- Should a condom catheter be donned while erect?
- Is it customary to don the condom at home before the dive, or at the dive site?
- Anyone know of shops which sell a variety pack of different sizes and brands?
- Is it strange to use the verb "don" in this context?
1. No. Shake the old man about a bit (can be like a tortoise if it's really cold!)
2. Sometimes. It's easier to put on in the bathroom after a shower (not cold!). Minor challenge is if you need a pee before diving, it needs a good shake to get rid of drips.
Practically it's not really a problem to put it on at the dive site; just need to find a bit of privacy -- nobody else wants to see one's todger! It literally rolls on, but make sure you shove the head fully inside the catheter before rolling down.
Trim the forest first. Hair gets caught in the glue and is painful to extract -- like plucking hair out!
3. Everyone uses one size: enormous.
Seriously though, you need to get the right size. Too small and the tortoise will retract back into its shell as it were. Too big and it really won't fit and will probably leak.
You can get sizing templates in some packs which are a card with different sizes which you measure over the glans.
It's probably best if you just get hold of one and give it a go. Just wear it for a few hours "out and about" and see if it fits.
There's a couple of brands that's common in the UK: the Bard / Rochester "Wideband" and the Convene. The Convene's a smaller pack and needs to fit correctly. It's definitely easier (= less painful) to remove than the Wideband. However, the Wideband really is very reliable and much thicker (1mm?). I've never had an accident with either, but did come close when someone gave me some smaller Convenes and the old man went back into his shell as it were.
So definitely get the right size. A couple of mm won't matter, but a whole size difference will.
Another thing that will help is to get a "quick connect" valve which enables the barbed piece to disconnect and cuts off the flow. The barbed bit can then be inserted into the catheter before donning. When putting on the drysuit you can connect the two ends together.
After diving, you'll need to disconnect the hose and rinse it out. I tend to disconnect it and blow a few mouthfuls of water through the pipe (from a bottle of water).
