Gear I lost on April 6th has been found

[-JD-]

Could use the same labels on a cylinder instead of a stamp marking.

No.

 

[junkyard_dawg]

This was 2 months and 3 weeks ago. My 10 year old zookeeper broke off on entry during a back roll. The buddy with the flag had an entanglement on the previous dive, so asked me to double check him on entry. So, I didn't notice losing my zk. Attached to my zk was a pole spear and two fish float bags. We dove the spot, north of Black Rock, several times in subsequent weeks, and everyone was keeping an eye out for it but never found it. I gave up hope that it would be recovered and bought a new zk and floats.

I had a voicemail at 6:45am today. I just called the guy, and they found my zk floating on the surface near Push Button Hill out of St Lucie, 10 miles offshore. The guy lives in PSL and I'm in Stuart, so he's local and will be an easy pickup.

Reminder, put your name on everything! Buy those stickers off Amazon for like $12-$15, they work great. You never know when your items will be found and returned to you.

That's awesome! Thanks for the reminder that I need to mark some of my new gear.

 

[MrChen]

You gotta post a picture of what it looks like. I'd expect some serious peach fuzz. But if it's clean, then maybe it hasn't been floating for 2 months. (Zk's float?)

I was hopping on to do exactly that

 

[MrChen]

I picked it up from a fisherman. The first thing I noticed is that the floats were inflated. This tells me someone found it on the sea floor and used the floats to send it up but then their boat didn't grab it. Half of the zk is cleaner then the other half, so it was half buried in the sand. The floats aren't all nasty, so it was recently inflated. I assumed the mount broke but it's not, so that means it slipped off my double ender.

So how do I clean this?

 

[Johnoly]

So how do I clean this?

I agree with your thoughts because the SMBs don't look like the Zk.

To get rid of the stains and not destroy the clear tube, the best is a hull cleaner product called "On & Off" and it must be by ' MaryKate ' cause there's lots of copy cats that don't work. Available at West Marine ~$20 for a quart and follow the directions exactly.

Congrats on getting it back!!

 

[Gone for diving]

So how do I clean this?

Power washer with rotory nozzle

 

[johndiver999]

Spray it with diluted muriatic acid which will dissolve all the calcareous growth. Straight vinegar might work.
All the green stuff will come off with bleach and a nylon scrub pad, Rinse super well before using those chemicals in succession, or you might die - really.

Personally, I would leave it in the sun for a few days until the stink dissipates, and then just use it. I have lost quite a few lionfish containers, they seem to be able to work their way off the normal barrel clip.

I have (in the last year or so) switched over to a longline clip and adding a strong attachment point (line) for the container which I think is better.

 

[MrChen]

I agree with your thoughts because the SMBs don't look like the Zk.

To get rid of the stains and not destroy the clear tube, the best is a hull cleaner product called "On & Off" and it must be by ' MaryKate ' cause there's lots of copy cats that don't work. Available at West Marine ~$20 for a quart and follow the directions exactly.

Congrats on getting it back!!

My buddy is a boat mechanic and recommended the same thing. He's going to see if they have any used bottles laying around on Monday.

 

[Allen-1]

Great story..... glad you got your gear back. The 3M stickers are a little pricier but are awesome and hold up. Wife and I use them for everything....diver gear, phones, keys, laptops, yeti's, etc.... Just remember on the phones to put her sticker on yours and your sticker on hers! ON ours we just have first names and cell numbers.

I had some printed with one of my email addresses. Figure it’s more universal than phone number.

 

[CosbySweater]

I’ve lost a light, a pole spear, a toothless float bag, and a spear gun over the last few years. Got them all back. Put your your name and phone number on everything! You’d be surprised how generous people are about returning stuff.