Rinsing

[redacted]

I am currently waiting on parts for a BC that the customer dives once a year in Bonaire, the only place he dives anymore. He washes his stuff pretty good, but misses the details of clean up. Rinsing gear after every dive is awesome, but do you rinse everywhere that needs rinsed? No substitute for taking your gear to a pro who knows what to look for and can help you in perfecting your maintenance rituals! Try getting that from liesurepro.

I'm not going to argue the point of a shop knowing how to clean and maintain gear, they should , its what they do.
But, how did we get from rinsing your gear to Leisurepro bashing.

Jim Breslin

I don't think he is bashing. I think he is advertising for them.

After all, you can get plenty of good information on this board on caring for your gear at no cost (direct or indirect in the form of high MSRP prices). And you can then take advantage of the great discounted prices you can usually find at Leisurepro and other online retailers (and some better dive shops).

BTW, I rarely do anything except dry and inspect my gear after dives in clean FW. After most SW dives I use a squirt bottle to rinse just the unsealed ambient chamber of my 1st stage. At the end of a day of SW diving I usually give the whole rig a quick dip (rinse) in FW. At the end of a dive trip, everything gets an 8 to 24 hour soak, then dry and inspect.

 

[FireInMyBones]

I marked the first and last choice. When I dive salt: I rinse after every dive. When I dive fresh, I rarely rinse.

 

[JBRES1]

I don't think he is bashing. I think he is advertising for them.

See the spelling for Leisurepro in his post. I took it to be a slam on them, but could be wrong and he just can't spell.
Try getting that from liesurepro.

Jim Breslin

 

[Irikonji_Dive_Gear]

A fellow DM says he rarely rinses. What do you do?

As soon as we're done diving, everytime!

 

[KeithG]

I voted sometimes.

On a liveaboard, i rinse shorty & computer after every dive. The boat crew rinses my gear every night (from across the deck using a garden hose) and it never gets dry the whole week.

On land I dunk everything after every saltwater dive. Again it never dries the whole week.

The camera always gets a 5 minute soak after each dive.

Once home every thing soaks for several days in the tub before it is stowed.

 

[50Fathom]

Since 99% of my diving is in fresh water, no rinsing. If in SW, then I rinse daily. This is rare. If doing pool training, which is pretty much 4-5 days a week, I rinse if I happen to use my "nice stuff". My typical pool rig is "beater gear", which gets rinsed sometimes, but not all the time.

 

[lonebrave]

I soak and rinse all my gear at the end of every day of diving. So far I've only been in salt water...would probably do the same after diving fresh water just to keep the habit.

 

[Simon-]

I voted every time.

We have no freshwater diving here, so it is always salty. Even the training pools are salty (same water supply as the dolphin pool)

 

[Doc Harry]

When diving in fresh water it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to thoroughly rinse and disinfect your gear between dives to prevent cross-contamination of bodies of water.

This applies if you are going from one body of fresh water to another body of fresh water.

Here are some articles about the latest threat, "rock snot," a fresh-water algae called Didymosphenia geminata.

Rock Snot Hitches Ride on Fishing Gear

'Rock snot' is Vancouver Island's least loved export

'River snot' could damage pristine waterways, study finds

"Some of the world's cleanest waterways may be in trouble for being so clean.

A species of fast-growing freshwater algae that lives in streams and rivers - sometimes called "river snot" - can alter food supplies to other aquatic life and hurt fisheries, according to a new report published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation and the State of South Dakota Carbon Scientist fund.

Scientists such as P.V. Sundareshwar, associate professor of biogeochemistry, conducted their research in Rapid Creek, a clear mountain stream in the western part of South Dakota where the first strains of Didymo were found in 2002. Sundareshwar has been working on the project for the past four years.

"When you normally see a kind of green scum in a pond it's because there's runoff, or some pollutant causing that to happen from the outside of a body of water," he said. "But this is unusual because it's happening organically."

The formal name of the potentially damaging algae is Didymo for Didymosphenia geminata. It looks like thick mats of bacteria on the bottom of waterways and thrives in the Southern Hemisphere, from New Zealand to Chile.

"Didymo has become a major nuisance," he said. "It's so adaptable, it can dominate, virtually take over all other algae that (normally) provides a structure for the food chain in waterways. You're talking about affecting, or altering, an entire ecosystem."

He said that the problem has been especially bad in New Zealand where studies there have said that damages to fishery profits have run into the tens of millions."

 

[randy88k5]

I rinse/clean my gear every day if I am diving in salt water. If diving in fresh water, then I will rinse most things (if the water is available, if water is not, then I will rinse the regs and computer only). All of the gear will get a thorough cleaning at the end of the trip.