Doubles - How to learn?

[Divin'Papaw]

There seems to be a growing interest in moving to doubles prior to moving into formal technical training. For someone who is a recreationally trained diver who wants to move into and become comfortable diving doubles prior to any tech training, what is the best approach to do this safely? There is a body of knowledge and skills involved that is not taught in OW/AOW classes.

How would you go about learning the ins and outs of doubles setup, maintenance, filling, transport, etc?

How about learning the valve drills and S-drills?

I know these skills are covered in courses like DIR-F and Intro to Tech (from various agencies), but it seems to me that it would be a good idea to learn some of this stuff ahead of time and practice it with a qualified buddy/mentor BEFORE taking any of these courses to then perfect your skills. Thoughts?

 

[pir8]

Buy your gear from your LDS then get them to help you out.

 

[jbd]

.....buddy/mentor....

Thats your answer, IMO. The other thing is that there are so many ways nowadays to learn the basics/rudimentary information that self study can take you a long way.

In the specific case of learning to dive with doubles, who says you have to learn the valve drills straight away IF all you will be doing is shallow OW dives that focus on learning the trim and bouyancy control issues? In this situation one is only a breath or two away from the surface at the very worst and can airshare easily with a buddy to reach the surface. Once all the trim, balance and bouyancy control issues are sorted out then add the various S-drills and valve drills in small increments while still staying in shallow water. Small increments like answering the question, "Can I turn off and then on again the right post?" Got that down pat then move on to, "Can I turn off and then on again the left post?" Then and in the isolator and then start building the combinations until you can do the entire procedure off course maintaining excellent, precise control of your bouyancy

Once all these things are solid skill sets then move into diving deeper water but still within NDL's. Now, IMO, one is ready to start taking the desired tech classes. This presents the tech instructor with the best possible opprotunity to present a really good class that takes one into a different set of diving skills and knowledge.

 

[*Floater*]

There seems to be a growing interest in moving to doubles prior to moving into formal technical training. For someone who is a recreationally trained diver who wants to move into and become comfortable diving doubles prior to any tech training, what is the best approach to do this safely? There is a body of knowledge and skills involved that is not taught in OW/AOW classes.

How would you go about learning the ins and outs of doubles setup, maintenance, filling, transport, etc?

How about learning the valve drills and S-drills?

I know these skills are covered in courses like DIR-F and Intro to Tech (from various agencies), but it seems to me that it would be a good idea to learn some of this stuff ahead of time and practice it with a qualified buddy/mentor BEFORE taking any of these courses to then perfect your skills. Thoughts?

I rented a set of doubles and just started diving them. ~20 dives or so later I took DIRF in doubles and learned the safety and valve drills.

If you have some tech diver friends then ask them to do some rec dives in doubles with you and to give you some tips. I wouldn't worry about the valves, just make sure they are all open before jumping in the water and that you can reach them, though if there's someone to teach it to you then go for it. Also, 5thD-X has some excellent DVD's (intro to tech in particular) that shows you how to do the drills. For rigging, check out Peter Steinhoff's articles on dir-diver.com.

If you have no tech trained buddies, then find a symphathetic tech shop, ask to rent doubles and do some rec dives on them. Ask the DM for tips. Note that some shops don't like to rent doubles to people without prior training or experience diving them, so just try to convvince the shop that you are about to take a tech course and need some prior doubles experience, and if that doesn't work, then find another shop.

 

[Walter]

Can you reach your valves? If so, you're good. If not make the necessary changes so you can. There's nothing special about doubles, you dive them as you would a single tank. If anything, doubles are easier. What is it you think you need to learn?

 

[ppo2_diver]

Hey Jim,

I run a doubles workshop that goes over the different types of doubles, setup, hose routing, long hose use, valve shutdown, the 9 failures, trim and balance. We do two dives to go over all of this. It's targetted for recreational divers who haven't done any technical training, but want to dive doubles within recreational limits.

It's a workshop format and no certification is issued. So you don't have to worry about a pass/fail.

 

[ppo2_diver]

Can you reach your valves? If so, you're good. If not make the necessary changes so you can. There's nothing special about doubles, you dive them as you would a single tank. If anything, doubles are easier. What is it you think you need to learn?

It's not this easy. Yes, you need to be able to reach your valves, but it isn't as simple as diving a single tank. There is a series of checks that must be done to find and isolate failures in the regs and/or valves. Doubles are easier in terms of trim and balance. I've seen many divers at our local quarry this year diving doubles and it is obvious they have no idea how to dive them. The hoses are all sticking out and one guy had 2 second stages on each post as well as SPGs on each post.

 

[Meng_Tze]

Start of slowly. Get used to doubles and the feel and weight of them. Adjust weighting and then just dive. Shallow confined first, then rec dives.

Actually let me stop here. All advise has already been given below.

Just start slow, dont plunge into 100ft on your first dive without having any comfort with them.

 

[PerroneFord]

It's not this easy. Yes, you need to be able to reach your valves, but it isn't as simple as diving a single tank.

Walter doesn't dive with an isolator. Or so he says.

 

[Walter]

Want to examine my manifold?