Talk me *OUT* of a BP/W setup

[Adelaar Cruises]

There are some places in the world where it's not so much "let" the crew set up your gear as it is EXPECTED that the crew will set up your gear. I just got back from an Indonesia trip where it was darn near impossible to set my own gear up. The crew, guides, etc., believe it is part of the service you're paying for, and anyone who wants to set up his own gear is taking part of their job away. After saying "thanks, but I'll set up my own gear" a few dozen times, I eventually relented and let them do it. They seemed so eager to please their customers, and they tried hard to get it assembled just as each diver wants it--how high is the BC to be on the tank, etc.

Changing out tanks, reassembling gear and analyzing nitrox for guests is not commonplace in the rest of industry?!?

If you are on holiday shouldn't you be pampered? If you are too busy taking care of this yourself you don't have time to enjoy your surface interval. Between dives you should be able to relax, eat a fine meal, go for a swim or snorkel, take an excursion (did I mention eat a fine meal?), read a good book, work on your photos and spend time with loved ones or making new friends.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Changing out tanks, reassembling gear and analyzing nitrox for guests is not commonplace in the rest of industry?!?

If you are on holiday shouldn't you be pampered? If you are too busy taking care of this yourself you don't have time to enjoy your surface interval. Between dives you should be able to relax, eat a fine meal, go for a swim or snorkel, take an excursion (did I mention eat a fine meal?), read a good book, work on your photos and spend time with loved ones or making new friends.

I analyze my gas, and configure my own gear. It's not exactly like working in a coal mine, and it's my butt on the line underwater. I'm not knocking your product, they sound wonderful, but if my lips are wrapped around a reg, I'm ultimately responsible for the cylinder contents and the state of the gear.

Tobin

 

[NAM001]

Suit buoyancy is what needs to be compensated for, and it is routinely ignored.

Lets look at two divers, both using 2 x hp 100's.

The first is diving in a drysuit with a thin undergarment, and his suit with minimum gas in it is 18 lbs positive

The second is diving in a drysuit with a high loft undergarment and his suit with minimum gas in it is 32 lbs positive.

Both are using the *same* cylinders

Which needs the larger capacity wing?

Why?

Tobin

dry suit need the larger wing.

because you only loose 18# lift on a compressed suit but you loose 32 lift with a flooded DS

 

[cool_hardware52]

dry suit need the larger wing.

because you only loose 18# lift on a compressed suit but you loose 32 lift with a flooded DS

Both are using Drysuits, one suit is +18, the other is +32.

You are right about the more buoyant suit needing the larger wing.

Tobin

 

[Lorenzoid]

Changing out tanks, reassembling gear and analyzing nitrox for guests is not commonplace in the rest of industry?!?

Well, no. At least in some parts of the US, each diver is expected to take care of his own needs. Setting up a diver's gear is not a normal part of the crew's job. If a diver specifically requests help, the crew is usually happy to help.

If you are on holiday shouldn't you be pampered? If you are too busy taking care of this yourself you don't have time to enjoy your surface interval. Between dives you should be able to relax, eat a fine meal, go for a swim or snorkel, take an excursion (did I mention eat a fine meal?), read a good book, work on your photos and spend time with loved ones or making new friends.

Pampering is certainly nice, but some divers believe that the best way to ensure their own safety is to assemble their own gear, check their own gear over, etc. Some even believe that no one else should even touch their gear. Such divers place safety over pampering. It isn't so much that the diver doubts the crew's competence to assemble gear correctly as it is the belief that each diver is ultimately responsible for his own safety.

 

[doctormike]

Changing out tanks, reassembling gear and analyzing nitrox for guests is not commonplace in the rest of industry?!?

If you are on holiday shouldn't you be pampered? If you are too busy taking care of this yourself you don't have time to enjoy your surface interval. Between dives you should be able to relax, eat a fine meal, go for a swim or snorkel, take an excursion (did I mention eat a fine meal?), read a good book, work on your photos and spend time with loved ones or making new friends.

I get it that this is an advertisement disguised as a post, but I can't stand it when people touch my gear. Perhaps the exception was at the Blue Lagoon resort in Truk, when I was happy to have the crew carry my doubles onto the boat. But still, setting up gear is definitely not appreciated. Having the crew analyze my nitrox is not only unwanted, but I'm guessing a standards violation according to most training agencies.

If it takes you so long to set up your gear and analyze your gas that it cuts into your meal time, then you DEFINITELY need more practice!

 

[stuartv]

Changing out tanks, reassembling gear and analyzing nitrox for guests is not commonplace in the rest of industry?!?

It's not UNcommon. But, I personally never let anyone else do that stuff for me. Just because someone is full time staff on a boat is no guarantee they know what they're doing. And anyway, I want to KNOW that it was done right, not BELIEVE/HOPE that it was done right.

And there is no WAY I would rely on someone else (especially someone I don't know) to analyze my gas for me. That is just ridiculous. I don't even like being on a boat where the boat staff is analyzing the gas for other divers. The few that I've been on like that have also been perfectly content to tell those divers "we filled your tanks with banked X%. You can analyze them, or we can analyze them for you, if you want, but you don't really need to." As if nobody ever makes a mistake on something like that! I am not jaded or complacent enough yet to be okay with that attitude. Hopefully, I never will be!

The diver needs to KNOW what gas they're using. The only way they can KNOW is to analyze it themselves or at least (carefully) watch someone else do it. I feel like that's a significant safety issue. Any boat that doesn't require that makes me wonder what other safety issues they are compromising on. People, even highly experienced professional, technical divers, die from using cylinders that were labeled incorrectly.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .Having the crew analyze my nitrox is not only unwanted, but I'm guessing a standards violation according to most training agencies.

From what I've experienced at such places, the staff member generally requests that the diver stand there and merely observe the reading on the analyzer display while the staff member physically handles the analyzer and tank by himself. I have wondered whether the agencies would interpret this as meeting the standard that a "diver analyze his own tank." I haven't yet encountered an operation where they didn't encourage the diver to observe the analysis.

 

[doctormike]

From what I've experienced at such places, the staff member generally requests that the diver stand there and merely observe the reading on the analyzer display while the staff member physically handles the analyzer and tank by himself. I have wondered whether the agencies would interpret this as meeting the standard that a "diver analyze his own tank." I haven't yet encountered an operation where they didn't encourage the diver to observe the analysis.

Yeah, I know, and I'm fine with that (watching while someone does it).

I was just responding to that advertisement... the implication that analyzing gas is some sort of onerous task that takes up so much time that a real luxury resort would do it for you so that you have more time to spend with your loved ones...

 

[Lorenzoid]

It's not UNcommon. But, I personally never let anyone else do that stuff for me. Just because someone is full time staff on a boat is no guarantee they know what they're doing. And anyway, I want to KNOW that it was done right, not BELIEVE/HOPE that it was done right.

I agree, but I can see their side of the issue, too. I suspect that a desire to pamper guests is only half their rationale. The places that do this kind of "valet service" are generally resorts or liveaboards that see a lot of vacationers who don't dive on a regular basis. The unstated part of the rationale is that they don't want their guests getting hurt, and they have seen that some of their guests, to put it bluntly, don't know what they're doing or don't seem very safety-conscious, or perhaps are just a bit rusty from not having dived in a while. So, the staff don't have faith that the diver knows what he's doing any more than experienced, safety-conscious divers like you have faith that the staff know what they're doing.