Live a Board Packing Ideas?

[SteveR]

I will be on my first Live a Board next week. It is a 3 day So. Cal. trip and I can't seem to find anyone locally that has been on such a trip to advise me on what to take and how to pack gear for the deck etc.

I know there is very limited space in the sleeping areas and not to take much stuff other than the dive gear and a few personal items.

I have to take all my gear as the boat does not rent anything so a tank and weights are needed along with all the other gear.

How do you get all your gear on the boat and then keep it from getting lost while on deck? I have a small boat bag but not big enough for everything...just the basic stuff. Being a rather large guy my gear is also large...XL actually so suit, fins, BCD all take up a lot of space.

Thanks

[snagel]

Mesh bags to carry gear and then they can be rolled up and stuffed somewhere. I'd make sure all your gear is labeled with your initials or some identifying mark. Once everybody's gear gets tossed together you may have a difficult time figuring out who's is who's if not marked.

Snagel

[TJDiver]

The liveaboards I've been on assigned you a tank/station for the duration of the trip. These "stations" usually have some kind of gear locker either under or near your seat. We would set up our gear once we boarded, and it pretty much stayed on the tank the entire trip. So, you're left with only storing items like mask, fins, computer, cameras, etc. in the gear locker.

However, they're not all alike, so I would check with them to get an idea of how it works with their charter. Do they have a web site? I would bet some of your questions are answered in an FAQ section if they have a site.

[fisheater]

Call them and ask. I'm sure that they'll appreciate that you're trying to help them avoid deck clutter and interference with other divers.

[SteveR]

Their website has a FAQ (which read before posting here) but it does not go into any detail about gear storage.

I sent them an email several days ago but no reply. I guess the next step is to call them.

Thanks