What pad do you use for gearing up?

[TMHeimer]

Well maybe I was not clear but when you suit up and the bottom is sand, you can transfer some of it into your booties. But more drastic is when your gear is wet and you want to take it off. It gets all filthy and sandy. I use a moving blanket now but as one poster stated, it will take time to dry.

Its not a big deal; just thought to ask people on what they do.

I know what you mean by sand. I tried a couple of types of blankets to put down on sand to gear up on when in Florida. Also even tried putting plastic over both reg 2nd stages until ready to jump in. Nothing really worked. At one point I still had a $100 or so sand in reg. repair bill. My mantra became if I can't gear up in the van, or some place away from sand and walk (a reasonably short distance) to the shore kitted up, I don't dive there.

As far as pick-up trucks, my former dive buddy had one. We geared up sitting on the back of his truck (the flap).

 

[lv2dive]

Most people find a mat easier (as evidenced by the number of them you see around). Gear up using the tailgate, absolutely - put drysuit on standing to side of or behind truck - on the mat.

But of course, the exceptions prove the rule; as with so many things in life, the optimal solution is whatever works best for the individual.

...
As far as pick-up trucks, my former dive buddy had one. We geared up sitting on the back of his truck (the flap).

 

[JohnnyC]

Standard tarp and the drysuit bag that came with my Seaskin.

 

[tbone1004]

I use the roll-up mats and a rinsekit.
More convenient than tarps because they are open and don't hold water.
About the perfect size for gearing up and roll up easily to pack anywhere
Rinsekit is nice because it is pressurized, self-contained, and has a heater when it's cold out

I also have a rollout thing attached to my drysuit bag from O3 and will use that when I dive dry and the ground isn't too sandy/muddy. If it's nasty I'll use the mat. Truck beds/picnic tables are ideal though and if I'm at a site that has picnic tables or with a buddy that drives a pickup truck I'll just use those

 

[CT-Rich]

I use a cheap roll up beach mat. Gear comes out of out of the gear box and straight back in after the dive. Post dive, assembled tanks get laid down on the mat. A truck or SUV tailgate work well. Really the key is to not get too spread out. My tanks are unpainted steel, so I am not worrying a lot about their paint. I make sure regulators, computers or nothing affectedby grit are sitting on top of the BCD. My biggest worry is about sand or pebbles in my booties, because that will have a big effect on swimming. I keep a small towel close to wipe them off while gearing up.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

My flippant response is ""the pads of my feet."

But I mostly dive in the city (so park on concrete or asphalt) or boats. The rare exceptions are either not sandy (rocky shoreline) or water for rinsing is available.

For playing on the beach with kids, the bamboo mats are awesome. Cheap, light, easy to roll up, don't retain water like cloth, etc.

 

[Johanan]

I got a couple of mats as a gift from DRIS. They are of a good size and dry almost instantly. For travelling my Apeks Dry 100 bag has a detachable mat which is somewhat small but still serves the purpose. Once I bought a picnic table but have used it only once - it was nice but too much. A garbage bag can be good enough, too.

 

[txgoose]

We have been pretty pleased with our cgear sand-free mat (cgear is the proper spelling). You can find them on amazon. Not cheap but not expensive. We also haven’t used it in the sand. But on shore it works pretty well. With a clan of four we needed some room to spread out.

@Zef made me slap my forehead with his post on page one. Not sure why I hadn’t thought of a garden sprayer as a rinse station. Will hopefully be the perfect add-on.

 

[BAMA6977]

Lowes or Home Depot work shop mat

 

[Brilig]

At the dive site I suit up using a cheap door mat. After the dive it all goes into a big heavy duty trash bag. Once home I lay it all out on a blue Tarp in the driveway and get out the hose.
I think setup and clean up take up twice the time I'm diving. But it's still a lot of fun!