Do they wash the mouthpieces of rented SCUBA gear

"Johnny Thunders Jr." wrote in message
news:1124253978.998309.293820@z14g2000cwz.googlegr oups.com...
> I never dove before and not sure what you mean.

Never dove before? And exactly how are you going to get a company to rent
you some equipment without getting certified? There are some of us here who
taught ourselves how to dive and were even able to rent gear on the odd
occasion without showing a C-card... But that was many years ago and these
days, the shops seem to be concerned from a liability standpoint enough that
one might be hard pressed to find a shop that would let you skate by... You
do not need a C-card to buy your gear... The shops will gladly sell it to
you without ever checking your C-card... They'll even sell you a tank, but
they might not fill it without seeing your C-card... On the other hand,
after having bought all this gear from them, they might just assume that you
have a C-card and fill your tank for you... Kind of depends upon how you
present yourself... If it is obvious that you don't know much about diving
or are bullshitting them, they're more likely to ask to see your C-card...
You could also order your equipment from the internet... I've yet to
encounter an online store that required proof of my certification... Another
option for getting a tank filled is some of the fire extinguisher companies
that also fill the SCBA tanks for the fire departments... With them, you
might not even need a tank visual inspection (although your hydro must be in
date)...

> Are you talking about a scenario where I run out of air and need
> to use my buddy's tank?

That's one possibility... Regulator malfunction would be another... During
your training, you will be required to perform an out-of-air drill and
you'll be swapping spit with whoever last used your partner's alternate 2nd
stage regulator (aka octopus)... Someone else might be using yours and you
can't always guarantee it will be someone with which you would prefer to be
swapping spit...

If you are overly concerned about germs, but still want to dive, I would
suggest that you consider rigging yourself for solo diving... Double
redundancy of tanks and regulators at the very least... You don't have to
worry about what bacteria might be on your buddy's regulator since you are
carrying your own backup air supply and backup regulator...

I suspect that most divers are willing to just give their regulators a quick
rinsing in whatever body of water they're diving in to remove any germs that
might be on them...

> Again, if I'm just too paranoid and totally off the mark on this (maybe
> salt water kills all germs) please excuse me for raising this issue. I
> didn't expect all the hostility. After the trip I'm sure I'll learn a
> lot more and ask more "advanced" questions.

Nawh, it doesn't kill all the germs, but the chlorine bleach and ammonia
technique that I previously mentioned should work...

"Johnny Thunders Jr." <johnnythundersjr@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1124253978.998309.293820@z14g2000cwz.googlegr oups.com...
> I never dove before and not sure what you mean. Are you talking about a
> scenario where I run out of air and need to use my buddy's tank? This
> would not be a common occurance (I presume). I'm trying to get my wife
> to go with me as buddy anyway.
>

I'm assuming you mean that you want your wife to take lessons with you and
that you hope the two of you will become certified together, yes? I think
you should know that more often than not, when one partner is convinced to
take up diving against her will, it doesn't work out very well. While you
are doing all that hoping, you should also hope that your wife is one of
those rare people that find they love the whole experience, despite initial
misgivings.

> Again, if I'm just too paranoid and totally off the mark on this (maybe
> salt water kills all germs) please excuse me for raising this issue. I
> didn't expect all the hostility.

We aren't being hostile . . .teasing you a bit, sure. Just consider it all
"tough love".

>After the trip I'm sure I'll learn a
> lot more and ask more "advanced" questions.

We'll be here to welcome those questions, and be informative and derisive in
equal measure. :^)

By the way, I have a bag of mouthpieces I've never used. Do you want to buy
them from me? I bought them when I first started diving, before I bought my
own regs.

Scott wrote:
> "Johnny Thunders Jr." <johnnythundersjr@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1124215247.043465.274860@g44g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>
>>I keep saying.....This was a legit question and I doubt I'm the only
>>one who ever asked this. With all the crap going around, it's not so
>>silly to have reservations about sucking on a rented regulator. I'm not
>>going to spend $1000 dollars on one but will look around ebay and see
>>if I can find some affortable ones for me and my wife.
>>Again, thanks to all with helpful responses, BUT THERE ARE A LOT OF
>>CONMEDIANS IN THIS NG
>
>
> Look for an Apeks DS4.
>
> You can spend more and less, but wont do better.

I wanted to get one of these but they've started making them with
plastic locking rings now - why they felt the need to produce a newer,
inferior version I don't know.

"BarryNL" wrote in message news:4302f7d5$0$11068$e4fe514c@news.xs4all.nl...
> I wanted to get one of these but they've started making them with
> plastic locking rings now - why they felt the need to produce a newer,
> inferior version I don't know.

Yeah, one would figure that considering the cost of regs, at least they
could make them out of stainless steel or chome plated brass... But what the
fuck do I know? Hell, I still dive with Dacor 150s and 360s...

"chilly" <slarson@shaw.canada> wrote in message
news:iLAMe.228533$5V4.219620@pd7tw3no...

> I'm assuming you mean that you want your wife to take lessons with you and
> that you hope the two of you will become certified together, yes? I think
> you should know that more often than not, when one partner is convinced to
> take up diving against her will, it doesn't work out very well. While you
> are doing all that hoping, you should also hope that your wife is one of
> those rare people that find they love the whole experience, despite
> initial
> misgivings.

They get over it with time. Janna was resistant at first. Now she has well
over 100 dives under her belt and will probably hit 200 by the end of next
year.

"Never Let Them Quit" by SSI's Bob Clarke is mandatory reading for SSI
Instructors.

Thus spake "Grumman-581" <grumman###@gmail.com> :

>"BarryNL" wrote in message news:4302f7d5$0$11068$e4fe514c@news.xs4all.nl...
>> I wanted to get one of these but they've started making them with
>> plastic locking rings now - why they felt the need to produce a newer,
>> inferior version I don't know.
>
>Yeah, one would figure that considering the cost of regs, at least they
>could make them out of stainless steel or chome plated brass... But what the
>fuck do I know? Hell, I still dive with Dacor 150s and 360s...
>

I've still got a Dacor Aero octo. And my 960 is still in good shape,
although now retired.

--
dillon

Pain is Nature's way of saying "that was stupid"