Teaching “The Big Soak”

I was going through a popular entry-level dive textbook recently and discovered that, while annual cylinder inspections and periodic hydrostatic tests were covered in great detail, not one word was devoted to regulator maintenance, other than giving regulators a quick rinse after every dive. No wonder customers act dumfounded when we explain their regulators need to be professionally serviced once a year!

Seriously, the more you can educate customers about the need for professional service — and about the ongoing care they can provide between service intervals — the more service you will sell, and the less of a headache that service will be to perform.

Here’s a tip that can help:

You’ve no doubt noticed that, despite your customers’ best efforts, it is a rare regulator that comes in for service without some buildup of salt and corrosion. Why is that?

• Consider the rinse tank on most dive boats. On many islands, the water that goes into the rinse tank at the start of the day is brackish at best.
• Then, as each successive passenger rinses his or her gear, the rinse tank becomes progressively saltier.
• Even if customers rinse their equipment a second time, when they return to their room, what comes out of the tap may be no more salt-free than the water that first went into the dive boat rinse tank.

To help minimize the problems that lack of truly fresh rinse water causes, encourage your customers to do “The Big Soak” just as soon as they get home.

• Have them fill their bathtub or — better still — a large plastic trash container with fresh water.
• Pour in a capful of BC conditioner (or, lacking that, a small amount of vinegar).
• Make sure the regulator dust cap is firmly in place.
• Soak all of their equipment in this mixture at least overnight.

This will do a lot to dissolve the salt and corrosion the “on island” rinse tank did not. It will help your customers’ equipment perform better between service intervals — and save you a lot of headaches at overhaul time.

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