Boat crew setting kit up

[Charlie99]

Most people here prefer to set up their own gear. Those that wouldn't mind won't likely admit it online.

I'll admit it. I'm lazy. I'm perfectly happy to have the boat crew setup my gear, and for them to change out tanks during the SI. I've had plenty of practice doing it. I don't have any sort of compelling need to do it a 1000th time.

It takes me 10 seconds to check everything and make any needed adjustments.

On the better boats, they will note the height of my BCD and match it when they swap out tanks.

Whether or not the boat crew does this is a regional thing. They routinely do it at most dive ops in Cozumel. In Maui, due to the boats being launched from trailers at a boat ramp, the standard practice is for divers to hand their gear up to the crew on the boat in the parking lot. The boat crew then puts everything together before the boat is launched. There is lots of time to check the gear on the ride out to the dive site.

As far as boat crew turning on air or checking valve position, I just reach back and check the valve again if anybody has touched it as I walk to the entry point.

 

[JCAT]

It depends on the size of the boat and how many divers.

Some boats/canoes I've dove from are just not big enough to accommodate. Small enough that one needs to get out of gear in the water and it be handed up.

Personally, I would rather set my own gear up, but would want anyone else doing it to be a diver as well.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Touch my gear- no tip. Touch my tank valve-no tip. If you can't set up your own gear you have no business being out of the pool. If too you don't want to set up your own gear don't bitch if its wrong, fails, or falls apart. I would not allow anyone to set up my gear and will not use an op that insists on it.

 

[AndrewA]

I too like to set up my own gear. I have my routines when diving and I like to stick to them ("If you break a drill remake a drill"). That way I am sure that my gear is set up as I want it. Normally the first thing I do when I get to a dive site/on a boat is to set up my kit and make sure it is working, then I can relax.

 

[miketsp]

As already commented SB users are not the best sample universe for this question.
Now what do I normally see on dive trips.
Many divers rent all gear and when I get on a boat in a tourist location, those rigs are fully set-up before the divers get on board. This simplifies logistics.
As for the remainder, the correct is to offer to help set-up, on demand.
Those of us that don't like other people touching our gear will then get on with the job.
Only those that want help will ask for it.
This cuts down significantly on liabilities in two ways. Firstly the crew member is "helping" rather than "doing" and secondly if I have accessories like computer, watch, lights, smb etc in my dive bag and someone else starts unpacking it and then something goes missing or breaks I'll expect compensation.
On practically every boat I've been on for the last few years the crew will check that the tank valve is open while the divers shuffle to the platform or at the platform. I don't mind this except for those (idiots) that leave the valve hard open and stuck rather than open and back a fraction.
The leverage I can exert in the water reaching back has sometimes been insufficient to then recheck in water before submerging and I've had to ask my buddy to loosen the valve.

 

[Steve50]

Right now your operation is doing the worst thing. Untrained crew setting up the gear.

Either train the crew how to set up for people who would like it, or train the crew not to set up gear.

 

[Zippsy]

Certainly most people in this forum are going to want to set up their own gear. Once a year divers don't hang out here. The majority of other divers who are here and don't mind someone else setting up their gear, will not say anything here. But, on our boats, every diver who owns their own gear has set it up. One of the crew sets up the rental gear but it is checked by a DM or instructor. We also tell the customer to check it and there never seems to be any problem.

 

[Searcaigh]

My last trip to the Philippines at PG had the local crew setting up everyone's gear, tank, reg, BCD, then loading it on to the boat.

I double checked everything as normal, and I don't recall any issues. The dive op I used was very professional and included analyzing your own gas and allocating the tank to yourself with a system that could be easily checked. Given that they used a membrane system we never exceeded 33% and all of my fills except one were 32% during a week of diving.

Personally I don't like people setting up my gear for reasons already explained.

 

[sea_ledford]

We always set up the customers gear when i worked on tourist boats. Unless they specifically asked us not to, then it was hands off. We asked the customer to hand us their reg and BC first then the rest for the bag so we didn't have to paw through their stuff to get what we needed.

After doing that for 8 years or so I had maybe a couple dozen people ask me not to set up gear. So I would say the average diver wants, or doesn't mind, the crew setting up gear. Granted in this case the crew were all instructors. I'm not sure about how I would feel having untrained boat crew setting up my gear, but it's easy enough to check.

How hard is it to train the crew to set gear up properly? At least the rental gear, since the crew would be more familiar with it than the people diving it anyway. It's not like it's any more difficult than training them to tie off the boat, and I hope they can do that already. How about teaching the crew how to dive so they understand why it needs to be set up correctly?

 

[DennisW]

Even if the crew are divers, SCUBA instructors, and/or DMs, don't touch my gear. I don't want them to check my air as I am getting in the water, I've had people turn off my air. There is no way that anyone can know all possible combinations of equipment setups. The only person that should set up their gear is the person using that kit. If they are not competent enough to do that, then they don't have any business getting in the water.