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fnfalman: I'm really glad you asked these questions.
So, before you go out on a dive, you make sure that your buddies can use the mouthpiece on your octo?
Before a dive with a new buddy, I'll
certainly practice breathing off of whatever second stage he'll offer me in an OOA scenario. If he's diving a standard PADI-style recreational setup (primary + octo), I pay particular attention to how the octo is secured. I practice releasing the octo and then breathing off of it. The reason I do this is twofold:
- I have seen that some people use octo-keepers that either don't hold well or are not easily releasable.
- I want to know how easy it is to breathe off the reg. I check to see that the mouthpiece is in good condition and properly secured to the second stage. If it isn't, I will replace the mouthpiece and/or swap out the ziptie.
Over the years, I have breathed off of octos that were so crappily tuned (cracking pressure too high) that even a calm recipient would struggle to get air from it. In that case, either the reg gets tuned on the spot or I don't dive with that buddy. He's carrying my backup source of air for the dive. I prefer to have access to it. For this reason, I will pretty much do a comprehensive reg pre-dive inspection on his octo -- same as I would for any unfamiliar reg that I might use.
You're probably wondering why I've neglected to answer your question thus far. OK, so here's my answer. I make sure that whatever reg I would provide my buddy in an OOA scenario is in good working order (this relates to how it's secured, the cracking pressure, and the mouthpiece). I offer to go over the air-sharing procedure with the new buddy. After he sees how much care I've exercised in checking out his gear, he usually realizes that it would be wise to apply the same kind of due diligence to my gear. Of course, these checks take extra time and effort...but it's worth it in my book. FWIW, I wouldn't want to put a funky mouthpiece on my donated reg which would make it difficult for my buddy to breathe off of it. That's why I was curious about the SeaCure product. I've never had a buddy that's used one.
Some of us don't dive with the same person all the time. Are we suppose to reconfigure our gears to accomodate a new buddy each time we go out?
I wouldn't totally reconfigure my regs for a new buddy. If a buddy found that the mouthpiece on my donated reg caused him to gag or was very uncomfortable to use, I would certainly change it out for him. I carry a standard mouthpiece in my save-a-dive kit. The swap would only take a couple of minutes. The way I see it, it's the least I could do.
I take reg issues pretty seriously. IMHO, providing a functional, easy-to-breathe-from alternate air source to a buddy is an integral part of the dive partnership. That's just the way I prefer to dive.