Have you ever had to doff and don your rig while diving?

[BRT]

Just one time. Some mean instructor made me do it.

 

[boulderjohn]

but doing it in the water is a good demonstration of comfort in the water

It was well over a decade ago, but in a ScubaBoard thread an individual who was a part of the RSTC said that its primary purpose was to demonstrate comfort in the water, the same way the equipment exchange is a part of a DM class.

Even so, I have removed my gear under water several times. The first was not long after my OW training. I signed up for a dive in South Florida, and it turned out that other than an OW class, I was the only diver on a boat mixing snorkelers and divers. The dive was a shark feeding dive near the wreckage of the Copenhagen (which will tell knowledgeable Florida divers how long ago that was--that has been banned for nearly two decades). They buddied me with the DM who would feed the sharks for a while, after which we would complete a dive together. While he was engaged with the sharks, I realized my tank band had come loose and my tank was dangling behind me. The water was only about 30 feet deep, so I just went to the bottom, took the gear off, fixed it, and put it back on. My buddy the DM never knew it had happened until after the dive.

 

[mallbritton]

I've only had to do it once. My tank band had come loose on entry and at about 15ish meters my tank had slid loose. One of my fun divers pointed it out to me, although I felt something was amiss. So I doffed my BC, secured the tank, and donned the BC again. Took about 90 seconds.

 

[iamrushman]

yes..i had to take off and put on my weight integrated rig after the dive flag line got very tangled on my first stage at 100 fsw and the current was dragging me along.......the only other time i had done this was in class thirty years ago...and we used weight belts then.

 

[northernone]

I'm likely alive due to a successful doff.

For minor inconvenience when I am in backmount I regularly doff and don. Checking things, untangling things, reconfiguring and the like. Practical and helpful. My gear thanks me for getting out of it without resorting to a knife.

...besides, how else do you do a warhammer manoeuvre?

 

[TMHeimer]

No, in over 700 dives. One time I did have to take it off. I was cramping and couldn't make the long swim to the easy exit. There were some big smooth rocks close by but the surf was too big to get myself up on them, so I took it off, got it up on the rocks and belly climbed my way out on a big wave.
I dive solo a lot and am super careful to stay far from any possible entanglement. Fishing line is not an issue here.
I did find the doff & don to be the one skill I had trouble with in OW course. It also was responsible for holding up my DM cert. Not my favourite.

 

[drbill]

Doff and don was a standard part of my "OW" course back in the 1960s. Only time I remember having to do it since was when I was diving off a kayak several years ago. In class it was easy but in the latter case it was a PITA.

 

[Wookie]

Multiple times, once in an entanglement. I was under a mid water trawler on Jeffries Ledge and got wrapped but good in the net I was clearing from the wheels. I took off my rig and carefully removed it from the net, and removed me from the water. Clearing that wheel took me 13 cylinders and about 18 hours. It was my first wheel job. In about 2 more hours the boat would have had to call for a tow.

 

[Akimbo]

Several times, all due to entanglement. All but one were monofilament. I have also changed cylinders on long duration dives. I was wearing a weight belt in all cases.

 

[drl]

Never underwater, occasionally on the surface for easier getting in and out of a small boat.