What should families do with gear?

[Ken Kurtis]

Agree 100%!!!

If somebody dies in a diving accident, the gear used at the time of accident is mostly destroyed by investigators (cut up to pieces). Unfortunately I witnessed this before.

That's not necessarily true. I can't speak for other jurisdictions, but I can tell you that in Los Angeles County (FYI, I'm a forensic consultant for the LA County Coroner for scuba fatalities) we make every effort to return the gear to its rightful owner once we're done testing it and assuming there are no outstanding legal questions.

You're right about drysuits, wetsuits, hoods, and maybe even booties being cut off of people in the rescue process. But in L.A., the protocol is for ALL the other gear (including personal effects) to be secured by the Sheriff, and then turned over to the Coroner for testing.

The personal effects are usually returned to the familty within a day or so. I try to test the relevant gear within a couple of days of the accident and usually get my report written within another few weeks. The gear (along with my final report) is then turned back over to the Coroner.

The goal is to then return the gear to the rightful owner. That's sometimes a little tricky as we have to figure out what was owned by the victim, what was rental gear from a store, and what may have been borrowed from someone else. But every effort is made to return everything as quickly as possible. Just realize that "quickly" is a relative term in situations like this and we sometimes feel if we can get all the loose ends wrapped up in 8-12 weeks, that's pretty good.

Also understand that if there's any pending legal action, lawyers may request the Coroner to hold the gear for up to one year. That complicates things too.

Technically, any evidence seized in connection with a potential investigation is usually destroyed. But the L.A. Coroner (the two lead investoigators are both divers) are very sensitive to the amount invested in dive gear and want to do whatevetr they can to return the property. And since in 99.99% of the cases there's no ciriminal activitiy, that's what's done.

This isn't exactly where this thread started but it's an aspect that manh people don't think of so I thought you might collectively find it interesting.

 

[DRsharky]

You're right about drysuits, wetsuits, hoods, and maybe even booties being cut off of people in the rescue process. But in L.A., the protocol is for ALL the other gear (including personal effects) to be secured by the Sheriff, and then turned over to the Coroner for testing.

Thanks Ken for the professional point of view, and that's what I meant, the wet / dry suit, hood and booties.

 

[psychocabbage]

use it or sell it.. If I am gone, there I dont think my diving gear is on my mind any longer.

Material items are trivial.

Some items I want with me when I am put in my crypt. Others, do whatever.. I wont care.. The Items I would want with me in my crypt are mainly just cause they spent so much time in my life with me.. My BMX bike for instance.. Had over 6k miles a year on it and had seen many parts of the world with me.. Spent many hours on it so why not bring it with.. My computer.. God knows it and I have been inseperable.. Good thing it makes me $..

My dive gear? Ugh. I know I am not fond of giving or donating.. Just the way I am.. Make a buck or trash it.. but dont give it away..

 

[bbul]

My husband always jokingly tells his friends "When I die, don't let my wife sell my dive gear for what I told her I paid for it!!!!"

 

[james croft]

A friend of mine answered an add for used scuba gear. The lady selling it told him her husband had died while diving in NC. She told him he had a heart attack and did not die from equipment failure. My buddy Hank got a good deal on the gear but just to be on the safe side he waved the gear through some white cedar smoke to shake off any bad mojo that may have been on it.
Better safe than sorry...

 

[DebF]

This thread reminds me of a woman I meet diving a few years back. She was in her mid-50's, (or later?? I'm not sure) and in VERY good shape. Her gear caught my attention. Her BC was way too big for her and it all looked BRAND SPANKING NEW, despite the fact that I recognized it as being models that were at least 5 yeard old. (top end BC, very nice air integrated computer)(OK, so I'm a gear junkie some times...). So I got up the nerve to ask her about her ill-fitting BC, if it was working for her. I also couldn't believe her OW instructor would let her dive that thing, it looked like it would be a problem, it was at least two sizes too big.

Her story was this, her son had tried and tried to get her to take the OW class with him, but she was always too busy. He went ahead and took the class with out her and really got into diving. He bought his own gear, and kept trying to get her to take OW so they could dive together, he knew she would love the diving, still she was too busy. He was killed in a car accident.

She now dives her sons gear in his memory. And he was right, she LOVES diving!!

 

[PatrickDives]

She now dives her sons gear in his memory. And he was right, she LOVES diving!!

That's a great story...but is she safe with ill-fitting gear? Perhaps her diving would be more enjoyable with better fitting gear.

On another note, I would hope that if I were to meet my maker, that my wife and family would give (or sell) the gear away. I know too many people who keep things just for the sake of keeping things (memories).

Please don't do that. Be practical, let someone benefit from the gear...don't use it as a shrine to clutter up a piece of the house.

That's my .02 on the question.

Have a good one.

Patrick.

 

[AndyA]

The thought is what would I want my family to do with my scuba gear (not so much the stuff I was wearing at the time, but the spare regulators, computers, BCD's, tanks, and compressors, along with all those other trivial items like lights,knives, etc.). I
thanks Ike

I have an agreement with two of my dive buddies to remove my scuba gear from my home. I am also a marksman and have that same agreement with my shooting team. My wife does not dive or shoot, she would be lost if she had to handle the gear. These agreements were not made with the thought any particular type of accident but anything can happen at any time.

Thanks
Andy

 

[DebF]

That's a great story...but is she safe with ill-fitting gear? Perhaps her diving would be more enjoyable with better fitting gear.

That was EXACTLY my first thought. So, I sat down next to her and asked her some thing about her BC, if it was hers/rental/borrowed. I then got the above story about her son. I let it go.

 

[Garrobo]

When my cousin's husband died of a heart attack a couple years ago she ignored his diving equipment until she decided to sell out and live in an apartment. She called me one day and said I should look over his equipment and I could have anything I wanted. His grown kids had taken his tanks but there was a lot of good equipment there. By the time I got to see it most of the better things had been confiscated. I ended up taking two wetsuits, two BCD's, some lead, a couple sets of fins and a Dacor Pacer regulator set. I had the Dacors rebuilt, sold the BCD's, fins and wetsuits on Ebay since they were too little. I keep the Dacors around for spares though I used them pretty regularly for a while. Love'em.