Soaking Duration After Saltwater Diving

[Vercingetorix]

In another thread, I read:

Originally Posted by awap

Hours of soaking after SW dives are required to dilute the salt.

awap was referring to the hose connection to an SPG.

How long should you soak gear after saltwater diving? I have limited saltwater experience. Do certain pieces of gear require different lengths of soaking time? For instance, I assume the BCD requires a simple quick rinse, but the mechanical gear (1st stage, 2nd stage, hoses, etc) require extended soaking?

//I started a new thread so as not to thread-jack the OP's original question.

[ReefHound]

Good question. Perhaps it depends on how long it has been since it was in salt water. I would imagine if you wait a few days after your dive before soaking it in a tub then the crystals would be considerably harder than if you soak within a few hours. Just my guess.

And maybe it depends on how much you agitate the water. I don't soak my gear for hours. Maybe 15 minutes with lots of sloshing around. Never had any problems so far. I try to do it within hours. When possible, I do a quick freshwater rinse immediately afterwards then a better soaking later.

[Osprey]

That's a good question. We try to do a rinse as well as soon as possible, trying to take care to get into the nooks and crannies of the gear since we know salt and sand is relentless But we also soak our gear too, using the above mentioned sloshing technique. I guess I never thought about long term soaks before!

[cmburch]

I have only been on SCUBA in fresh water once in a swimming pool. All my dives are in the ocean. I hose all the sand off my gear in my driveway. My tanks and fins just get hosed off. My weight belt is soaked in cold water for a couple of hours (unnecessary). I then soak Rig, Reg, gloves, booties, wetsuit, mask, etc. in the laundry room sink or bathtub with warm water. When I take a shower, I rinse and hang everything. I may make sure that my Reg, mask, gun, knife, light, etc. are soaked longer sometimes overnight. As soon as I get home I rinse. It may go a few days if on a boat. At campsites, I just rinse my mask. So it is
1. Rinse sand with hose.
2. Soak in warm water and wash/rinse in shower with warm water.
3. Additional soaking as necessary on Reg, mask, etc.

It is easy to see if salt is still on gear if not rinsed enough. The only reason I let it sit longer is because it is easier for me to let things soak at the end of a long day and take care of it the following morning.

There are valves and corrosion points on my Rig.

I have seen someone that did not rinse their Reg and had green corrosion on the threading. I removed it with a brass brush for them so it was not so hard to get it on their tank.

[fireflock]

There are a lot of variables, like if the gear dried (salt crystals) before the rinse, water temp, agitation, etc...

I stuff all my wet gear in a bag after the last dive. It stays a wet salty mess, but doesn't dry out. I dip the bag into the community rinse tank at the dock, and then I put the gear into a rubbermaid tub full of water in the back of my truck. The gear rinses and agitates on the way home (plus the water is usually warm from the sun). Everything seems clean after the drive home so I hang it up until next time.

The only things I pay special attention to are regs, steel tanks (esp boot and valve), and the BC inflater.

[awap]

I just finished rebuilding my wife's Air2's. They were not in bad shape but the unprotected threads of the 2 halves of the air barrel and the contained brass orifice had a fair bit of corrosion. Sometime I wonder if overnight is enough for some components. With BCD, you need to consider the design of your inflator.

[oddbod]

Always dive salt water, really just a good rinse after each day in fresh water/disinfectant, if I notice a built up or a mark, then a soft brush to loosen whatever it is and another rinse.

[CompuDude]

I soak regs, can light, and camera gear overnight. Everything else I just rinse thoroughly. If I had access to more space than a small apt-size bathroom, I'd probably try to figure out a way to soak my wing's inflator also, but:

So far my reg techs have been happy with me, and everything else is doing just fine.