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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.
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parker_webb1mo 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.
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corap611mo ago
Man, "real fix" sounds like you're solving world hunger, not scrubbing some scuba junk.
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