best surface marker that can lift?

I do not carry a lift bag all the time, but I do like to carry a surface marker buoy all the time. Last trip I left mine (a scubapro) behind as a tip for the local DM, so now I need a new one.

The scubapro was nice because it was self-contained in a small attached pouch, but it was the kind that's made out of heavy plastic with an open bottom, so there was a chance it would dump if you shot it wrong. I typically shot mine from 15' for a stop, so I kept around 17' of line on it, with a small weight to make managing the line easy without a reel - drop the weight and the line straightens out, no tangles floating around you. Being plastic, sooner or later it was going to blow a seam, and it was not for lifting, just for marking. I didn't really like that it was plastic and that it had an open bottom, so I'm not sorry it's gone.

I'm looking for a better smb, and I know there are a couple out there (OMS, halcyon) that claim to have some minor lift capability, 40 or 50 pounds. I guess my first question would be, are there others besides the halcyon and oms I should consider?

I dislike the look of the halcyon, if I understand how it works. Looks like it needs to be filled with a hose. I am typically carrying a camera, and I am typically shooting the bag mid-water, so I don't have two hands free, and I don't like the idea of disconnecting my inflator hose when I'm midwater, if that's what it takes to fill this bag. Maybe it's easier than I think, please correct me if I'm wrong.

The OMS 50# float looks interesting, anybody got one? The stuff I've read about it online says it has a "non-spill air opening" which sounds promising, curious if it works.

http://www.omsdive.com/lift-smb.html

right now I'm leaning toward the oms, but I'd like to know if anybody has a better idea.

thanks a lot,

Roger

I just got the OMS 50# but have not tried it yet. It's quite heavy material and the valves look good. Take a look at the Carter personal floats at 35# and 75#. They seems to have the same features plus an oral inflate valve for surface use and a bit larger price tag.

how do you fill the oms? with a reg through a big hole with some kind of one-way flap?

Yes, Reg thru the bottom. A very heavy vinyl valve (2 pieces of vinyl with 3 to 4 inches of overlap) allows air in but not out. You dump the air thru an overpressure/dump valve on the side.

IMPO (and based upon my technical diving instructors) the OMS 50# SMB is the best for what you're describing.

And it does function the way CCDeep described.

An alternate way to fill the bag (and the way I was shown and am practicing) is to stuff your BC inflator into the opening and press the dump button. Your bouyancy should remain the same since you just exchaning gas from one "bag" to the other.

1 or 2 healthy squirts will get the SMB to stand up out of your way (without being too positive, dragging you upward) while you attach your reel or spool. Then fill the rest of the way with your reg and let fly.

As far as stowage on your BC, I have some silicon tubing tie wrapped through the butterfly bolt snap that is stretched around the rolled up SMB. Then I clip the assemby to my left D ring.

Disconnecting your LPI for 5 seconds is really no big deal and is somthing you should be able to do easily any way. Here is a little videao of someone shootin a bag.
http://www.fifthd.com/divestore/classes/video/sbag.htm

Oh, and I do recommend going to your local open water quarry or dive site to practice shooting the bag before heading out to deeper and more task loading waters.

According to my TDI instructor, his goal for me is to be able to shoot the bag while hovering in the open (at around 30 feet or so) and have the bag arrive at the surface completely full of air.

I use one similar to the OMS called 'The Buddy' from APValves. It's the SMBC model. It was a gift from a friend in England and I'm not sure if it's available in the States.

To deploy it, I attach the spool or reel, I give it a couple of small bursts of air from my alternate air source to get it vertical. When I am comfortable, I add another good burst of air at the same time I release the spool.

I've used it for both a surface marker and a lift bag.

APValves SMB's

as you can see there are many options to chose from. I have found the Halcyon Super Alert Marker to work quite well when deployed from a reel. It does not matter if it tips over as it is fully enclosed. It has an overpresurazation valve, plus an inflation device that connects without attaching to the BC inflator hose.

Tom

thanks a lot, that carter looks like a winner, I like the idea of being able to inflate it by mount on the surface, to dry it out if nothing else. Glad I asked.

Roger