Dive shop in Galveston showed me a salvage trick I'd never thought of

Stopped by a little dive shop in Galveston last month to grab some o-rings for my old Kirby Morgan, and the owner had this beat-up prop from a shrimp boat sitting on the counter. He said he found it tangled in an old crab trap line and spent a week soaking it in vinegar and CLR to get the barnacles off. It got me thinking about how we treat our own gear after a muddy job, like how I usually just hose off my harness and call it good. He showed me how he uses a cheap ultrasonic cleaner for small parts like regulator yokes and hose fittings, and it blew my mind for $80 at Harbor Freight. I tried it on my valve stems and a stuck knob on my dry suit inflator, and both came out like new. Anyone else got a weird salvage or cleaning method that saves your gear from the salt? I need more ideas before my next Gulf trip.

2 comments

2 Comments

parker_webb9h ago

Honestly I think you're overcomplicating this whole thing, ultrasonic cleaners just break down the same crust you could knock off with a wire brush and some elbow grease in ten minutes. Plus that $80 gadget is gonna sit in your garage for a year before you ever use it again, especially when saltwater gear just needs a good freshwater rinse after every dive to begin with. If the barnacles are so bad you need a sonic bath for your valve stems, maybe the real fix is not dragging your gear through crap that's been sitting on the bottom for months.

corap618h ago

Man, "real fix" sounds like you're solving world hunger, not scrubbing some scuba junk.