Diving season is starting to wind down.

I hope every veteran out there was given a big thank you for your service over the Veterans Day weekend. I certainly thank you.
Diving season is starting to wind down even for our residents here in Wakulla. The ocean temperature is dropping quickly as the Gulf Stream slowly moves further out away from the Gulf shoreline. The temperature is currently 70-72 degrees near shore. You still have a little bit of time left to get those last few dives in before it really drops to the low 60’s and then a drysuit would be your best choice for diving.
Since the majority of the diving is done for the year you will put your gear in your dive bag for the next 4 to 5 months hoping that, when it’s time to use it again, you might get lucky and the gear will work like it did when you stuffed it in your dive bag.
I have seen it all to often that the very same regulators and BC you used last season will not work properly, the second stage leaks when you attach it to the tank and your BC has a leak around the dump valve.
Two things happen if your regulators aren’t stored properly:
The hoses are bent and not straight because you had them curled up in a regulator bag thinking they would stay clean from dust and bugs.
The second stage starts to leak slightly because the poppet seat got cut by the diaphragm spring pressure from not being used for several months.
Then you have your BC that can set without air and stored in your dive bag without being stored inflated, that will cause an issue with the dump valve(s).You can also have mold growing in the bladder if it is allowed to dry without being inflated.
The regulators need to be stored hanging up in order to let the hoses hang down and as straight as possible usually by the first stage. I would recommend getting special hangers that you can mount the BC and regulators connect by the yoke or DIN. You can get those on Amazon.
Now as far as the leaking of the second stage the only way to fix that is to get your regulators serviced so they will be ready in time for the start of the dive season.
Please don’t wait until the day before you go diving to get them serviced because it will cost you an expedite charge.

Russell Miller #59999

This is a repeat of a column from last year. – Editor