Equipment Care

[Dnaber]

How many instructor here actually teach their students the proper care for dive equipment? I for one was never shown how to correctly clean a BC or care for my regulator set. I think this should be part of any course. This gear isn't cheap and cleaning and care is a part of diving.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

It is actually supposed to be part of the course. Proper rinsing, drying, and even minor maintenance like swapping a hose is part of the ow class I offer.

 

[CptTightPants21]

I was.

You had to clean off all of the gear after the pool sessions. It including dunking the regs, washing the BC, putting fresh water through the inflator and then dumping it, taking care of a new mask, etc.

It didn't go into super amounts of detail like using woolite or not using petroleum products on latex, but it provided a good basic foundation on how to maintain the important gear. The rest of the stuff was covered in a 4 hour equipment course that focused on all the specifics like regulator repair, rearranging hoses, drysuit maintenance, scuba tanks, etc

While it would be nice for more, it is not really practical with the shortened OW training times that have become common place. I really like the breakdown of how I was taught. It gives people a good base and doesn't waste the instructors time--going over the minutiae of o-rings and wrench sizes for swapping out hoses for someone who might not be fully committed to the course is a waste of time. It is much better spent as an additional course that is focused, can go into greater detail, and is self selecting in terms of its students.

 

[Mike126]

^^ Ditto. Back in the day, I did my OW cert over about 4 or 5 weeks. 1 night per week for pool and one night for classroom. We had more time to go over these things and were taught to rinse the bladder, outside of the BC, regs, fins, mask, and snorkel etc.

 

[tbone1004]

university courses, but they're taught how to do all of their gear cleaning for proper storage. Also taught hose swapping, o-ring changes on hoses, opening the second stages to clean them thoroughly from silt, etc etc.

 

[sheeper]

i do. care for gear is a critical element for safety. Happy gear means happy diver.

 

[fjpatrum]

We were taught in my OW class. As part of the gear break down at the end of each pool session we were also required to do the cleaning.

 

[maj2]

Gear cleaning was part of my OW class way back when, as well as in my daughter's OW class last year.

The importance of cleaning the gear was hammered home in my OW checkout dives when I saw that the landlocked quarry was full of zebra mussels introduced via poorly maintained gear. I have been meticulous about cleaning every piece of gear after each diving trip (local or otherwise) ever since. My LDS often comments on how clean the inside of my BCD bladder is when it is serviced.

 

[RJP]

How many instructor here actually teach their students the proper care for dive equipment? I for one was never shown how to correctly clean a BC or care for my regulator set. I think this should be part of any course. This gear isn't cheap and cleaning and care is a part of diving.

Any student I've ever worked with has certainly learned how to correctly rinse/clean/store BCDs and Regs after a dive... I ain't doing that for them!

As Jim mentions above basic gear care, and things like checking/swapping o-rings, hoses, and the like should be part of any OW course.

---------- Post added August 5th, 2015 at 12:48 PM ----------

The importance of cleaning the gear was hammered home in my OW checkout dives when I saw that the landlocked quarry was full of zebra mussels introduced via poorly maintained gear.

Yeah, that's how they got in there.

At least if you ask the owner of any dive quarry...

:cool2:

 

[CptTightPants21]

Gear cleaning was part of my OW class way back when, as well as in my daughter's OW class last year.

The importance of cleaning the gear was hammered home in my OW checkout dives when I saw that the landlocked quarry was full of zebra mussels introduced via poorly maintained gear. I have been meticulous about cleaning every piece of gear after each diving trip (local or otherwise) ever since. My LDS often comments on how clean the inside of my BCD bladder is when it is serviced.

LOL...poorly cleaned dive gear, that's exactly how Zebra mussels made it into the quarry

---------- Post added August 5th, 2015 at 01:30 PM ----------

Any student I've ever worked with has certainly learned how to correctly rinse/clean/store BCDs and Regs after a dive... I ain't doing that for them!

As Jim mentions above basic gear care, and things like checking/swapping o-rings, hoses, and the like should be part of any OW course.

---------- Post added August 5th, 2015 at 12:48 PM ----------



Yeah, that's how they got in there.

At least if you ask the owner of any dive quarry...

:cool2:

RJP, how long are your OW classes and what exactly do you cover when it comes to hose swapping, etc?

Not that I think it shouldn't be taught, especially in a university class where you have 16 weeks, but where do you find the time with the 3 pool/3 lectures format?

I would think a lot of the information would generally go in one ear and out the other because they didn't routinely use/practice it...especially in the beginning of dive training.