Rigging your dive buddies gear.

[Centrals]

-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.

The exchange rate of kiwi dollar against green back had gone up the roof over last couple of yrs. So I thought everything imports from US should be cheaper.
I am surprised to learn that divers are expected to pay for the tank as well as weight belt + weight!! The only freebie is the air fill.

 

[vladimir]

When you are diving with a regular dive buddy it occured to me that it might be good practice to set up and break down your buddies gear for them on a few occasions .They are meanwhile doing the same for you. That way you are both gaining familiarity with the specifics of each others gear setup.
The owner of the gear would check after setup of course.

Am I thinking this through propperly or is there something wrong with my thinking ?

This is a slight variation on a popular and divisive discussion we schedule every quarter, along with estimated tax payments. Some of us think that their lives are hanging in the balance, that strapping a BC to a tank is roughly equivalent to preparing the space shuttle for launch, and that it is impossible to satisfactorily check the setup after somebody else has done it. No doubt they do much more extreme diving than I do--maelstrom diving perhaps. I am firmly in the other camp: I think gear setup is trivial, I think the consequences of improper setup should be minor and should be discovered in a normal pre-dive check, and I would be happy to have my buddy or the boat crew do it for me, though I don't see a huge benefit to either.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

There are a couple of issues here. The first is most experienced divers I know want to and do set up their own gear. Less experienced divers need to set up their own gear to become more proficient. My wife is my dive buddy. She sets up her own gear, or we set up both together. You can be a gentleman or lady to your dive buddy without doing all the work for them. As far as being familiar with a buddy's dive gear, that is want a pre-dive check does. And if you dive with the same buddy a lot, you are no doubt familiar with that buddy's gear already. So,... overall, an interesting suggestion that should be voted down. You thinking was good, your conclusion was wrong.
DivemasterDennis

 

[DaleC]

I will tell you a little story that illustrates the wrong way to familiarize oneself with another persons gear and the importance of checking afterwards when someone does so.

Suited up, just before splashing from a boat, my friend asked me to quickly turn his air on. Never having seen manifolded doubles before, I twisted both valves from the closed to open position (so I thought) and told him I was done. A quick puff off his primary and a check of the spg and he was off.

Half way through the dive he began to go OOA with an spg that read full??? Fortunately, he knew what was going on, corrected the error, and we continued the dive.

Problems:
1. Originally, the right post was off but the left post was on, so I actually opened the right post and closed the left (not paying attention to direction of turn which can be confusing on doubles the first time). Because the spg (on the left post) was charged it still read full even with the valve closed and because the primary reg was on the right post it breathed correctly because that valve was open. At depth the right tank was breathed down to empty while the spg still read full off the closed left tank.
2. Breathing both the primary and back up regs would have caught this problem on the surface as would performing a safety valve drill before descent, as would asking someone if they knew what they were doing.

I learned a lot about manifolded doubles that day (the hard way).
I also began looking at what each peice of gear was supposed to actually do, instead of just relying on rote procedures.

 

[Akimbo]

…Suited up, just before splashing from a boat, my friend asked me to quickly turn his air on. Never having seen manifolded doubles before, I twisted both valves from the closed to open position (so I thought) and told him I was done. A quick puff off his primary and a check of the spg and he was off…

This is one of the lesser reasons I am a proponent of the Safety Handwheel. Obviously it has no value for the diver, unless they wear their cylinder front or side mount. IMHO, its greatest value is for fill station operators. Secondarily it is useful for mechanically challenged and some dyslectic individuals. It is useful for pre-dive visual checks by buddies, dive masters, and boat crews but I consider that a third priority.

 

[TSandM]

You know, a lot of the objections folks have to doing something like this would be solved by 1) the diver giving his gear a once-over after his buddy set it up, and 2) a good head-to-toe equipment check done before getting in the water. Other than a loose camband, there is very little I can imagine that could be wrong with my gear, that I won't find during that check. Turned off gas (either post or both), unconnected inflators, stuff not clipped off . . . all of this will be found by a good head-to-toe check. But as I tell our OW students, this is the FIRST good habit I see divers discarding after they are certified . . . sometimes literally on the very next dive. It's fascinating to me that technical divers, often with a lot more experience and a lot more ability to handle problems in the water, rarely omit their checks, but recreational divers, with fewer options and less experience, seem to find them unnecessary.

 

[Lead_carrier]

I strongly disagree! A buddy is free to check out my equipment to make sure it is familiar & in suitable working order for myself & them, but no, I will not let them set my equipment up. That is my life support down below, I alone am responsible for making sure it is as I need it to be. By letting your buddy assemble your gear, you are putting your life in their hands. Do you trust your buddy that much?

If you dive with a buddy, you already do. While I understand your statements, I do not like anyone messing with my gear. I sure don't want them setting it up for me, do I trust them with my life? If I'm diving with them as a buddy I do.

 

[aquaregia]

It's fascinating to me that technical divers, often with a lot more experience and a lot more ability to handle problems in the water, rarely omit their checks, but recreational divers, with fewer options and less experience, seem to find them unnecessary.

I'm really bad about buddy checks (as in, do not meet my own standard) with a) more experienced divers, b) people I don't know and c) people who have already jumped in the pool. For some reason, I just feel weird about it. It's no good. I don't feel this way with mates, GUE guys and new divers.

I think some of this stems from some of the first experienced divers I dove with. You know, like the cool kids at school who smoked and didn't wear seat belts. I'd say my current dive challenges are better buddy checks and calling dives when I'm not having fun (improving on the latter!).