Closed SMB depoyment with medium pressure hose

[Freewillow]

Thanks Roturne. You are from the netherlands. Rotterdam is not too far from Brussels. Neighbours :shocked2:Nice to know you can blow two or three times while still maintaining trim. I have to try this because at the end of a dive, my BCD is TOTALLY empty at shallow depth. So to inflate three times without going up, I have to try/see this

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Thank you Dumpster diver. I remember I have seen it before and had a good laugh about it . I do not think that I would take the risk, like you did, and used this technique during a night dive. . CAn you clarify what the Air 2 hose actually is. Not familliar with the term. You finished the launch the right way but one cannot see what you are doing. Can you insert the appropriate hose in the SMB with only one hand while the other is holding the spool. In which case which hand does what? Please clarify.

---------- Post added November 26th, 2014 at 04:41 PM ----------

Yes I understand you all with the business of oral inflation. That would be my choice @ significant depth. But the marker contains like 5 gallons of air in order to 18 kg of lift. So the volum is equivalent of 5 to 6 FULL lung expirations. Most of the time, one launches a parachute, in recreational diving, at depth of 30 feet or less. So one FULL expiration @ 30 feet this leave me with an SMB one third inflated at the surface . Am I doing the math incorrectly.?


Can one specify what the "blower attachment" is? Thanks

The air 2 hose is for a inflator regualtor combination Look up air 2 scuba pro.

In my video, it was a completely closed bag with just the valve connection to inflate. I don't know if you could orally inflate it, I imagine it would be tedious, at best.

I think I prefer an SMB that has an open bottom with a self sealing flap, rather than a completely closed design.. but if closed is what you want then get it.

I have no detailed steps to inflate an SMB, I just do it, but it is somewhat impractical to assume you are going to hold the thing down at 30 feet and put a bunch of air into it, It will be pulling up hard, and if you snag yourself, you will be going for a ride. It MAY make more sense to inflate the bag at 50-60 feet, and then you will need less air to do it. I commonly send bags up from 150 ft plus and it is easier, because you only need a little air and you are not managing something that is trying to "kill you".

Also, if you are using a marker float, in order to be seen, the float does not have to be fully inflated, in fact having it fully inflated may do little good - what is important is that you MUST pull down on the string pretty hard, to make it stand up in a vertical position. If the bottom 25% is uniflated (i.e., submerged) that is OK. So if your BC is empty at the end of the dive, then you have no reserve ballast with which to passively pull down on the float, in other words, you want to be a little heavy and hang down on the string.

 

[Diver0001]

Well willow, the trick is about the cadence of your breathing.

If you're neutrally buoyant with your lungs (mostly) full and you breathe out then you will become slightly negative while at the same time the bag becomes slightly positive. So the first breath is always a "freebie" because in the very best case you will start neutrally buoyant and still be neutrally buoyant when the air goes from your lungs into the bag.

In reality, the 2nd breath usually gets you back to neutral because not all of the air you breathed out during teh first time went into the bag. So you're still on even ground.

on the 3rd breath, if you get enough air into the bag you'll notice that it really wants to go and if you don't let go then you'll get dragged along with it. So on the 3rd breath you let the bag go and then breathe in again in order to not sink while the bag is going up.

Why the cadence is important is that you have a short period of time between a change of buoyancy and feeling the effect. So on the 2nd and 3rd (or subsequent) breaths you need to increase the tempo in order to make optimal use of the delay in the buoyancy shift.

It sounds more complicated than it is. The main message here is to set your buoyancy to neutral with fairly full lungs before you start and then just keep breathing out in the bag until it starts to pull you up. Then let it go.

R..

 

[Freewillow]

Thank you. Will try. Still no video?

 

[Diver0001]

I'm sorry, people seldom video me while diving. I guess I'm just not photogenic enough

R..

 

[Freewillow]

@ Diver0001, it is not that you are not photogenic, it is because of the lack of visibility in the waters of The Netherlands. Why bother and take a camera if you see barelly anything

@ Dumpsterdiver. I have looked at your video again. You seem to be using two hands in order to inflate your smb. What are you using? A reel or a spool? If yes, how do you old onto it?

Why I would love to see a video or get more explanation? If you want to use a spool, which I do, you need at least one hand in order to control it when the smb is going up. However, you need two hands in order to get both the medium pressure house and the inflator togheter. But you can push the two pieces together in order to inflate it for a couple of seconds. So OK in theory.

BUT..................Now consider my gear: the medium pressure is on the left ( from the BCD) BUT the inflator house (Halcyon), if you look at it with the SMB facing you, is at a right angle, but to the right . So you need to inflate the SMB with the left hand with the inflator BEHIND the smb, or do it with the right hand with the inflator valve IN FRONT of the SMB...........but the medium pressure line is on the left side..................:shocked2::shocked2::shocked2:.

Hope ( and pray ) that my dilemma/question means something for you guys.

 

[Diver0001]

Willow,

You're close by. Why don't we agree to meet? Maybe we can meet in Zeeland or in Brussels at Nemo. I think they'll let us practice with DSMB's there (although we'd need to check first)

R..

 

[dumpsterDiver]

@ Diver0001, it is not that you are not photogenic, it is because of the lack of visibility in the waters of The Netherlands. Why bother and take a camera if you see barelly anything

@ Dumpsterdiver. I have looked at your video again. You seem to be using two hands in order to inflate your smb. What are you using? A reel or a spool? If yes, how do you old onto it?

Why I would love to see a video or get more explanation? If you want to use a spool, which I do, you need at least one hand in order to control it when the smb is going up. However, you need two hands in order to get both the medium pressure house and the inflator togheter. But you can push the two pieces together in order to inflate it for a couple of seconds. So OK in theory.

BUT..................Now consider my gear: the medium pressure is on the left ( from the BCD) BUT the inflator house (Halcyon), if you look at it with the SMB facing you, is at a right angle, but to the right . So you need to inflate the SMB with the left hand with the inflator BEHIND the smb, or do it with the right hand with the inflator valve IN FRONT of the SMB...........but the medium pressure line is on the left side..................:shocked2::shocked2::shocked2:.

Hope ( and pray ) that my dilemma/question means something for you guys.

Look again at the video.. There is no spool or reel, that was not the objective of the dive.. however, I do think you will need to use 2 hands to inflate with a hose, I imagin I could hold a reel or spool in the same hand as a hose.. don't get them tangled!

 

[Freewillow]

Tried it several times in the Maldives. The best solution, for me, is to add a medium pressure hose on the right side and use it exculivelly for the smb. Old both valve and medium pressure hose in the right hand. Keep the spool in the left hand. Extend both arms, look if everyting is clear and start infation. When you feel you are getting "up" release. Best depth is below 50 feet so that the volume increses. At the surface fully inflate. I found that, to re-tie the medium pressure hose is not easy if not potentially dangerous. . Thanks for your help.

 

[rivers]

Instructor friend of mine uses his dry suit inflator hose when diving wet to inflate his SMB, not sure what he does when he dives dry though.

Disconnect drysuit hose, put it on dsmb, once it's up, pass spool off to buddy, re-connect drysuit hose, take back dsmb, ascend. simples

To answer the OP, just add a second low pressure inflator