Dumb Question: DIN Dust Caps

I know its not like me to ask really dumb questions[1] but its been bugging
me since Sunday.

Parked in the top carpark at Stoney.
Kitted up.
Walked down.
Had nice dive.
Got out.
Started to walk back to car.
Thought "Bugger this, I'll put the cylinder in for a fill, it'll save
carrying it all the way up and back"
Removed regs.
Removed cylinder from BC.
Put cylinder in for fill.

At this point I've got a wet BC slung over my wet[2] drysuit shoulder, wet
hands, dripping hair etc. and I'm thinking... "I don't want to get water in
my brand spanky new[3] TX40s" and have to carry them up the road carefully
avoiding dripping in them.

Being used to A-clamp rental regs, this was never a problem, they generally
have those flat dust caps that you can wipe the water away and clamp them on
straight away.

We get to the car and de-kit and I dry off the threads of the reg and pop
the dust cap on.
We see people leaving the bottom carpark so decide to de-camp to there.

We have dive two.
Dekitting after dive two I go through the towelling of the threads[4] and
application of the dustcap routine and think -

there has to be a better way...

....so how do you lot do it?

Having the dustcap attached to the reg seems silly as it'll just get wet and
it would be a nightmare to get the water out, especially in the situation of
the first dive when there was nothing to hand to dry it.

I was starting to think of some form of plug to fit the (4mm hex?) hole
which would be easier to dry than the dustcap.

Any thoughts?


CAS

[1] - OK, OK...
[2] - on the outside
[3] - and very nice indeed!
[4] - while listening to other divers cracking cylinders and blowing water
vapour into their regs
[5] - mental note - "Buy O-rings"

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Pete Young <pete@antipope.org> spluttered indignantly:

>>I was starting to think of some form of plug to fit the (4mm hex?) hole
>>which would be easier to dry than the dustcap.

>>Any thoughts?

>Put the dust caps in your drysuit pocket.

ObDOH - of course what I should have said was, put the dust caps
in your UNDERSUIT pocket.

Pete

--
__________________________________________________ __________________
Pete Young pete@antipope.org Remove dot. to reply
"Just another crouton, floating on the bouillabaisse of life"

>
> ObDOH - of course what I should have said was, put the dust caps
> in your UNDERSUIT pocket.
>
> Pete
>

Would that not hurt like hell with suit squeeze? I have those plastic screw
caps for mine.

The old rubber hoods that come with the regs wouldn't hurt I guess. Maybe
you have them?

My undersuit pocket (DUI) is close to my nads, imagine if I had one cap on
either side and then squeeze? Blimey i'd be after you then Mr Young!


--
mattD
______________________________________
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"mattD" <zip@norway.no> wrote in message
news:KUXbb.32165$Hb.491495@news4.e.nsc.no...
>
> >
> > ObDOH - of course what I should have said was, put the dust caps
> > in your UNDERSUIT pocket.
> >
> > Pete
> >
>
> Would that not hurt like hell with suit squeeze? I have those plastic
screw
> caps for mine.
>
> The old rubber hoods that come with the regs wouldn't hurt I guess. Maybe
> you have them?
>
> My undersuit pocket (DUI) is close to my nads, imagine if I had one cap on
> either side and then squeeze? Blimey i'd be after you then Mr Young!

You could buy a small aquapac and store it in there. Someone recommended it
for car keys and I've been using it ever since. 100% dry and have been down
to about 20 meters with it.

Have a look at www.aquapac.net for details.

HTH,

Mark.

mattD <zip@norway.no> writes:

>Would that not hurt like hell with suit squeeze? I have those plastic screw
>caps for mine.

Me too, and I've accidentally put one in each undersuit pocket before
now with no effects. Weezles have pockets in different places, either
that or my goolies are made of cast iron!

>The old rubber hoods that come with the regs wouldn't hurt I guess. Maybe
>you have them?

That is probably a much better idea for the odd occasion where the
decent dust caps are not within easy reach. They will keep out most
splashes although they probably won't survive being washed, or protect
the threads on the valve.

>My undersuit pocket (DUI) is close to my nads, imagine if I had one cap on
>either side and then squeeze? Blimey i'd be after you then Mr Young!

You wouldn't be able to run very fast, with crushed nuts!

Pete

--
__________________________________________________ __________________
Pete Young pete@antipope.org Remove dot. to reply
"Just another crouton, floating on the bouillabaisse of life"

CAS <calumscott@yahoo.com> skriver:
> We have dive two.
> Dekitting after dive two I go through the towelling of the threads[4] and
> application of the dustcap routine and think -

I have mine on a string around the reg, a quick blow with the
reamining air in the cylinder before putting it on have so far done
the job. This way it's always close when I need it. I jused to have in
dry but then you don't have it when you need it.

/ Balp
--
http://anders.arnholm.nu/ Keep on Balping

> We have dive two.
> Dekitting after dive two I go through the towelling of the threads[4] and
> application of the dustcap routine and think -
>
> there has to be a better way...
>
> ...so how do you lot do it?
>
> Having the dustcap attached to the reg seems silly as it'll just get wet and
> it would be a nightmare to get the water out, especially in the situation of
> the first dive when there was nothing to hand to dry it.

Hmmm... I have been accused of being silly in the past, but...

I keep the dustcaps bungeed to the underside of the reg first stage.
This may prove to be an entanglement problem, but it hasn't ever been so
far. When I take them off I dry the dust cap with the cylinder. I then
screw the caps on - the threads are rarely very wet and in any case you
are moving the water away from the hole, then sealing a still dry .

When I get home I wash the kit, and then remove the dust cap to let the
regs dry. I then replace the dust cap when the reg is dry.

I do a lot of diving, all of it in salt water, and I don't seem to be
damaging my regs - but I can give no guarantee...

HTH,

Ben

--
Ben Panter, Edinburgh
My name (no spaces)@bigfoot which is a com.

Ben Panter wrote:
> I keep the dustcaps bungeed to the underside of the reg first stage.
> This may prove to be an entanglement problem, but it hasn't ever been so
> far. When I take them off I dry the dust cap with the cylinder. I then
> screw the caps on - the threads are rarely very wet and in any case you
> are moving the water away from the hole, then sealing a still dry .
>
> When I get home I wash the kit, and then remove the dust cap to let the
> regs dry. I then replace the dust cap when the reg is dry.
>
> I do a lot of diving, all of it in salt water, and I don't seem to be
> damaging my regs - but I can give no guarantee...

Err, I just throw them in a barrel along with my wet kit. This also seems
to work...

I've never washed my kit, except the breather, and even with the breather
I'm not as manic about it as alot of people. Dive kit is a hell of alot
more robust than most people seem to think.

Al.

On 23 Sep 2003 16:58:54 GMT, dixit Alasdair Allan
<aa@ukrecscuba.org.uk>:

>Err, I just throw them in a barrel along with my wet kit. This also seems
>to work...
>
>I've never washed my kit, except the breather, and even with the breather
>I'm not as manic about it as alot of people. Dive kit is a hell of alot
>more robust than most people seem to think.

Nice one, Al.

I think that ought to go in the UKRS hall of fame all time great
humorous quotes page, or something.

--
ICQ 163264 "Follow, lead or get off the shotline"
Make spammers pay... use CruelMail

On 23 Sep 2003 16:58:54 GMT, Alasdair Allan <aa@ukrecscuba.org.uk>
wrote:

>Ben Panter wrote:
>> I keep the dustcaps bungeed to the underside of the reg first stage.
>> This may prove to be an entanglement problem, but it hasn't ever been so
>> far. When I take them off I dry the dust cap with the cylinder. I then
>> screw the caps on - the threads are rarely very wet and in any case you
>> are moving the water away from the hole, then sealing a still dry .
>>
>> When I get home I wash the kit, and then remove the dust cap to let the
>> regs dry. I then replace the dust cap when the reg is dry.
>>
>> I do a lot of diving, all of it in salt water, and I don't seem to be
>> damaging my regs - but I can give no guarantee...
>
>Err, I just throw them in a barrel along with my wet kit. This also seems
>to work...
>
>I've never washed my kit, except the breather, and even with the breather
>I'm not as manic about it as alot of people. Dive kit is a hell of alot
>more robust than most people seem to think.
>
So is this why you break your kit more often than anyone else I
know....

Pete S.