Doff and don

[Jim Lapenta]

It depends on the course and agency. With some agencies and instructors removing all gear and then replacing it is required. In our courses the Doff and Don used to require you to remove all gear except for the exposure suit if wearing one, place it all on the bottom, surface, and within 30 seconds dive down and put everything back in. Due to some incidents with people who were not properly trained to do this at DEMA we were informed that it is not to be done this way any longer.

Sucks as I have taught everyone from 12 yr old junior divers to 60 some year olds to do this without incident. It is a great skills and confidence builder. It is still a required DM level and Master Diver skill. Instead one option we now have is to set up another set of gear in a corner and have the student remove all their gear, swim to the other set, put everything on, then do a circuit of the pool going back to the spot where they picked the gear up, drop all of it and swim back to their gear and don it.

There are other options as well like a buddy breathing full gear exchange with the students. These are in the OW class by the way.

 

[Ricky B]

Thanks. I guess what I learned was remove and replace, not "true" doff and don.

 

[Nemrod]

Small boats, kayaks, inflatables, doff and don is routine.

Solo, at least once I can recall, line wrapped around my valve/regulator, trying to cut it with my knife, I dropped it. I could not reach it with my line cutter, thus I removed my SCUBA and got the line free and then carried on my way after recovering my knife.

N

 

[Adventure-Ocean]

Where I worked we required new students and faculty to ditch and don at 10 ft. to see how they handle themselves. We'd learn a lot watching how comfortable they were in the water doing this activity. These people came to the university to dive for data. They must have the basic skills and more to be scientific divers. Adventure-Ocean

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Apart from entanglement or malfunction, removal or putting on the scuba unit at the surface is an important skill, because diving off smaller boats, one often removes equipment before boarding ( it makes boarding easier), and sometimes i have been know rto put gear on in the water rather than on a boat, but this is less usual. Removal and replacement is part of mastery of yourself and your equipment. It is a skill with a variety of applications, and very necessary, as discussed in prior posts.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Foxfish]

Doing it with style: (I think the camera man has buoyancy issues)

Taking your BCD off underwater - YouTube

 

[rongoodman]

Doing it with style: (I think the camera man has buoyancy issues)

Doing it with style? He's kneeling on the bottom.

 

[miked]

Doing it with style: (I think the camera man has buoyancy issues)

Taking your BCD off underwater - YouTube

A caution:
The Video does a nice job of showing "how to do it", but the diver is standing on the bottom. That would make the skill much simpler to perform. In mid water, or at the surface-the movement of arms/hands etc. on the BC/clips/straps etc. might be the same, but the dealing with the integrated weights could increase the level of difficulty. Doing the D&D while wearing a weight belt would present a different set of complications.

edit: Rongoodman is a faster typer!

 

[NAM001]

I have been at spots where the dock instead of lined with boats have kits tied off in the water. the dock ladder was too awkward to climb with the rig on. Any other instances involved small boats and preticulalrly doubles rigs.

 

[live&dive]

It's all about being so comfortable with your gear that if you have to troubleshoot any kind of problem, removing and replacing gear isn't one of them. Plus it is a fun game to play in pool practice.