Gear maintenance

[Peter_C]

Seems like I do maintenance pretty much every time I go diving. Some times it is more than others though. Having a scooter and dive light that also require charging, with reassembly that requires spotless seals as does a camera housing. My drysuit gets seal saver and is a pain in the butt to dry (DUI CF200). Latex seals need replacement fairly often. Routinely all my stainless clips get a little lube. This weekend my long hose clip started sticking. Often I check my IP pressure and Saturday it was high (160 pounds) on my reg and it is creeping more than I like to see. O-rings often need replacement and inflators get just a little sticky and need a squirt of lube. My doubles wing inflator had a leaking o-ring so to get me in the water quickly I used my singles wing. Helps having the tools from Deep Sea Supply. I have yet to repair the actual leak though.

Having a boat (trailer/motor/hull/electronics/fuel) adds to the work load. I just spent around 50 hours bringing a Zodiac back to life. It was a lot of work but a fun project, and will hopefully serve me for a few years.

Would filling tanks be considered maintenance? Those with compressors and nitrox/trimix systems would definitely say so. Especially since you have to not only service the equipment but also keep consumables like gases in stock. Same goes for any gas analyzers too.

Kenn and crew are known for having a "Save-a-dive kit of the save-a-dive kit" Good times :cool2:

 

[dannobee]

I try to fix things as I notice problems (above the standard maintenance stuff).

The regs get serviced when the cracking effort changes or the IP is off. IP gets checked before every day of diving. It's simple enough to do and the gauges are cheap.

The compressor and booster have maintenance logs, and filters are changed according to Bauer's schedule (using their temperature correction factors).

O2 sensors are the wild card as far as blending goes. I've seen them work fine, then in the middle of filling tanks they go dead. Monitoring the low pressure gauge or flowmeter will yield the same result, so it isn't that big of a deal, but I'd sure hate to be a rebreather guy trusting my life to those gawd awful things.

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[BettyRubble]

Gross! I left my gear in the tub for a week once! It was all smelly and slimy when I finally got to it. This time I rinsed it all but left it dripping in a dark storage room. I do not know what to expect when I get home next weekend...

Not sure this suggestion is doable or helpful, but after my stinky booties issue . . I hit upon a solution that works for me.

I've started putting a fan on a timer . . . I hang the gear, plug the fan into the timer and forget about it. After 8 hours the timer kicks off the fan and by then my gear is dry but I don't have to be home to turn off the fan.

Just a thought.

 

[PKHamrick]

Thanks for the post. My gear was just fine when I got home. My gear closet is attached to my carport, fresh air and low temps saved me from fungi and mold... No Aspirgillus Ticor here...

 

[Brewski]

Not that you can see....