Equipment25th July 1998.

Generally you will not need to take much with you when you are exploring drains. Shorts, t-shirt, old shoes and a flashlight will do fine. Some of this stuff will seem obvious to experienced drain explorers. Ultimately after exploring drains you will get an idea of what you need or don't need. You may want to take some extra equipment with you when exploring drains. We suggest:

Must Have Equipment:

flashlight. You will need at least two of these, both should be waterproof. I recommend your main flashlight be an Eveready Dolphin or the newer Eveready Red Alert as it puts out good light, is waterproof, it floats and the batteries are not too expensive (compared to 'DD' size batteries). You can pick up a new Dolphin flashlight for about $10 from supermarkets such as Coles, Safeway, Woolies or Walmart.

Batteries

Dolphin type batteries usually sell for about $3 and last about 3-5 hours, about $1 per hour. It is worth investing in rechargeable batteries or flashlights if you can.

Back up flashlight Your backup flashlight can be a simple pocket flashlight, as long as it's waterproof. I suggest you use a Mag-lite or some of the newer Eveready or Sonka type rubberised pocket flashlights. You can sometimes buy these in Two-Dollar or reject shops or Safeways for a 2-3 dollars. Attach it to your cloths with a key-ring and string long enough to allow it to be kept in a pocket. Most often the back up flashlight will only be used if the main one breaks down. If you go in a group 1 flashlight between 2-3 people is generally okay, as long as there is at least 2 flashlights between the group.

Long term light - candles.

When it comes to long term light of low power for such things as parties in drains or a spot of art-work candles are good - but not in drains with bad gas! Candles are good in well ventilated big drains. They are really good to light up drains like a cathedral. I would not recommend generally taking candles into drains as every day equipment, only take them when you know you are going to use them.

Make sure you don't shine your flashlight in people's faces! It's very annoying when this happens.

Backpack or bag

You will need a bag of sorts to carry your kit in. You should have one that keeps your hands free. A bag you have to carry in your hand just won't cut it. A backpack or bum-bag should do the job.

A back-pack should be comfortable and not too big. A simple day pack will do the job. Ideally it should have padded straps but let's not be fussy, almost any day pack will do the job. You don't need anything flash, just a hard wearing pack. Hard wearing is the operative word here, you will need a pack with reasonably thick material, thin nylon plastic packs will fall apart after a while

The pack should be large enough to carry a flashlight, bottle of water and can as well as having pockets for your spare flashlight, manhole popper and other stuff you almost always carry. You can pick up a pack almost anywhere but check out discount shops because they often sell them.

If you explore drains with a pocket flashlight a bum bag will do just fine. A small flashlight will fit into a bum bag just fine along with textas etc. You can pick one up for as little as $2 in most discount shops.

Popper. Manhole poppers are a very handy tool to have. Poppers are used to lift manholes. They consist of a small 'T' shaped device made out of 7.5 or 8mm steel rod. You can make these yourself if you can get hold of oxy welding gear. It is a simple case of cutting up the metal rod into two 12 cm long bars and one 2.5 cm bar with the 2.5 cm bar on the bottom. The joints should be welded together strongly. I have found the handle on my popper to be a bit hard on the hand and recommend a wider handle, possibly a metal / wooden one.

The 2.5 cm bottom length of popper is designed to fit into the lifting holes of GATIC type manholes. You may want to create a second popper with a longer bottom piece to allow easier opening of round grid manholes.

Water Bottle. A small water bottle is useful and just about a must have. Exploring drains can be thirsty work. You don't need a custom job, just a small plastic soft drink bottle will do fine.

Footware. Most drains have some water in them, even if it's not deep. You can either adopt a 'keep my feet dry' attitude or a 'stuff it' attitude. After a while you will probably just give up trying to keep your shoes clean and dry. So I recommend you use shoes you don't mind getting dirty. Old shoes with good grip are best. Grip is important! You must have good grip or you will slip over.

You might consider buying a pair of cheap shoes from a factory shop, seconds place or from Dimmeys in Richmond. Your shoes will require good grip for climbs and crossing slippery drains. In summer when the weather's warm runners are ok. In winter when the water is cold you may consider gumboots, even though they are uncomfortable. Some gum-boots now come with good toe protection and I suggest if you can afford them then they're the best to get.
You can usually pick up gumboots at a second hand shop for a few dollars or you can buy them at most hardware or disposals stores.

Clothing. You will mostly need and use typical everyday clothing. There is little need for any specialised clothing. In summer you should do with shorts and shirt. Shorts are recommended because although most drains don't have much water in them, splashing will normally get you lower half of your leg wet. Typically the shorts should be quick drying and have big pockets. In summer, when it's best to explore drains you can normally just wear shorts, a good pair of shoes and a shirt.

Occasionally some people will explore wearing coveralls or overalls, especially in dirty or cold drains.

And remember drains are dirty! Gather a single set of cloths to wear in a drain and wear only them in the drain. They will get dirty, but it will save you messing up other cloths.

Optional Equipment:

Maps. How else do you think you are going to work out where all those drain are eh? You'll need one of these to navigate about the place and to locate the drains on the location sheet.

Paint. Useful for leaving your mark or messages in the drain. After crawling all the way up a drain you like to prove that you were there. This is done by using either paint or textas. Most commonly used is aerosol can paint, - spray cans. These can be purchased for under $3 at almost every discount shop in UA City. Some of the discount shops sell these cans for $ 2.50.These shops also tend to sell fluorescent spray paint for a bit over $3. These prices were current 10th June 1998.

We use and recommend Pro 400 and Pro 200 paint. Heratidge Green and Red seem to be the best colors. White and black are to be avoided. We suggest you avoid 'Action Paint' or 'Export Paint' which is crappy.

Markers / Textas

When it comes to textas try get ones with angled tips, not pointed tips. Generally the bigger the better. When writing with them try to smooth off the area you are writing on first or the texta tip will wear down quickly.

When using paint or textas don't write above ground, stick to drain entrances and inside of drains or you may find yourself in trouble for vandalism.

Pocket knife.Not normally required, in fact I have never needed to use one in a drain.

First aid kit. Optional but recommended. Not always necessary for experienced explorers but useful for beginners. A simple one in a small waterproof container should contain: Bandaids, a bandage, cotton wool, anti-septic, gloves. You can normally put together one for about $5-6 and carry it in your pocket.

Having said all this you can normally get away with exploring some tunnels with nothing more than a pocket flashlight if you're careful. We've explored known drains in normal cloths, everyday shoes and just one pocket flashlight between the lot of us but ideally we take our coveralls, flashlights and first aid kit with most also choosing to wear a helmet.

Light Rope. Not the sort of rope you use for climbing, but rather a short piece of rope that you can use to tie to your bag and equipment when crawling through low drains or pipes or climbing ladders.

Food. Some long drains take so long to explore that you may like to take along a light snack.