Marking your own gear, how do you do it?

[Texasguy]

About marking your gear, what do you use and where do you mark? Probably for different gear you would make a mark in different places... Do you mark it with your name or some kind of a pattern, like with golf balls? If you were to sell that gear later on, how easy would be to remove your markings?

What do you use to mark your gear, where can it be bought (Home Depot, Walmart, etc)?

 

[TSandM]

Most of our gear is marked with paint pens (we bought them at the LDS) or with p-touch labels. The labels would be easy to remove, and the paint wears off with time. Our tanks are marked with permanent marker, which can be removed with alcohol, or with name stickers, which are a PITA to get off.

I generally only mark things which might get mixed up with others' stuff, like fins and gauges, and tanks, which may sit at the LDS for fills. (Although I put p-touch labels on EVERYTHING -- gauges, regs, etc. -- before our Red Sea trip, where I knew every single person on the boat would be using the same equipment we had

 

[Doc]

SMB's can be marked with Permanent Markers. It makes sense to mark them with a symbol. If you show that symbol to your boatsmen, they will know that it is you awaiting pick-up.

Other gear can be marked with metallic or regular paint pens, easily found at Walmart or most any Hobby/Sewing center. Get the non-washable type!

Some gear can be marked most effectively by tying a bit of heavy duty flagging tape to it- such as fins, regs sets, such as that.

If you are concerned with purchasers down the re-sale line, just leave it unused and unopened in the original wrapping and box. That way you'll only take a 70% loss. In short- it is not much of a concern.

But first, consider why you are marking it? To tell it apart on a clothesline at a resort? A jumble on a boat? Anti-theft?

Some reasons make sense in certain situations, others never have any use in real life.

 

[Searcaigh]

All my gear is marked with a combination of permanent marker, paint pen or stickers. I have had fins mixed up in past and ended up with one tatty one along with my own, I only noticed when I got home, and impossible to find out who had taken my good fin.

 

[3D diver]

Put your drivers license on anything you'd like the police to return to you (if they happen to get it).

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

First digit of your last name and the last 4 of your SS. I etch what I can and use paint pens for the rest.

 

[TMHeimer]

I use permanent marker on some stuff and my initials. On some stuff I use a knife to scratch/cut the initials on them (or in them like with fins). I too tend to mark only stuff that can be mistaken for somebody else's. Most of my gear is used, so I'm not concerned about defacing it if I want to sell it.

 

[JamesK]

I learned from my dog, I pee on everything.

But paint pens work as well I guess. Tanks get mailbox letters with my initials.

 

[knotical]

Colored electrician's tape. You can usually find a hole or thin area to loop it through/around and put two sticky sides together. On the few items with neither, clean the surface real well and attach with just one sticky side.

 

[Hawkwood]

Well, my wife moved to "pink" gear, and that put an end to confusion with mixing up masks and fins.

We've been using nail polish believe it or not - it works well, easy to get a hold of, and can be found in bright colours. Sticks to anything. Wears off...just re-apply.