Lift Bags for Emergency Ascend

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I carry two, one for shooting from depth, one for surface use.

DeepSeaSupply - Product Detail
that guy for actual DSMB use, so that is what I shoot from depth. I prefer spools to reels, but that is just me. I have a 150' spool that gets clipped to it.

HOG SMB Safety Sausage 72in Yellow - Products
I have one of those for surface use only. Too big to shoot from shallow depths, too annoying to deal with at the surface if it isn't an emergency. No spool for that since it is surface use, but will use a double ender to clip it to a hip d-ring to keep it vertical.

I keep a 50lb lift bag with me as well, but that's for lifting things, not ascents....
 
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You should have both a lift bag and a SMB.

Both should have an OPV dumb valve and be closed circuit or semi closed--no open bags.

The lift bag should have at least 50lbs of lift. The halcyon CC lift bag has 80lbs of lift and is very nice with the metal inflator. I would consider 100lbs to be overkill, but not a deal breaker.

The SMB can be a 6ft tall narrow version which has a little less lift (probably around 25-40lbs) or it can be the wide 6ft version with has over 50lbs of lift.

A lost anchor line isn't necessarily an emergency that requires and SMB.

If you are in the middle of nowhere with nothing to tie off to and will be doing a free ascent, than and SMB is appropriate. It will signal the boat, alert them that there may be issue, and it will be easier to follow as you drift away during the ascent.

If you have a solid piece of wreck or debris to tie off to and are close to the boat (you simply can't find the anchor line), then shooting a lift bag is the better option as it isn't a true emergency and you simply need a line to ascend up safely.

Different conditions and factors will dictate which is more appropriate, smb or lift bag, for the given situation. I would consider the standard personal kit to be one smb, 1 lift bag, plus additional lift bags if you plan on recovering artifacts and bringing items up to the surface.
 
Open vs. Closed? Like Cuzza I carry a 6ft dsmb with an open, but baffled, bottom, an OPV, and separate inflate valve. To ascend from depth with it I was taught to start filling it using ONLY gas bled from your wing / BC and keep it on a very short leash. That way you are staying neutrally buoyant at the start instead of immediately heading up. Give your wing a little puff of air to start the ascent and just hang on the SMB; watch your ascent rate, venting the wing as necessary. About 10ft below the depth you want to stop at you start decelerating by venting the wing and letting the reel out until the SMB hits the surface. Stay a bit heavy on the line and try to stay directly below the SMB. Easy-peasy.

Don't forget the gas in the SMB will expand, so from 66ft (3atm) don't fill it much more than 1/3rd from your wing.

Filling an SMB from your BC is easy with an open bottom. Using the inflator valve I guess I'd dump some air from the wing at the same time? Or just be ready to start the ride up as soon as gas goes into the SMB. (Note: I'm talking about using the SMB for an open water ascent, not just hanging at 15' and then launching the SMB directly to the surface as a marker - that's a different thing.)

Some people strongly prefer a closed bottom SMB, and I'm hoping to learn from their experiences, too.
-Don

Wow are you actually suggesting using an SMB as a buoyancy device during ascend? WHY?

What's the advantage of not just letting go of the SMB when you deploy it? I would always deploy an SMB when I'm a stable platform. This could be at the bottom, to release the smb and tie of to the wreck so I stay "attached" to the wreck during ascend, or at a specific depht (for example when you slow the ascend to minutes per 3m or when you make a gas switch) during a free drifting ascend; This way you arrive at that depth, stabilise yourself, and then deploy an SMB.

There is nothing hard to it, in fact it's very easy. Your method seems to me quite hard and has no benefits. You need to manage another bubble (next to your wing and drysuit) which is unnecessary and you are handling a partially inflated smb "pulling" you up while ascending which seems a bit risky. Care to go into detail about what the benefits of this approach would be?
 
Do you want a SMB that is easy and safe to launch at depth (a small one) or one that is easily spotted on the surface (a huge one)?

Will you fill it with air under water and use the line as a reference, or will you just ascend using your depth gauge and fill the (closed) SMB on the surface?

Spools are beeing used. Let the spool go, roll and jump, as the SMB rises. A bonus: if the line gets jammed, you will not be dragged to the surface. The spool will :)
 
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@CPT Tightpants. I did not get it. Why would you need a lift bag on top of 1 - or even 2 - DSMB?
 
@CPT Tightpants. I did not get it. Why would you need a lift bag on top of 1 - or even 2 - DSMB?

1 dsmb-small, sent from depth for an ascent line or to indicate position to the surface
2 safety sausage- deployed from the surface when lost. This is as big as possible, closed bottom, but no OPV required since it's not coming from depth. This can also be a big DSMB
3 lift bag-lifting things, redundant buoyancy, surface flotation, myriad of things
 
@CPT Tightpants. I did not get it. Why would you need a lift bag on top of 1 - or even 2 - DSMB?

Redundancy. Versatility.

Different places and boats have different procedures. Shoot an smb in cozumel, no big deal. In NJ off the Gypsyblood, you shoot a smb and the boat goes into emergency procedures and sends a diver down to get you--shoot a lift bag, they dont.

Regardless of which combinations you take:

2 is 1, 1 is none.
 
Got it, geographical variations. In Europe a yellow SMB means "emergency/trouble", Orange, I just want to be seen. Lift bags, no real use, you are not supposed to take away things from the bottom, especially while scubadiving No fishing allowed. Leav the sea bottom intact :).
 
Question...I want to get a lift bag if for some reason I lose the anchor line and I have to ascend freely. I understand I will have a reel attached to the anchor line if the viz is that bad but lets play the "WHAT IF" game.
What size bag? 25lbs?? 50lbs?? 100lbs??
Should it have a dump valve?
What do you think of carters?
What reels are being used and what strength line?
Thanks...this question is geared to North East Wreck diving.
Like others are saying you will want a bigger SMB. In my tech class they state minimum of 25lbs lift. I purchased a Hollis one which is really nice. You do not necessarily need to invest in a reel for your purpose. It depends on your depth. A finger spool will work down to maybe 100ft. They offer spools with 150ft of line on them but they mostly do not work as you need to clip through a hole on the spool. If you youtube scuba finger spools you will see what I am saying. If diving deeper than 100ft, then yeah you will likely need some sort of reel. I also highly recommend deploying them at the end of every dive to practice (If you can). They aren't as simple to deploy as you might think. Once deployed, they are excellent to ascend on and make your 3-5 minute safety stop on. Very easy to "hang" from which is why they need a minimum lift capacity of 25lbs.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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