Being a new diver,I know little about drysuits,BP/W's,and countless other types of more advanced/tech gear.I realize that I should be familiar with the gear my buddy is using.This should be covered pre-dive.But what about all the other divers and gear configurations I may have never seen before?I dive the local quarries and often there are as many as 10 or 20 other divers besides me and my buddy.
Hopefully I will never have to bring an unconscious diver to the surface.But should the need arise,what basics should I know about drysuits OR OTHER GEAR that would complicate the ascent?
Start at the top and work your way down, with your buddy. Make sure that you know how your buddy's gear works. Here are just some examples (not exhaustive, just to give you an idea).
With regulators. Ask if they will donate their primary (i.e. the one in their mouth) or their backup if you run out of air. Note how the regs are stored. If they have an air2 (which is a reg integrated with the inflator hose of the BC) ask how that will work and how you will ascend. Check the hose length because say if someone has a long hose primary and a short backup in a necklace around their neck, if you grab their backup then you won't have a lot of room to manouver.
So with tanks. If they have a single tank, work out between you what your minimum turn around pressure is based on the size and how much you will consume. You both need to keep some aside for your buddy (or if you don't wish to do this make it very clear). If they have twin tanks: few different setups here. If they are independents (backmount or sidemount), ask how they will donate air, and just in general check out how it is set up and how they use them. For manifolds - even if you do not have one yourself you should learn the different failures that can occur and what you as a buddy can do to help if you are diving with someone with a manifold. Learn what effect turning off different valves will do. I.e. if your buddy has their BC inflation and their primary reg on the right post, it means that if this valve is turned off they won't be able to use the power inflate on their BC and they will be using their backup reg. I can't really give exact advice as people have their gear set up in all sorts of ways but just a list of things you might encounter and the stuff to ask.
For BCs. Heaps of different styles. If it is a standard BC, ask where all of the dump valves are located and how they operate. Some people can dump air by pulling their inflator hose, for example. Ask how to remove it, i.e the location of any quick releases. The harness on any BC tends to have quick releases. Look at where different straps are. If it is a BP/W same things still apply but some people use one piece harness (so no disconnection points on the BC) which you might have to cut off. Check that they have a device to allow you to cut it off though if your buddy has a one piece harness you should carry that as well.
Air monitoring - can be SPG or air integrated computer. Some air integrated computers are on the wrist and others are hosed ones (so like a console) There is some debate about whether you should monitor your buddy's air. I can usually see my buddy's SPG and will check it out now and again. It doesn't hurt to know how to read your buddy's air pressure.
Computer - if you have different computers one person might have different remaining time and so on. On the weekend I did a dive with a buddy with a Suunto computer and he went into deco and I did not even get close (Uwatec computer), so you can read that off your buddy's computer (or use hand signs, doesn't hurt to use both) Or might have another question under water that involves something about your computer. Some give different stops like doing a deeper stop as well as a shallower safety stop. This should be covered in the initial dive plan though.
Weighting - how to ditch someone's weight. If they have a weight belt how does it operate? Is it under a crotch strap? Most people who use crotch straps (and this is common in BP/W uses) tend to have their weight belt under it so you need to know to release the crotch strap first, then the weight. Also with weight integration there are numerous ways to ditch weight. Other people use weight harnesses which are different again. And other people don't have any ditchable weight. Often when I am diving with twins I have no ditchable weight but I have redundant lift so someone rescuing me can use both my drysuit inflation and my wing inflation to get me to the surface. Another thing with no ditchable weight is that some people have dual bladder wings. This means they have two bladders in their wings that they can inflate. If one fails there is another inflator hose that they can use to inflate the other bladder. Some people dive with the second one disconnected so learn where it is kept and how to connect it.
Exposure suit - with drysuit there are different dump valves to learn the location of, know where the inflate button is (should be easy to know but some aren't in the middle of the chest). Also learn how to disconnect their suit in case they have runaway inflation (just pull the hose from the inflate button). The dump valves can be in the shoulder (most common), ankles and wrist. They can be closed too, so ask how to close or open their dump valves (basically you twist them on and off) One thing to note is that if you are bringing up a drysuit diver from depth and you want to control their ascent by dumping some air, have the dump valve at the highest point and it will dump air that way. Some also have a button you can push to get the air out quicker.
Then there are other things like deco bottles. Ask what gas they have in them and the maximum operating depth of them. If a buddy is carrying say 50% and you're at 40m, and you run out of air, you should know that you can't grab their deco bottle and start breathing off it.
Then there is rebreathers, hmm no idea about these
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And they are all very different. But if you get buddied with a rebreather diver just go through this all with them.
That is about all I can think of at the moment.