Kathy_Wills
New member
Your best outdoor luggage purchase?
The plain duffel bag suggestion seems good for the tanks but don't you need to keep the regulator etc. pretty clean?
If your travel plans include off road travel dust will find it's way into any bag with a zippered closer. I'd look a pelican case with some internal padding for stuff that is sensitive to dirt/shock.
The regs have attached dust covers that will suffice, but most people carry them in a padded zipper bag. Especially since most divers have an attached dive computer to protect, as well. Throw the padded bag inside the duffel, as well. Or carry it separately (carry on). If you are on a budget, I have read that thrift store insulated casserole carry bags work just as well.
Really the only dive gear that needs something like a Pelican case is high-end photo/video gear. Everything else is really rugged, and will do fine in a normal duffel. Even with gorilla baggage handlers.
As for the dust, if it's waterproof to 150+ feet, it's pretty well dust proof. It won't get hurt by dust, and you will have plenty of water to rinse it off at your destination...
Most divers don't travel with tanks. They are difficult to travel with, and readily available for rent at popular dive sites. You would really have a hard time finding a place to dive where tanks weren't available cheaply. Personally, I would even have a hard time justifying buying tanks for local diving. If you own a tank, you still have to pay to have it filled, and it's only a couple of dollars more to rent one. Plus you have to 1) pay for the tank and 2) pay for annual visual inspections 3) pay for the hydro cert every 10 years. Last time I rented a tank, which was several years ago, it cost about $5 to have a tank filled, versus $7 to rent a filled tank. At $2/dive, it takes a long time to pay off a $150 tank, without factoring in the inspection costs. Oh, and the only way to get a tank on an airline is to remove the valve. Then to have it filled you have to pay for an inspection and cleaning, which can only be done by a dive shop, which rents tanks cheap. Really no good reason to try to travel with tanks 99.9% of the time.
Sorry if I got carried away.