203. Decontamination

At a minimum, all equipment should be rinsed in fresh water after every dive. Failure to remove contaminants, especially from a drysuit, will cause it to turn ripe. Furthermore the accumulation of grit could end up causing trouble. In my experience the best thing to do is to bag gear on site (black bin liners are ideal) and then take it home for cleaning.

Particular care must be taken when packing a drysuit prior to the journey home. The zip should be fully closed before bagging the suit; an easy way to wreck a drysuit zipper is to leave it partially closed so the teeth end up twisting against the slider. If there is any chance of the suit being left more than 24 hours before cleaning then the seals should be dusted to stop them from sticking. Seals (both wrist and neck) should be turned inside the suit and the arms folded across the chest. The suit can then be rolled up neck first so the boots end up on the outside of the bundle. If you find that too much air ends up being trapped in the legs, you can roll the feet up half way to the waist. Then roll the neck downwards and over the chest & folded arms, meeting the rolled legs & feet at waist level. Either way, the idea is to protect the more delicate parts of the suit during transportation.

You can clean equipment at home in the shower or the bath. Enamel baths may need protection when rinsing metal components such as first stages, preferably with a mat of some sort. If the gear has turned ripe then a preliminary rinsing should be done outside, and a mild detergent soap used for the main cleaning, followed by a final rinse.

Remember to dust the drysuit seals before storing the suit in its carry bag, preferably with a fragrance-free talc that won't attack the latex. Baby talc is mild enough. Only a light dusting is necessary.