Care for your kit

As we all sit land-bound and locked-down with few diving options available to us, we here at Aquanauts thought it might be useful to think about dive kit!

And yes, we can all dream about that massively lovely, amazingly stunning, achingly desired bit of kit. But this isn’t about that. It’s about caring for what you already have. So we have put together a series of ‘hints and tips’ of how to make sure your kit is looked after properly so that it will look after you when you next get underwater!

 Let’s start the series by looking at Drysuits.

 Step 1. Preparation. Have everything to hand that you're going to need:

1. Water - lots of fresh water
2. A bowl with some fairy liquid or other soapy stuff
3. Tin cans that fit your wrist and neck seals
4. Cylinder and regs
5. Zip Care
6. Beeswax
7. A proper drysuit hanger

Step 2. Cleaning.The most important thing is to make sure it’s clean.Wash it down thoroughly with fresh water – even if you’ve been in a quarry but ESPECIALLY if you been in the sea. With the zip closed make sure you wash the outside of your drysuit.  And don’t forget the zip and valves.

If you want to check for any leaks now is the time to do it: close the zip, plug the neck and wrist seals (baked bean cans do the job) and inflate the suit using your cylinder and regs (plug the inflator hose into the inflator valve). Get a bowl of water, add washing up liquid and brush gently over the seams or any other areas you suspect you may be getting leakage from! If you see bubbles it’s time to head for Aquanauts to get it serviced and fixed!

Sometimes you might want to wash out the inside of your suit – no not for THAT reason… if you’ve done a lot of diving and got a bit ‘moist’ you might want to make it slightly more fragrant. Just rinse with fresh water.

Once you’ve washed it, hang it up and allow it to dry naturally – no hot rooms or direct sunlight. Depending on the suit you’ve got will depend the beast way to hang it. Neoprene prefers to be hung up the right way round – by the boots can damage it. Membrane is comfortable either way up! Check your manufacturers recommendations as different suits like different things.

Step 3. The Zip. Quite probably the most crucial bit of your suit - and often the most ignored and abused bit of your drysuit!  Ignore your zip at your peril.

Make sure it’s clean and that it is lubricated properly. Beeswax and Zip Careare 2 of the most important kit care things you can have. Check for dirt and don’t allow a build-up of wax, that does more harm than good. Closing and opening the zip a few times after waxing will warm the wax up and let it get down into the teeth where it needs to be.

Step 4. Storing. Now your drysuit all clean, fragrant and the zip is a happy zip you are ready to store it. You can hang itup (again which way and zip closed or open depends on the material and manufacturers recommendations) or put it in its bag. This will probably depend on space, your preference and the preference of your ‘significant other’ – especially if they aren’t a diver!

If you’re planning on putting it in a bag please don’t just bung it in, shoving arms, legs and zips in any old way!

• Put it on the floor (zip open or closed depending on brand/type) with the arms out sideways.
• Make sure you put it zip side down.  So back loaders with the zip on the floor and the inflator valve up, front loaders with the zip on the floor and the back facing you.
• Fold the boots inward toward each other.
• Roll upwards from the feet all the way to the shoulders (should look like a large sausage by now).
• Now fold the sleeves across the suit.
• Pop into bag. 
• Store bag without anything on top please as this can damage the suit.

If you look after your suit it will last you for years.  But eventually even 'old faithful' might need retiring. If the time has come to look for a new suit that hasn't yet 'shrunk' or become teabag like in its properties then check out what we have in the shop.  There's tons to choose from and we always have some fairly spectacular deals!