I'm going on my first "dive holiday" shortly and I'm curious as to how people deal with packing wet gear for flights? If I do my last dive at 6pm and then have to fly at 10am the next morning, I doubt my wetsuit (or bcd) will be dry by the time I need to pack them to leave for the airport. Do you just pack them in some kind of "dry bag" and then do a full wash and clean when you get home? Or is the gear sitting wet in a duffle bag for 8 hours going to totally ruin it? I realise it's not an ideal situation to pack wet gear, but what is the best way to deal with it when it's unavoidable?
Wet wetsuits and travel
- Thread starter WetPup
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I take a garbage bag or 2 with me and a few smaller plastic bags.
They compress to virtually nothing in your luggage and keep the rest of your clothes dry.
Try to rinse the gear with fresh water before returning and a day extra to dry isnt a major problem. Maybe use a westuit wash once you get home to prevent mould or bacterial growth. Its winter here and took me 4-5 days for my wetsuit to dry properly.
They compress to virtually nothing in your luggage and keep the rest of your clothes dry.
Try to rinse the gear with fresh water before returning and a day extra to dry isnt a major problem. Maybe use a westuit wash once you get home to prevent mould or bacterial growth. Its winter here and took me 4-5 days for my wetsuit to dry properly.
If you're pushing the weight limit for you checked bag on the way out, a damp wetsuit might push you over on the way back--it's happened a couple of times to me.
miketsp
Contributor
It might not be the answer you're looking for but 6pm to 10am is only 16 hours and if as you say you're doing a "dive holiday" with multiple dives per day over multiple days you should be using a no-fly of at least 24 hours.
That said, 12 hours of draining time should be enough to let most of the excess weight drain out, especially if it can be somewhere ventilated. Ideally rinse the gear in fresh water right after the dive to get the salt out. It will then dry much faster.
I'm not sure what you're asking about sitting wet and ruining something.
Dive gear is designed to get wet and stay wet for long periods.
Sometimes I stay with relatives that live near good diving and they have a small apartment with no space to hang anything. My gear regularly stays wet in the dive bag for weeks because I'll be diving constantly. I just make sure the regs get rinsed with fresh water.
Quite frankly, a couple of hours exposure to the sun, on the boat on the way back after the dive, drying out the salt water and leaving salt crystals impregnated into gear is much worse than keeping gear damp with fresh water in a bag for a couple of days.
Frequent flyer status means I have 40kg to play with, so I'm not concerned about weight for this trip 
But something to keep in mind when flying with an airline I don't have any status with in the future I guess! More concerned about how best to care for the gear under the circumstances.
But something to keep in mind when flying with an airline I don't have any status with in the future I guess! More concerned about how best to care for the gear under the circumstances.I agree with MIKETSP, 16 hours is too short after a dive vacation, 24 is better, I've done a several dive vacations and always leave the last day for "something else". After your last dive, wash the gear in the shower thoroughly, let air dry for the max time available, pack in garbage bags, when you get home, wash all the clothes anyway, including gear bags, and the wetsuit, bcd, reg, camera, lights etc and allow a very long air dry time. Should be fine, yeah on most of my dive vacations, my bags should be marked "open with caution, biological hazard"
Damselfish
Contributor
rolling a suit up in towels (inside too) will absorb lots of water. Nursemaiding the suit will help too - once it's not soaked having AC on good, suit hanging under the ceiling fan, turn it inside out after awhile, wring ends of legs and sleeves as water collects there, whatever encouragement it needs to dry.
scubasaurus94
Contributor
After giving it a quick rinse after my last dive I try to leave it out to dry and pray it doesn't rain. Then I wrap it up as best I can in the towels that are also slightly damp, throw it in a suitcase, and spend the flight home thinking about how miserable I'll be when I have to open the suitcase and wash the stuff. I've never had a problem with wet gear ruining my gear bags.
Code Monkey
Contributor
Like Ghanguss, bring a bunch of giant garbage bags with me on vacation and pack my wet dive gear in it on the trip home. This keeps my luggage from mildewing.
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