Do you rinse... or do you not?

[carldarl]

Another post raised a question I had not thought of. Shame on me.

When diving on a live-a-board this summer we averaged four dives per day. Five with a couple with night dives. Here's my question:

When returning to the boat between dives, everyone, including me, boards the boat, backs up to the rack and uloads their gear to be refilled. Simple huh. The crew comes up behind you, refills the tank and you're ready to go for the next dive after your SI and a snack. A quick gear check, load up and you're off and running. Very cool.

Now the question. Does anyone rinse their gear between dives or do you end up with five days worth of salt/grime buildup? I never even thought about rinsing between dives as apparently no one else did either. (I do on one day trips as I move my regs.BC to a new tank) This trip included students, DM's, Instructors, Shop Owner as well as a very seasoned boat owner/crew. It never even dawned on me to rinse between dives. I went brain dead I guess.

Obviously one should always rinse between dives in a perfect world. On a single day/2-tank trip I can see not rinsing, especially on a 6-pack boat with no fresh water shower. But, this boat had TWO (2) count 'em TWO (2) WARM WATER showers near the dive deck. I never saw one person rinse their gear between dives. Many, many personal rinses for "stink value" but no gear rinses.

Did our entire boat have a brain death episode regarding this or do others not rinse?
Are you more at risk of an equipment failure due to buildup while on board"

My gear bag did have an amazing buildup of salt residue where it repeatedly got dripped on so I know it was there.

What do you think?????

 

[BrianS]

I would try to rinse it at the end of the day if possible. I wouldn't want it to sit overnight unrinsed.

 

[spectrum]

During the dive day it reamins wet and mostly in solution. Rinsing a BC would be a waste of time IMO. Hard items like a camera that will dry quick will benefit for rinsing after every exposure.

Pete

 

[Vie]

I always rinse my regs (attached to tank with pressure on) between dives.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

When we were on the Nekton we did not rinse gear for the whole week with the exception of the camera. Remember they have to produce any fresh water you use, the showers are for people not gear. The Chief Engineer told us that although the Nekton has the ability to produce enough water to rinse gear they discourage this use of precious fresh water. Some of the staff said they only rinse their gear when their stint on the boat is done so the gear stays set up and un-rinsed for weeks at a time. They were very explicit when they told us the camera rinse tub was to be used for cameras only.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[drdiver1952]

I rinse at the end of the day if I can.

 

[J75]

I always rinse my camera, mask, and computers. If a hose is available, I will just spray off my gear once a day. When I get home, I do a thorough rinsing/soaking and try to get in a freshwater dive at the local quarry.

 

[miketsp]

Rinsing gear that is in use every day is just a waste of time.
Also many small islands that are great dive sites have an extremely limited amount of fresh-water, just like boats.
A few times we've had to drive somewhere at the end of a week's diving to get to a spring to be able rinse off gear to dry and pack it for the flight home.

 

[Damselfish]

I never rinse gear on a liveaboard until the end. I take off my wetsuit under the shower on deck. People always rinse their cameras.

Stuff doesn't get much chance to dry, and even if you rinsed, there's good chance they'll soon move the boat and it will get doused by the spray anyway.

 

[redacted]

I carry a water bottle with a squirt top and rinse the area of the 1st stage that connects with the tank (and the cap if it will be used) before I remove the reg .