Soaking Gear

[CaptnJack]

I've never soaked a dry suit. I have soaked the exhaust valves, when they got sticky. Otherwise, I just give the thing a good hosing, paying special attention to the zipper and the valves. Seems to work okay for me.

+1. Never had a problem just hosing it down.

Ditto, and sometimes not even that.

[LowDrag]

Sounds good to me...thanks

[Joshua Smith]

I've never soaked a dry suit. I have soaked the exhaust valves, when they got sticky. Otherwise, I just give the thing a good hosing, paying special attention to the zipper and the valves. Seems to work okay for me.

Plus 4 or whatever. I soak stuff like my weight harness, first stages, lights, small gear, etc. But never my dry suit.

[Jeff Pack]

Im leary of salt away. Not convinced it isnt hard on latex seals. Any evidence to the contrary?

I always fresh water rinse after salt away. I figure the salt away helps break down salt crystals better than just a rinse or a soak, especially when the rinse water will have salt in it anyways.

Especially for my fusion which traps alot between the two layers you cant just rinse out.

I have the Fusion Bullet and have been wondering how other divers soak their dry suit of any brand. How do you close off the seals so that you can submerge the suit in order to soak it. As for the seals, I got ours with silicone seals.

I don't close them off, but just dunk up to the seal, except neck, that area is rinsed only

[Linedog]

I toss all my gear in a tub, all my gear! Tank with regs pressurized, weights, lights and drysuit. Let soak while I wash my gopro and remove the SD card and start the download. Then after about an hour I start pulling stuff out, dunking it in another fresh water tank and hanging stuff up. I hang my suit up by the feet and turn a fan on it all.

[SSpiffyDiver]

Here's what I use. PVC set up as a siphon to drain it. Drop everything inside, put the lid on, load it with weights to keep the wet suit submerged, fill it with water, and let things soak for an hour or so. It was free.

[Linedog]

"free" one of my favorite 4 letter words!

[CaptnJack]

Here's what I use. PVC set up as a siphon to drain it. Drop everything inside, put the lid on, load it with weights to keep the wet suit submerged, fill it with water, and let things soak for an hour or so. It was free.

Have any more pictures? Looks interesting. I have a 55 gal polyethylene drum that I use to soak regs, lights, and scooters in. My suits and tanks just get sprayed off with a hose.

[cardiver]

Here's what I picked up at Home Depot today.....

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1375482298.754185.jpg (19.21 KiB) Viewed 2409 times

[cardiver]

[attachment=0]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1375483101.500763.jpg[/attachmentWorks just fine!

[SSpiffyDiver]

I'm hobbled on crutches right now, I'll try to take a couple more photos tomorrow.

[SSpiffyDiver]

OK, here's a closeup of the top with the top in place.

And the top; note, I had to cut off the chine around the top of the barrel so it would fit inside.

The top sits on three little ledges made from a ring I cut off the barrel.

Detail of the inside siphon.

And the outside siphon. The tube is long to get the water out of the shed and onto the grass. I normally do the soak with the barrel in the driveway, but if I'm soaking for longer than I plan on being outside I'll do it in the shed so I can lock it away from prying eyes. Also, getting the end of the tubing as low as possible in relation to the water level makes the siphon run faster.

I made all the cuts with an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel, the siphon was made with 1" PVC, and the tube is a piece of tubing from Lowe's - the only thing I bought for this project, everything else was lying around the shed/garage. It would have been easier to drill the holes in the top and cut off the chine if I had done it while the top was still part of the barrel.

I normally just fill it and let stuff soak, then start the siphon to drain it. If you have really salted gear (a multi-day trip without any real chance to rinse), this can be used as a flow-through system. Add gear, put on top, pile on the lead, and fill with fresh water. Start the siphon, then put your garden hose in the top and adjust the flow rate from the garden hose to maintain the water level. You'll have a flow-through rinse going as long as you keep the flows in balance.

[CaptnJack]

Ahh interesting. Mine has a spigot in the bottom to drain. And I threw out the lid I cut off :(