. That way I can enjoy 5 minutes of my 10 minute boat ride wetsuit free. The wetsuit comes off as soon as I get on the boat too there's nothing worse than wearing a wet wetsuit. Being able to leave it on the boat is a huge convenience I definitely don't want to drag it around in a large trash bag, and I'm not going to wear it either. I like to leave it on the boat. I never found the need to pee in it I go before I get on the boat and on the SI not in the wetsuit. My wetsuit isn't hazardous material.

i don't wear it all day but when we go diving i put it on before i start getting my gear ready and comes off complete;y after i shower in it at the end of the dives
i love my wetsuit, its so comfortable and the new booties i got are so nice and soft, i want to wear them all the time lol

even the 2 piece 7mm i had at the checkout dives was comfortable, it was actually warmer for me to stay in it between dives on the same day then take it off and putting it on wet
this was end of april and was barely 15C outside

 

[fishi]

That would be me? Not at 7AM, though I do put it on my lower half before I go down to the boat. Grateful Dead tie die on my upper. It's not that I like wearing the wetsuit so much, particularly; it's that I'd rather not deal with struggling into and out of it on the boat. I wear it until I get back to my room after the dive (and after standing under the shower there by the shop), where I hang it on the drying rack until I need it again. It's no trouble and I don't see what the fuss is about. DSFDF and YMMV.

I think I understand.

You cannot dress on a boat.
You will not dress while a float.
You like to dress in a house.
You like to dress with a mouse.
The dive only lasts for one hour but to get undressed you need a shower.


I don't like wetsuits man.
I don't like them, Sam-I-am.

I will not wear one in a house.
I will not share one with a mouse.

I do not like them here or there.
I do not like them anywhere. (accept underwater)
I do not like wetsuits man. I do not like them, Sam-I-am.

Would I wear one on the beach?
Would I wear one with a leech?

Not on the beach.
Not with a leech
Not in a house
Not with a mouse.
I do not like wetsuits man and I don't wear them when I can.

 

[PeterNBiddle]

Why take it off ever? You could go to dinner in your wetsuit, sleep in your wetsuit, even wear it back home on the plane.

You just invoked a sub-clause of Internet rule 35: "If its not already a fetish then it will become one on the internet as soon as you imagine it."

 

[Genghis_khan]

Not only my wet suit, I prefer to wash and handle all my equipment after a dive (maybe that is the DM in me ). I know that some dive operators offer this service of cleaning all customer's gear as a courtesy to their cliental and that is great customer relations which I truly value. But my equipment will be maintained by me. This way I know that my 1st stage was not accidentally flooded, all sand has been removed, my gear was handled with care and the wet suit is clean, etc. After I neatly hang my equipment I have seen many Dive Operators put the equipment rack in safe storage over night for safe keeping, I am ok with this. I have yet dived with an operator, other than a Liveaboard, who will take my gear and have it ready on the boat, so I cannot speak to that practice yet.

This is for me the botton line. I'm going to be the one taking care of my equipment. A place to store it at the dive shop/dock/boat is perfect, but that's it.

 

[pediatron]

This has been an interesting thread to read although I am coming into it very late. I have to admit I was very surprised to find that most of the dive shops in Cozumel will not take care of my dripping wet suit. I guess I have never dove anywhere that didn't have facilities for me to rinse it and then hang to dry. I think that is the biggest issue here. I have no problem at all taking off my suit, rinsing it in a tank and hanging it up somewhere where it can be dry by morning. The problem I see is when I get dropped off at my hotel pier with my wet suit, I have no good options -- no rinse tank so stuck with my hotel room shower and no good place to hang to dry (plus the aforementioned puddles on the way to my room). I have to admit this is making me re-evaluate my choice in dive op and am actually considering the much larger boats at the Cozumel Palace just for the option of using their facilities to store my gear. I wonder if they would offer just gear storage for a small fee so I could rinse and store wet suit everyday there to dive with a different op.

 

[diverokc]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Please make it go away.:scream:

 

[robint]

This has been an interesting thread to read although I am coming into it very late. I have to admit I was very surprised to find that most of the dive shops in Cozumel will not take care of my dripping wet suit. I guess I have never dove anywhere that didn't have facilities for me to rinse it and then hang to dry. I think that is the biggest issue here. I have no problem at all taking off my suit, rinsing it in a tank and hanging it up somewhere where it can be dry by morning. The problem I see is when I get dropped off at my hotel pier with my wet suit, I have no good options -- no rinse tank so stuck with my hotel room shower and no good place to hang to dry (plus the aforementioned puddles on the way to my room). I have to admit this is making me re-evaluate my choice in dive op and am actually considering the much larger boats at the Cozumel Palace just for the option of using their facilities to store my gear. I wonder if they would offer just gear storage for a small fee so I could rinse and store wet suit everyday there to dive with a different op.

Another big issue for us, that was solved when we found ScubaClub.
First, there are restrooms ON EVERY BOAT. Yes, you don't have to pee in your suit anymore.
Second, there is a water hose on every boat, fresh water, to stick down the neck of your suit to rinse out the pee if you do.
Third, you have room to take off your wetsuit by standing up which is better than any 6-pack.
Fourth, when boat arrives back at dock, there are rinse tanks, outdoor showers, and places to hang your wetsuit or just walk a few steps right to your room to hang on balcony. Everyone does it.

Seriously, this was a HUGE issue for my husband. He refuses to pee in his suit, ever. I used to do it all the time until I noticed I got a rash down around my ankles after a few days of diving. Ewwww. Now I try to hold it until I get back on boat. I wish all dive ops everywhere had a head, but sadly they do not.

wetsuits hanging out after dive day
http://www.rnrscuba.net/2009Yucatan/SCC475.JPG

robin

 

[tracydr]

Urine is sterile. It's pretty much the same thing as sweat. And it pretty much washes out in the water.

Plenty of dive ops handle wetsuits. Look at the thousands of dive ops, dive shops, and dive resorts around the world that offer wetsuit rental, for instance. Surely they must handle the wetsuits if they rent them out.

I agree that there's not a huge health risk handling wetsuits. Wear gloves if really concerned. I'm still trying to figure out why our local shops rent wetsuits to students for their classes but require them to purchase fins as personal gear. When did fins become personal gear? I just don't understand why it would be a big deal for a new OW student to rent fins.
I guess it just means more money for every OW class.

---------- Post added September 18th, 2013 at 07:25 AM ----------

If I used a towel to soak up a teaspoon of urine from a woman with a UTI and handed that to you, would you use that to dry off your hands after washing them?

Would you treat it the same as if I handed you a towel containing the same amount of sweat from an entirely disease and infection free pre-adolescent male?

Would you treat both the same as a towel containing the same amount of purified water?

With them amount of MRSA in AZ, I'd take my chances on the urine soaked towel over the sweaty towel anyway.

 

[Skittl1321]

I'm still trying to figure out why our local shops rent wetsuits to students for their classes but require them to purchase fins as personal gear. When did fins become personal gear? I just don't understand why it would be a big deal for a new OW student to rent fins.
I guess it just means more money for every OW class.

1) I agree with you its the money thing.
2) I think it is likely a lot harder to stock all the appropriate size fins for classes than it is wetsuits. An ill fitted wetsuit will still work as long as the water isn't too cold, fins really won't.

When I bought my fins they had to be special ordered to get ones small enough, they didn't usually stock that size. The wetsuit I wore in class made me look like I climbed in a dead elephant skin. It kept me mostly warm (I wore a hood to stay a bit warmer), I only felt the cold when one of the pockets really shifted and I could feel the water flowing. It was a size 14.The wetsuit I ended up buying was an 8 in the same brand. I still rent a 7 mm, and it is a bit too big, but the water isn't that cold or I don't go in.

But the store didn't care if you peed in them, and they washed them. In fact, at one point a guy wanted to get out of the quarry to go use the restroom, and the instructor said "that's what your wetsuit is for, helps keep you warm", and the guy said "But it's a rental, I can't pee in a rental" and the instructor said "Heck, it's the rentals you want to pee in. If it's your own you have to deal with the cleaning!"

 

[tracydr]

People rent wet suits?

On handling of gear: I prefer to take care of my own gear, including when I am on vacation.

I did, the whole first year that I dove Puget Sound. From the military base. I actually suspect that I was the only person who used the wetsuit that I did. Not that many cold water divers my size on an Army Base.