Maintaining Pool Gear: Chlorine = Death

Every dive facility has to go through the dreaded aftermath of dealing with Chlorine-damaged gear at some point. Swimming in chlorine is one thing. Diving in it? That's a whole other story.

No matter how good the material claims to be, Chlorine will inevitably be its death. Here are some things you can do to help prolong the life of your pool gear, and avoid having to replace it as often.

Rinse Gear Properly - Wash Buckets are Not Always the Answer

The best way to rinse gear is to rinse it in clean, fresh water. Most facilities have rinse buckets that sit there all day, sometimes for multiple days (GROSS!), for gear to be rinsed. After one good class, that water is pretty darn chlorinated, and doesn't rinse as well as one would hope. Hook up a hose, and rinse gear that way at the end of a session. This ensures that the gear is as rinsed as it can be! For your regs, soak the second stages in fresh water for a bit as well, and really swish them around to get as much chlorine out as you can.

Get it Wet Before You... Get it Wet?

This works like a hot-damn on my hair, let me tell you. Dry textiles are quite absorbent, even water-resistant materials like ballistic nylon. If you get that fabric wet with clean, fresh water before taking it in the pool, it'll absorb less chlorine, rinse out better, and stay black longer! Hose down any fabric or neoprene before it hits the pool to prevent excess chlorine absorption, and facilitate more effective rinsing. Heck. Do the same with your hair!

Seal Strap Attachments Before They Get Wrecked

BCD Straps break SO quickly with repeated use in the pool, and they always tear in a spot that's super awkward to get a sewing machine into (like right where the damn strap attaches to the BCD! UGH!). It'll inevitably happen, but a cool way to slow it down is to Aquaseal the crap out of the area where the webbing attaches to the BCD. Use Cotol-240 (an accelerant you can get for use with Aquaseal) to make it a bit more liquid, and really work it into the fiber of the webbing. Like you're pre-soaking the material before getting it wet, but with glue. What this does is prevents the chlorine from getting to such a high stress area. Pre-seal high-stress webbing attachment points with Aquaseal to add strength and prolong the life of the straps. It won't stop it for good, but it'll slow it down, which does help!

If Chlorine is Evil, Cold Water is Bruce Campbell

Ever washed your whites in bleach with cold water? Ever washed them with bleach and HOT water? You guessed it, those whites turned out whiter with the hot water! If you want to slow down the effects of the chlorine on your lovely gear, rinsing in cold water will help slow the reaction of the chlorine - and slow the bleaching of your gear. Works the same way with your skin and hair. Tons of people will go swimming with no adverse effects, until they get out of the shower and their skin is all red and blotchy. Hate to say it guys, after an extended chlorinated dip, cold showers are the best. Rinse your gear with cold water to help slow down deterioration and bleaching due to chlorine immersion. Really helps your hair too!

Watch Webbing and Buckles for Signs of Weakness When plastic buckles weaken, especially when they're regularly used in Chlorine - they kind of start to turn a funny shade of white. You'll notice it on the male buckles first, the outer 'arms' of the buckles will start to weaken at the bottom. Not saying you need to replace them at the first sign of weakness, but be prepared with spares you can swap out on the fly. Same with webbing - it starts to get thinner and more rippled when it's about to go. Have the strap replaced before it tears completely, as the repair will just be that much simpler. Replace straps as they weaken as opposed to once they actually tear - the repairs will be more effective.

Don't Overinflate BCD's!

Seriously! It's a TON of stress on the BCD and the bladder itself! Make sure the diver - whether that's you or your student - is weighted properly, and not so heavily weighted they need to be fully inflated at the surface and kicking for dear life. Excess weight also contributes to wear on the BCD, as that's just that much more strain on the material! Perform a weight check to ensure you're not carrying excessive weight, and avoid over-inflating your BCD and straining the material further.

Your Hanger Doesn't Want Your Lead

This one is mind-boggling, probably because I'm short - but take the weights out of your BCD before hanging it up! Aside from having to lift all that extra weight above your head to hang it up, it puts SO much strain on the straps and pockets! Remove weight from your BCD before hanging up or storing it.

BE GENTLE!

Honestly, be gentle with the gear! Don't reef on a strap to show how burly your biceps are, don't swing a complete rig around by a shoulder strap (seen it! It ends in injury to the gear!). Be kind to the gear, remember that with chlorine it's under additional stress, and hopefully it'll last you a little longer!

Happy Pool Diving!

-Sab

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