Mini-travel and post dive cleaning of gear?!

[dpspaceman]

Hello all,
So we have recently purchased basically almost all of our own gear. So far, the diving we have done has been near our home (fort lauderdale) and after the dive, we come straight up and I proceed to clean gear for 30-1hr. Including dunking it in a big water tank, hosing it down, swishing the water in the BC's, etc.

SCENARIO 1:
My question is regarding travel trips and gear cleaning. Say we go to a shore dive with some friends that are only snorkeling. After we finish our beach dive, we come up - head to beach - take off gear. Friends want to stay at the beach hanging out a little longer... will it do much damage to the gear to let it dry with the salt water while we hang for a while and then perform the cleaning process when we get home later in the day?

SCENARIO 2:
Wife and I take trip to the keys. Leave friday, Dive saturday, Dive sunday, return Sunday evening. When we get home on Saturday from the dive to the hotel, should I proceed to perform a full cleaning? What if no tub is available? or hose to facilitate putting water in the BC's, etc. Would it be terrible to not clean gear for 1-4 days of the trip and then perform deep clean when arriving at home after the trip? will it suffice to just hose the gear down a bit on the boat with fresh water?

Perform at the docking of the charter boat? Won't allow for a full cleaning time, plus having to wait for all the people to do the same?

Would love some tips on this subject as I want to make sure our gear stays in great shape. Sorry if this is quite newbie of us!


DPS

 

[TMHeimer]

My mostly "bought used" gear is fine after 9 years. I personally don't soak in a tub--just rinse thoroughly with a hose and (after salt water is dumped out) rinse inside of the BCD with fresh water & baby shampoo. The only time I ever don't rinse is when I'm DMing a weekend class on the Sat. night (as there are the Sunday dives coming up and why make it even wetter to put on Sunday). If you can't rinse asap, put it all in a place where it won't dry out. From what I hear, salt/chlorine is only harmfull when it dries on your stuff. Don't leave anything in the sun for long enough for it to dry out--put stuff in shade while you are getting dressed, etc. On those Sat. weekend nights however, I do rinse my reg. & watch--I carry a big bottle of water in the car for this.

 

[dpspaceman]

I haven't been using baby shampoo, just fresh water in through the air inflate of the BC. The gear usually drys a bit on the way home, then i rinse it. Hope this is alright.

When you say rinse you reg, you mean the first stage (without pressing the purge) correct?

 

[TMHeimer]

I rinse the whole thing thoroughly with the dust cap firmly on of course (never press purge). The best way to do this is with the reg still hooked up to the tank. That way you are sure no water sneaks into the first stage. I always seem to find this impractical.
My first year or 2 I didn't use baby shampoo inside the BCD, but I heard it's a good idea. I know many people just use fresh water.

I've drived hours with gear in the car before rinsing at home. The car is cool, or AC on if in Florida. Yeah it dries a tiny bit but no problems to date with that. When I do get home rinsing is the first thing I do.

 

[Bigd2722]

Absolutely no problem if you soak and rinse on the same day. I've gone as much as 24 hours without an issue. Try not to go over 24 hours (that's just a magic number0. I do believe in long soaks

 

[dpspaceman]

Absolutely no problem if you soak and rinse on the same day. I've gone as much as 24 hours without an issue. Try not to go over 24 hours (that's just a magic number0. I do believe in long soaks

great thanks all!

I don't submerge the first stage even if my dustcap is rubber and appears to be water tight. I do however, clean around it with a hose and submerge the second stages.

 

[CaptLee]

I know a few people that will go days without washing their gear (salt water) personally I spent too much money to not wash it properly. I agree 24 hours is reasonable. There should be enough time to make it home or to a hotel with a shower. You don't have to soak it in a tub (that is what I do) but at least rinse it thoroughly under a shower head. I have not used baby shampoo but recently bought some for my next dive. I definitely don't think it will hurt.

Watch the fittings and first stage these are parts where you will be able to visibly see corrosion. Probably would not hurt to rub it with the green scotch brite pads to get any crystallized salt off if it dries on your gear.

 

[freewillie]

I asked a similar question before and most of the answers were on what people do after diving to clean their gear.

Essentially on my last dive trip I rinsed my gear only briefly after each dive. The dive op proved a dunk tank (actually two large trash cans) filled with water, one marked for BC's and the other for regs and masks. I didn't rinse the gear that carefully but rinsed briefly to get the salt water off. Most of the time you can't really clean your gear immediately after diving anyways. There is always some lag time between when you exit the water and when you get to a place where you rinse the gear. Shore dives for example you go back to your car and then head home. It can be 30 minutes or more depending on how far you live from the dive site. For dive boats add the time from the dive site back to the dock. It cam be over an hour or more depending on the place and the dive site.

After several days of diving and brief rinsing on the last dive of the vacation I took my gear and my daughter's back to the hotel, filled up the bath tub, then let all the gear soak for 30 minutes in warm water. I even filled the BC bladders with water from the bath tub faucet and let that sit. After soaking I let the tub drain then left the gear sit in the tub overnight to dry a little more. In the morning I took the wetsuits and BC's to the balcony and then put the mask, fins, and regs back in the dive bag. I kept the wetsuits and BC's on the balcony to help dry before going home.

Most responses seemed to indicate the gear didn't need any special cleaning once I got home. That's good because I simply unpacked and put the stuff back into storage in the house. I didn't feel the need to re-rinse or clean the gear again since they did get a good proper soaking in warm water for at least 30 minutes after the last dive.

Scuba gear is pretty hardy stuff. Having a little salt water dry on it before you get home to wash shouldn't ruin the gear. It's a good thing too since most of the time you may get a little here and there anyways. As long as you don't abuse the stuff you should be just fine and have it serviced periodically too to check for wear.

Have fun.

 

[TMHeimer]

Most divers are soakers unlike myself. If I were to soak my gear I would then rinse it off afterwords. I figure when you put (several pieces of) stuff with salt on it in water then let it sit in that water, it is also sitting in that same salt though quite diluted. Just a theory.

 

[Storker]

will it do much damage to the gear to let it dry with the salt water while we hang for a while and then perform the cleaning process when we get home later in the day?

If you can't rinse and soak fairly quickly after the dive: don't let the gear dry out. Cover it to keep it wet. One of the main reasons to get the salt water off is to avoid salt crystals on your gear.

will it suffice to just hose the gear down a bit on the boat with fresh water?

That's the way I often do it. A quick rinse is better than none. Again, keeping the gear wet will prevent salt precipitation.

Only thing I always try to dry from one day to the next is my knife (after rinsing), my DS undergarments and the inside of my DS. They can't make decent knife steel very rust-proof, and suiting up in a damp DS sucks.


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