While on Vacation, Why don't u like other people changin your tank?

[Puffer Fish]

Yep odd too so many posts like that. I'd hazard to say that if you feel so insecure that you think it's life threatening to have a professional set up your kit, and can't verify if it's been done properly within 20 seconds you're probably the type of diver that most needs help.

If you follow pre-dive and buddy check procedures properly you will not even enter the water, never mind submerge even if someone completely messes up your setup.

I think the generalization of "Profession" and the reasons for why someone would want to change their own gear over are a little off base.

I think by now, I can tell if someone set my gear up correctly...I just don't like to find out that someone left a little pressure on my din connection, blew the O-ring out and then put the unit back together (as an example) on a fresh tank. I've had that event happen twice in the last two years from people not used to DIN.

When on a new boat, with new people, it is pretty hard to know the actual skill level of everyone involved..

 

[Rhone Man]

I agree. I don't think you need to be insecure to prefer to do it yourself rather than have somebody messing with an expensive piece of kit that they may not be familiar with.

To make my own generalisation: DMs that keep rattling on about how they are "professionals" display their own insecurities to my mind. You might be a professional because you are getting $12 an hour to be on the boat, but don't presume that means you can lecture me on how it ought to be done.

 

[Damselfish]

I'm perfectly happy and prefer to set up my own gear - but also perfectly happy for someone to schlep tanks for me. But if it's one of those boats where they normally have things set up and swap tanks between dives, I see no reason to make a fuss about it, though I would certainly stop someone that appeared to be incompetent. But hooking up basic rec gear is hardly rocket science and if they can't even get that right I wouldn't want to be diving with them anyway. Checking that everything is right is simple enough, as is correcting something.

 

[bleeb]

I think by now, I can tell if someone set my gear up correctly...I just don't like to find out that someone left a little pressure on my din connection, blew the O-ring out and then put the unit back together (as an example) on a fresh tank. I've had that event happen twice in the last two years from people not used to DIN.

When on a new boat, with new people, it is pretty hard to know the actual skill level of everyone involved..

On one vacation spot dive, the crew were very helpful and efficient. Took your BC and tank off while you were still on the ladder, carried it to the other end of the boat, and swapped the tank by the time you got your fins off and got through the lineup of divers getting back on the boat.

Unfortunately, in the process, they'd blown salt water into my first stage, and folded the hoses in half and jammed them through D-rings to 'keep from loosing all the gas if the regs should leak during the boat ride to the next site.' Couldn't very well yell at them to stop from across the boat (and it happened quickly enough that it would already have been done anyway) and wasn't experienced enough at the time to realize in advance that this amount of equipment abuse was a possibility.

I don't mind someone else carrying all the heavy stuff. Mistakes, I'll catch when checking things (and probably resetting the tank height). But I don't want someone doing it wrong and possibly damaging my gear in the process.

 

[Kingpatzer]

We know that even though we don't argue and let them set their own gear up the tip will be really low, because that type usually finds some reason no matter how hard we try.

I've generally been the most popular guy on the boat for the tips I give. But maybe I'm the exception not the rule. I've had to make a living off of tips before, and I try to be the customer I always wanted to serve rather than the guy I always hated.

But that doesn't mean I'm not a picky bastard about the things I'm picky about. Which honestly are not many, nor frivolous:

Do you have a full first aid kit on board, including an oxygen kit which has been recently serviced?
Do you have a working radio on board?
Do you have at least one crew member certified in CPR?
Do you know the emergency frequencies?
Do you let me have my little pre- and post- dive rituals provided you see nothing honestly unsafe about them (knowing that a diver who follows a step-by-step pre-dive checklist every dive is probably going to be safer than one who does not?)

And that last one includes letting me set up my gear.

 

[Jupiter31]

The majority of responses to threads like this always crack me up. Luckily I work in Hawaii, which is not really a Dive Destination and is too expensive of a vacation for most of you Cheap Bastard Divers.

I have worked for 3 op's with boats, and the first also sent groups out with many other operators boats on the other sides of the Island. In my 8 years of off and on part/full time boat and shore instructor/guiding I have only had one customer with 7' hose and he let me set up his gear just like everyone else. In thousands of customers I have only witnessed less than a handful of picky divers who demand to set up their own gear. We know that even though we don't argue and let them set their own gear up the tip will be really low, because that type usually finds some reason no matter how hard we try.

ScubaBoard, home to less than 1% of the divers on the planet.

Obvious to me your operation catered to the new, or the "few", or the rusty - not all of us - even a percentage of the "less than 1% of the planets divers that are SB members" - which has to do w/ what are new, rusty, or inexperienced.

We are all not cheap, either - live in FL, but have visited Hawaii 3 times - beautiful place with fantastic people.
You might want to consider a position with less public contact - no one said working with the public was easy, but some have a better ability to do so than others

Hey I want to go to Hawaii for my next holiday then! No neurosis and plenty of palm trees!

Seriously though, many people do forget that where safety and organisation is concerned, they have to listen to the staff and crew of dives. Divers may feel their equipment is precious but sometimes, they are not the final voice.

Sorry, Louie - can't agree with you here - if your point is for example on the small, fast boats in Cozumel, its difficult to have 8 divers setting up gear as the boats are moving, I have a real easy solution - do it when the boat is not moving - or moving slow. Or at the very least, carefully check EVERYTHING before diving.

Like Ronald Regan told the Soviets, "Trust, but verify..."

My gear, my set up preferences, my life/safety, my money - sorry Louie. I am the final voice, not someone with 6 or 10 other divers on their mind - why do I suspect your post "came out wrong" and you perhaps meant something else - because as an Instructor, I'm sure you teach your students they are the most responsible for their equipment and safety.

 

[Walter]

It's your gear, but it's their boat.

True, and they are more than welcome to set up their boat, but not my gear.

 

[HJeffreyM]

Safer to Let the Boat Crew Do Their Job!

All most all my diving has been from a boat so here's why I actually believe it is safer to let the boat crew set up your gear:

1. They do this literally thousands of times a year.

If experience means anything these guys have it in spades. I've seen a good boat crew change ten to fifteen tanks between dives in five minutes. This includes dealing with different equipment brands, set ups, weights, computers, high sea conditions, etc. If all those divers wanted to set up their own gear, you'd have a nightmare on deck. As a safety issue, having the boat crew do the initial setup and changeover (on a two tank dive) is a no brainer.

2. You are actually adding a layer of protection

After the boat crew is done you can check their work yourself! You can also add whatever you like to your setup (clips for hoses, any other gear you may need). Then (here's that extra layer I mentioned) you can have your buddy check the setup again (as you will do for him/her)!

Now we have three layers of system checks instead of just two.

YOU are indeed responsible for what you get into the water with, and nobody said "don't check to see if the work has been done properly," but a good boat crew can ensure the safely of everyone on board. They are usually very experienced, hard working, responsible for your safety while on the boat and deserving of whatever tips you can muster at the end of the day.

 

[DennisW]

I haven't read this entire thread, but in my humble opinion, there is no way any one person can know how all of the gear on the boat works and should be checked out before a dive. Sure most dive gear is similar, but similar just doesn't cut it with me. I know my gear and I want to make sure that I know it is working. Setting it up is the best way to make sure everything is set up correctly. Besides, most people that don't use Scubapro Vest BCs will put the tank strap way too far down on the tank and then I bang the back of my head when I jump in the water.

 

[Coldwater_Canuck]

If it's rental gear, I'd be much more okay with them setting it up. But my gear, you don't have a right to touch it even if I'm on your boat.

I know these places are trying to be helpful, and to most vacation divers they probably are. But this site is the more hardcore diving fans who would dive in an infested swamp if it was their only option , and those type of divers are probably much more likely to be independent and want to do their own thing. It seems 90% of people on here want to set up their own gear, although this probably isn't representative of divers in these locations overall.