What should families do with gear?

[I Dive]

Good thread. As someone else said, I think this goes beyond diving. We are all going to croak at some point. And, when we do, we are going to leave behind much more than SCUBA gear. In addition to discussing our wishes with loved ones, we need to document all of them in a will, particularly those of us who are single and wouldn't have a survivng spouse but really everyone. No, I'm not an attorney trying to draw clients! This is one of those things that sucks to think about but needs to be done...

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Give mine to someone that will benefit.

 

[SterlingDiver]

Of course I say it jokingly a lot, but I mean it:

If I die diving please DO NOT let my wife sell my gear for what I told her I paid for it!

 

[tajkd]

Of course I say it jokingly a lot, but I mean it:

If I die diving please DO NOT let my wife sell my gear for what I told her I paid for it!



But seriously, Mrs. RJP and I have agreed that my buddy TAJKD would simply come and take it all away to get it out of the house. He can keep what he likes, give whatever his son could make use of to him, and then sell the rest or maybe donate it it the Boy Scouts or whatever.

PS: Dave, before you get an "itchy trigger finger" on our next dive, I did advise Mrs RJP that if you should seem a bit too anxious to pick my gear up (like stopping on the way home from the boat to pick it up) that she should perhaps ask for an investigation into how it was that I came to be shot 2-3 time by an unknown speargun-weilding assailant!

How'd you guess? I was actually thinking of tying off your reel line to some fisherman's hook but you already survived that one.

 

[T. Brooks]

Kind of depressing and certainly thought provoking. It was nice to see a little humour added into the mix. It helps I think.

I have to agree with what many have already said. I'd hate to see it sit and collect dust, but profiting from it would be a little uncomfortable as well. My wife dives so she knows what's what. I will add a comment to my "last letter" letting her know what I want done.

I started my "last letter" a few years ago when I was going overseas on business. It's a good thing to have I think. Not a will, and certainly not an opportunity to set things straight. Just a note to tell her I love her and to leave a few requests, such as what to do with my dive gear.

Tony

 

[nwfladiver]

donate it to a volunteer search and rescue dive team. most will be happy to recieve it as most are underfunded and could use all the equipment they can get.

 

[Fish-R-Man]

I grew up in S.Cal and was in the Boy Scouts until around age 17. The last group I was with was an Explorer group that was orginized around diving. We used to meet at Marineland on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and we worked with and got to dive with the biologists and maintenance divers there as well as other places. I am not sure if they still do this kind of specific groups, but I know that at the time they could have really used some donated gear. Just a thought.....

 

[AbyssalPlains]

No offense, but this is the strangest question I have ever read on ScubaBoard.....

I would never think about that - bad karma.

 

[GrandpaScuba]

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

I have, sort of, the same arrangement with my buddy. Not for my dive gear, if I die, he's supposed to come and get the porn. (Sorry, I couldn't resist. Everyone was being soooooo serious!)

 

[NudeDiver]

I'm in the "if I'm dead, then I don't really care" camp. Wife could do anything she wants with it for all I care. If I died while diving, I doubt she would go diving anymore - so keeping goodies for herself probably wouldn't happen. I doubt she would go through the trouble of selling it. My guess is she would just give it to a diving friend of mine. That's fine - wouldn't really matter to me.