Tank Banger

[below_sea_level]

I am sure most of you have seen those things that you put around your tank with a plastic ball on it. It's used to pull and let it spring back and hit your tank to get someones attention. One is like 8 bucks at my local dive shop. They are very simple and was wondering any of you had made any. If so how did you do it?:doctor:

[Charlie99]

below_sea_level once bubbled...
I am sure most of you have seen those things that you put around your tank with a plastic ball on it. It's used to pull and let it spring back and hit your tank to get someones attention. One is like 8 bucks at my local dive shop. They are very simple and was wondering any of you had made any. If so how did you do it?:doctor: I unclip the boltsnap on the lanyard of my light from the D-ring, reach around and rap on my tank.

Others pull out a knife and rap on the tank.

Sometimes I just simply hoot like an owl into my reg.

I used to have a tank banger, but it didn't seem to offer any advantages to the above.

Hope this helps, although in a somewhat twisted way :out:

[DandyDon]

Not something to buy. The LDS that doens't carry it will get requests, as it looks like appealing to some, and some buy it, but I haven't seen anyone actually use it. a nice bolt carried in a BC pocket makes noise banged on a tank, but don't use it too often. Some of us like the quiet of diving, unless we're missing something.

If you run an All Forums Search on Tank Bangers, you'll find it mentioned 32 times other than your post. Get other opinions there...

:cheers:

[below_sea_level]

What is LDS?

[WVMike]

Dont waste money on tank banger, hard to use and hear, just gets in the way!

Charlie99 and dandydon are offering good advice.



below_sea_level once bubbled...
What is LDS?

Local Dive Shop

[DA Aquamaster]

LDS = Local Dive Shop

[DrownedRat]

Sounds like a really f#@k'd porn fetish... You don't need no stinking tank banger. Use your knife or on some occations I simply reach around and rap on the tank with my knuckles. That only works when I'm not wearing gloves however :-)

[Grajan]

My buddy and I both use 'tank bangers'. They work well AND improve safety:

- They are easy to hear.

- They are always where you left them.

- You don't need to open a pocket and look for a boltsnap when in a hurry to attract attention.

- YOU DON'T NEED TO UNSHEATH A KNIFE :eek: (a completely crazy thing to do if not needing to cut something IMHO).

A couple of times we have left them off and really missed them.

I agree that they should be used judiciously. Peace and quiet is a valuable scuba commodity.

I cannot see the sense in spending time bodging up something that costs less than ten bucks. Perhaps my hourly rate is too high.....

Just go shopping :)

[Boogie711]

In my opinion - tank bangers are an attempt at an equipment solution to a training deficiency.

If you can't communicate with your buddy without needing to bang on your tank, don't dive. A tank banger is an entanglement hazard, a waste of money, and should never have been thought of in the first place.

[Grajan]

1. A tank banger will break away with hardly any load. There is no way it could restrain a diver.

2. $8 for a redundant means of communication make perfect sense - with the best of training attention can wander.

[Boogie711]

Anytime you have an extra piece of rope or cord attached to the back of your tank, it is an entanglement hazard. It might break away eventually, but not before it's managed to drag a ball of monofilament or fishing line into your tank valve. Or maybe you want to drag around a big ball of kelp or seaweed.

Secondly, it's NOT a redundant form of communication. It would only be redundant if there was no other way of making a 'bang' on your tank. I don't dive with any danglies whatsoever, but I still have three or four things I can bang against my tank - not that I ever would.

And if your "attention is wandering" all you've managed to do is make a noise. It's non-directional - your lost buddy still can't find you because of it.

Tank bangers are an accessory designed to be sold to stupid divers.

[Grajan]

..

[Matthew]

In my opinion, tank bangers are indeed hard to use, inefficient, easy to lose and a waste of money, but at worst, they are harmless in the open water environment. If you are so STUPID that you can get entangled because of a tank banger, don't dive!

I do believe that it is useful, at least in some styles of diving, to have an efficient audible means of getting the attention of another diver, particularly the instructor or dm, not only in an emergency, but more often during the course of a typical dive. This is the simple reason why a lot of people try out, or ask about tank bangers and other noisemaking stuff.

So Boogie711, can you tell us what training deficiency do you think we are trying to solve with tank bangers?
:tease:

[joele]

while i agree that tank bangers could be entanglement hazards...
however, not all tank bangers are what boogie may have thought they are, though more common used are the balls strapped around the tanks...
i use a tank banger also, but not that type...
i use about a half foot long stainless steele rod which i just use to reach and bang against the tank to make some noise...
it serves me for other purposes as well as use it for pointing to some things, as an improvised reefhook, etc...

to those not used to it, and just like any other noise makers underwater, one may tend not to pay attention to then...
so it is important that your buddy must know what you're using...

and i disagree with all those who say that these forms of communication underwater is a gadget thrown to replace skills...
it is simple arrogance to say that... all these gadgets are not meant to replace any skills, but to enhance communication by catching attention easier underwater... one said it is redundant not because you have another banger, but because the primary source of communication will always be checking at your buddy every now so often...
and i say arrogance, just to explain the use of the word, because some tend to discredit the experience of others... perhaps one does not know how experienced the divers who use as well as the one who "invented" such form of communication underwater... this goes true to the exchange of posts in another thread regarding air horns...

dive safely...

joel e

[Wristshot]

I certainly don't wish to further agitate the boogie man, but perhaps some people should consider that the world has colors, not just black and white.

Occasionally my buddy is right next to me, and I might want to get the attention of someone else. Like perhaps on a dive in Cozumel last June when the whole group was watching a turtle off in the distance when I noticed another one directly below us. I had to unclip my light to reach my tank with it to get everyone's attention.

Just my dos centavos even though no one asked.

Wristshot

[ScottyK]

Matthew once bubbled...

So Boogie711, can you tell us what training deficiency do you think we are trying to solve with tank bangers?
:tease:
Matthew, to answer your question in a hopefully non inflammatory manner ;)

Boogie was replying to a statement about using tank bangers as part of a buddy teams communication. A lot of divers (myself included) believe that you should always be in tune enough with your buddy as to make a banger unneccesary. You should be consciously looking at them often, and unconsciously keeping them in your peripheral vision even when you're doing other things.

Obviously, not everyone would agree with this, but that is why he referred to it as a "training deficiency".

Hope this clears it up for you anyway......

Scott

[joele]

you just hit the nail right on its head, wristshot...

[Matthew]

A lot of divers (myself included) believe that you should always be in tune enough with your buddy as to make a banger unneccesary. You should be consciously looking at them often, and unconsciously keeping them in your peripheral vision even when you're doing other things.

I believe so too, Scott. Let me point out, though, that it takes two persons with the same good buddy skills for this to happen. Otherwise one has no choice but to compensate for the "training deficiency" of the other, by whatever means available.

Anyway, what I was trying to say was that audible signalling devices can be useful in many situations, not necessarily within the buddy team. Wristshot just gave a perfect example. I took Boogie's words to mean that banging on a tank, or any form of audible underwater communication for that matter, is totally useless.
:)

[ScottyK]

That's why this board is a good place to learn about diving. You get so many different perspectives on any issue :)

Wristshots example of of a large group diving in caribbean conditions also seems to me as situation of where a banger could be useful.

As for buddy diving, I wouldn't even be in the water with a partner who wasn't committed to "always" keeping in visual contact with me in one form or another.

Of course, that's just my perspective. Your mileage may vary :D

[joele]

there's something which i heard about tank bangers...
i was told that it may cause metal fatigue to the tanks and thus can be really dangerous not only to the diver, but to also those around him/her should the tank bursts...
can this really happen?

[Matthew]

Joele,

You can find answers to a similar question here (http://www.scubaboard.com/t35582/s.html) .
:)

[cantlogon]

for example, with my customers, I'll use a different audible signal to, say...."look, here's a nice nudibranch" from "watch out for that submarine" or "you're on your way to the bottom 80m/270' away, ascend a little!" With a competent buddy or customers, they often need only a hand signal or a little underwater verbal signal to get their attention. If it's a more serious situation, or a "time dependent" event...such as a school of eagle rays cruising by while some of the dives are staring at clownfish or whatever...I keep a big metal washer, attached by a line, in my pocket...pull that out & tap on the tank. The more I dive, the less likely I am to use something to make noise underwater....I'm in less of a hurry & if it takes a while for a diver to notice, that's ok...unless it's an emergency, of course.

It's frustrating when some guides use a hammerhead (air horn) or whatever every time they see a fish, or a diver gets a bit farther away than they'd like, etc. There is actually a guide here and I "know" when he's in the water, even if I can't see him....because he uses devices such as this soooooo often.