Storage!!

[freeclimbmtb]

After constantly being ridiculed for my dining room (and living room, bedroom, garage, deck, etc) looking like a gear shop, I have started thinking about building a more centralized and permanant gear storage solution. (After risned and dried of course) Considerations to include: Where in the house. Hang exposure suit vs. roll/fold on a shelf or bin. Hang regs vs. bin. BP/W or BC on a shelf or somehow hanging.

First thoughts were bulding a cabinet in the garage with a closet pole for wetsuit(s) and bc, shelves with slide out bins for more sensitive gear (like regs etc) and hooks or some wire grating (dive show style) on the inside of the doors to clip on bolt snap'd gear (versus bins where line can get tangled, and items can be overlooked/forgoten)

Cons to the garage: It's a tad damp in there and moisture leads to mold and corrosion. It's insulated but not heated...could be an issue in the winter.
Cons to not in the garage: Finding one space to keep all my crap in a single nice organized spot.


Thoughts? Suggestions? Pictures?


GO!!

 

[rhwestfall]

also, garage = bugs. Regs should be stored in big zip-locks, or you will likely get interesting things in them.

Tubs and stack-able crates work well.

I do store my gear in a garage. Unheated, and un-insulated. No major issues to date - and its been years. WS is in the house though, in a closet on hangers.

Everything dry before storage.....

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Of course, anecdotal reports are not a large enough statistical sample to mean much, but…

I use a heavy duty shelving/rack unit. It’s the same design as warehouse pallet racking, often called Gorilla Rack. The MDF shelves fall apart over time, but the rack itself is very solid.

That supports all of my tanks. I use two shelves, but it comes with three: the third shelf, I use the each side portion as a “back” for the bottom and middle layer. This lets me lean doubles up without hurting the wall.

Plenty of room for several big Rubbermaid bins. These bins also work great in the car, so packing for a dive trip only takes a few minutes.

When washing gear, I hang it on the garage door side rails to dry, and put the bins underneath to catch most of the falling water.

I leave everything except the camera and batteries in the garage. I’ve been doing it for years, and have had no problems with corrosion or bugs. I store the regulators in milk crates, coiled up, without any issue.

My stuff is not as organized as the people with a cabinet with a peg for everything, but when it’s time to go on a dive trip, I just grab the right milk crate, the right Rubbermaid bin, the right tanks, and I’m good to go. The only thing that moves around from bin to bin is my mask, light, backplate and fins.

 

[mathauck0814]

Honestly, once everything is rinsed and dried I stuff it all in bags and toss it in a closet. Though it's rare for our gear to ever dry out... so it sort of lives draped over everything on our patio and in the living room... and the kitchen... and the stairwell... oh and the car has that permanent, "yup, it's a dive vehicle" smell. I've also taken to just leaving things on the dive boat since I'm there more often than the crew.

But seriously, you want to keep things like direct sunlight, extreme temperature changes and o-zone away from your gear (o-zone is especially unfriendly to things like drysuit seals) so as long as you're storing it in a more or less natural position (don't kink hoses, fold suits in an awkward way that could jeopardize the zipper, etc) you should be fine.

 

[acteg]

I rinse and let hang dry in the garage for 2-3 days. Once everything is dry, I put everything in a closet. I have 2 sets of complete gear including multiple wetsuits and it really doesn't take up that much space.

 

[offroadr1]

mine is all in a spare closet in my "office". it has 1 wire shelf up high that the wetsuits and bc's hang from with heavy duty hangers. i have 2 jackets and 3 backplates with harnesses and 2 wings, all hanging. my masks, fins, save a dive kit, and snorkels all go on the shelf. my gear bags with my bootys, hoods, cylinders, and other items go on the floor. now for the regs. i use a pelican case Pelican Products 1550 Case to store and transport my regs in. i like them in the case because the are safe while bouncing around in the back of my truck and easy to store in the house. i have a large cut out for the 1st and 2nd stages to rest in, and plenty of room to wrap the hoses in big loops. there are several smaller places i have cut out to store additional 1st stages, spare spg's, service parts, tools, etc. all of it takes up minimal spaces when stacked properly and i can easily get to anything when i need to.