Gear checkup before a dive - secret checks

[NothingClever]

Concur on no secret checks. I think the ease with which you go about things contributes to your reputation as a seasoned and reliable dive buddy and/or your duties as a role model if instructing.

I do thorough checks of all my kit but still periodically start walking towards the water without my fins. I suppose that’s a disadvantage of having predominately black kit...it sorta all blends in together. I would normally feel sheepish about my occasional boneheaded lapses but nearly all the experienced folks with whom I dive (many with 1000s of dives) have done the same.

 

[NothingClever]

The Philippinos I dive with say “Breakfast With Rice And Fish” to make the mnemonic stick.

 

[Zef]

Concur on no secret checks. I think the ease with which you go about things contributes to your reputation as a seasoned and reliable dive buddy and/or your duties as a role model if instructing.

I do thorough checks of all my kit but still periodically start walking towards the water without my fins. I suppose that’s a disadvantage of having predominately black kit...it sorta all blends in together. I would normally feel sheepish about my occasional boneheaded lapses but nearly all the experienced folks with whom I dive (many with 1000s of dives) have done the same.

Most of my gear gets packed into a rubber-made bin for the haul to the local dive sites, my BP/W is the last thing to be put in the car so nothing gets stowed on top of the wing, this coupled with my ever growing senility has led, on a couple of occasions, that I started driving to the dive site only to have to return home because I left my BP/W hanging on the rack in the garage.



-Z

 

[Sbiriguda]

The Philippinos I dive with say “Breakfast With Rice And Fish” to make the mnemonic stick.

LOL

 

[Satrekker]

I'm OCD, predominantly solo diver, so I focus on my equipment. When I get ready and go through my routine, I am focused and don't engage in idle conversation with others. I check gear when it is first put together and after donning, I do a GUE type head to toe double check. I don't like other people touching my equipment, and while I know dive operators want to be helpful, it's really irksome when somebody else puts their hands on my cylinder valve to check my air.

 

[divad]

-Z[/QUOTE]
I hate that...

 

[Zef]

-Z

I hate that...[/QUOTE]

What do you hate...the emoticon or forgetting to pack your bp/w?

-Z

 

[divad]

I hate that...

What do you hate...the emoticon or forgetting to pack your bp/w?

-Z[/QUOTE]
Yes, now that you mention it, but I was actually too lazy to put the accidently erased quotation back.

 

[Johnoly]

...Are there any other secret checks..

A bit outside the personal parameters everyone has mentioned............
Since we primarily boat dive, I check every tank for a bungie strap just as we are leaving the dock. On 85% of boat trips I take, there is usually atleast one tank not bungied in or the bungie is under the reg/valve. I just do it because when the gear takes a 'header' to the floor, it almost always snaps a hose or other problem. Then the finger pointing starts. It's usually a delay or return to the dock for swap and it can add another hour later that we get back to the dock.
It takes 2 seconds to look up and down the bench lines to see a bungie, but it happens all the time.

 

[GM Cole]

I always take a couple of test breaths from of my octo while submerged during descent. Test breaths on the boat or shore are not good enough. A holed or mis-seated second stage diaphragm can appear to breathe normally out of the water but then deliver a mouth full of water when submerged. My son and I discovered this when we were using some rental equipment. The octo appeared to breathe just fine during the usual surface check but my son just decided to take a test-breath from the octo underwater on a whim... no one was OOA thank goodness. Since then, an octo breath or two while submerged early during the descent is on my my family's checklist.