Question Do you prefer someone help you set up your gear, or do you prefer setting up by yourself?

[scrane]

I don't know what a crew member can do with a standard setup that can't be detected and corrected in two minutes.
If crew members left divers to their own devices on the typical boatload we'd probably never get everyone in the water. I've seen people take three minutes just getting their fins on.

 

[Dan G]

I totally get why someone would not want anyone touching their gear. However, I don't mind when a DM sets up my gear between dives or in the AM before I even get on the boat. I do the same checks I would have done had I set up my gear myself. Some ops will take your gear and rinse it for you, so I just double check that the things I have clipped to my backplate, such as a light or compass, are where I like them to be.

 

[boulderjohn]

If crew members left divers to their own devices on the typical boatload we'd probably never get everyone in the water. I've seen people take three minutes just getting their fins on.

Yes, that is why they want the crew to do that work.

Years ago on a Florida trip I checked in at the office, showing an instructor card, and then went to the boat. The DM on board asked if I had a buddy, said it was required, and turned to the father son team setting up their gear next to where he was putting me to ask if I could join them. The father was clearly annoyed, and he asked, "That depends. Does he know what he's doing?"

The DM said, "I don't know." He looked at me and asked, "Do you know what you're doing?"

I said I had a pretty fair idea, so he put us together. It was a good thing. When the father/son team got so thoroughly confused that they reached an impasse on their gear setup, I showed them how to do it. They would have had no choice otherwise other than to got to the DM for help.

Fortunately for me, the shop owner (who had taken my registration) got on the boat, greeted me, and immediately hustled me off to join another group.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Maybe it has nothing to do with SB'ers but with the fact that your life depends on your diving gear, why on the ocean would you trust it to a stranger, who can be unfamiliar with your gear?

"Your life depends on your diving gear" seems very much like an attitude many of us on SB and those like us (that is, dive nerds) have. My interpretation of the original question was that it was not referring to tech or cave diving gear but rather to the typical BC (maybe BP/W), regulator, and tank. I suspect that dive op staff who do this for a living, day after day, can competently set up that kind of gear, perhaps more competently than the average diver out there (not us dive nerds). As for "trusting it to a stranger," as the saying went for cold war arms treaties, "trust but verify."

 

[Nosmosis]

Don’t touch my ****.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Some dive ops........ like Reef Divers at LCBR, will have each diver set up their own gear for the first dive. I also insist that on my private boat. Observing the process, efficiency and results.....of a diver setting up their own gear can be a valuable "tell" as to their experience and overall competence.

But once that's been done then I'm just fine with crew swapping out my tanks between dives.....since I'm gonna check and verify it all anyway...

Back to the example of LCBR......they also haul all your gear to the boat for the first dive which is great. I just stuff everything except my camera gear and a small drybox with phone, tip money, etc.....into my mesh gear pack, set it outside my door and then it ends up on the boat for the first morning dive....

 

[scrane]

My interpretation of the original question was that it was not referring to tech or cave diving gear but rather to the typical BC (maybe BP/W), regulator, and tank.

Having been posted in the "Basic Scuba" forum, that would be a good assumption.

 

[davecampbell]

From the replies so far, I am getting the impression most of us prefer to set up our own gear. I wonder if we are seeing another example of SB'ers not representing the typical diver worldwide.

I think this is very true in this case... just like use of the Long hose, and BP/W. These things are somewhat common where we dive locally (Great Lakes) but we hardly ever see it when we travel south. People are often confused when they see our rigs...

 

[Belzelbub]

From the replies so far, I am getting the impression most of us prefer to set up our own gear. I wonder if we are seeing another example of SB'ers not representing the typical diver worldwide.

I think you are right. There is a certain type of diver that is attracted to forums like this. The divers here are not the only type, though.

Seems plenty are OK to have the crew set up their gear. If the majority weren’t, the dive ops would probably not even offer.

I’ll help my kids with their gear. They will still set it up, but I’ll help. I’m actually going to have a discussion with my youngest when she starts volunteering at a local aquarium. I’m not sure that she has ever attached a yoke clamp to a tank. Her gear is DIN, and she used that on her checkouts. Every other diver on my boat is expected to be able to do this on their own.

 

[Jonn]

I see this as a rental vs. owned issue. If I’m on a cattle boat with rented gear on a “diving while on vacation” situation it’s their stuff, they have a system that works for them, and I’ll let them perform the service they provide. Cleaning and rinsing is especially part of that service! If I’m lugging my own gear on a “diving vacation” I’ll do it all myself thank you very much.