Rigging your dive buddies gear.

[Akimbo]

…Here's mine. Feel free to tinker:...

I see one glaring problem already! Your backplate is converting up Donald. Shameful.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

you are putting your life in their hands. Do you trust your buddy that much?

As an instructor don't you preach this very concept via the buddy system? If not all that buddy stuff goes right out the window if you cant trust them.

On a side note my buddies and I all dive similar gear and set up our own equipment.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I trust my dive buddy.
I know that he/she understands how to operate my gear enough to help me out in an emergency situation.
I know that my dive buddy is certainly capable of doing a comprehensive pre-dive check on my gear.

Taking these things into consideration, I suppose I could let my buddy assemble/disassemble my gear for me (and vice versa), but there are a number of reasons why it's better for the owner of the gear to put his/her gear together:

• Careful divers do a lot of functional checks during gear assembly, disassembly, and post-dive rinsing. As the owner and primary user of my gear, I know the maintenance history on every little part. That knowledge informs my gear checks. For instance, I know if I adjusted something on my gear in-between dives and I can pay particular attention to that part of the pre-dive check.
• If a problem is identified with the gear (e.g., 2nd stage free-flow), who attempts to fix it? If the owner is the one who's going to be making the adjustment/repair, then it's going to throw off both divers' gearing up routine. If I'm controlling my own gear, I can get to work right away on the issue and probably do a better job of rectifying the problem. My buddy can help me once his/her gear is squared away. I am a lot more familiar with repairing/adjusting my gear than my buddy is. Moreover, my save-a-dive kit is "optimized" for my gear.
• It's possible to damage a part/piece of gear during assembly/disassembly. If that happens, who pays for the repair? The owner might have a nagging suspicion that the damage would not have occurred if he/she had been assembling/disassembling the gear. If you're setting up/breaking down your own gear, there's no ambiguity about who should pay for the repair.
• I know exactly how I like my rig "adjusted" to suit my needs. For instance, I know how high/low to mount my tank on my rig. I also know how tight I need to screw in my DIN connector in order to make a good seal between the first stage and the tank valve. I was sick on a boat dive once during a surface interval and the helpful DM switched the tank out for me. Not only did he get the height wrong on the tank (I admit I should have checked this prior to entering the water) but he also screwed in the DIN connector too tight. Even after de-pressurizing the system, I needed to ask for someone else's help to disengage the connector.
• We are all fallible human beings and not all things are easily tested once the gear is already assembled. I think the primary user should get the first shot at testing every doodad upon assembly. I would feel really bad about an incident if an issue that I may have missed during assembly caused my buddy to get hurt. This is just how I feel about it.

 

[Frosty]

I just edited my origonal post to reflect what I meant.
I'm NOT in any way suggestion that getting your buddy to strip down/assemble be a normal day to day occurance. Definitely not.--I apologise if it comeas across that I was suggesting this.
But that once in awhile they should do so.
Again its just about your REGULAR buddy being aware of even silly stuff like how your tank band works and perhaps how your weights fix into the pockets. How to get your dive knife out etc.

 

[DaleC]

Well, seeing as your edited your OP I'm going to edit mine (tired of the grousing from the purists in the crowd )



Herman, I hear ya but when I'm actually diving with someone else either they or I sling a pony or I attach an octo to the hookah. I may have eclectic tastes but I don't require my buddies to share in them (unless they want to).

Tr3a, if you look close at the bottom left hand side you can see the d ring where the jigsaw goes. It needs to be cordless though as I can't afford a surface tender.

Akimbo, I would show Donald but he isn't wearing pants and I'm afraid it would violate the TOS.

 

[TSandM]

There's an easier solution . . .









(If you all have the SAME gear, there is no question of familiarity!)

 

[DaleC]

Lynne, your not seriously suggesting that everybody should dive with a plywood backplate are you?

 

[Frosty]

There's an easier solution . . .
(If you all have the SAME gear, there is no question of familiarity!)

yea well thats all great in the land of the rich but down here on the worlds butt pimple we pay through the nose for our gear. :acid: And we border on third world wages. -so we get the gear we can afford.
-On a side note to give you an idea--$1000 New Zealand dollars for a Sherwood wisdom 2 and around $500 for a (new) 15litre steel tank.

 

[ajduplessis]

You can look and ask questions, but you can't touch!!

 

[blackvans1234]

You can look and ask questions, but you can't touch!!

Ughhh I hate when people touch my gear


I REALLY hate when I get all of that corrosive salt water on it
And the freshwater brings nothing but bacterial growth

Afterall, my gear is expensive, not like all the other invalids I'm forced to dive with