Sausage Deployment

[Warhammer]

With all this talk about safety sausages and such, I thought it would be interesting to discuss methods of deploying a sausage. Currently, I use a piece of rope that’s about 20 ft long. That way I could use it as a hang line for a safety stop if need be. I deploy it from about 30ft, then ascend to the line. But what I’d really like is some kind of spool with around 100 to 150 ft of line on it so I could tie it off and use it as an upline from depth, if need be and deploy it from a safety stop. I’ve considered buying one of the Halcyon spools for this purpose, but I see a few problems with that.

1. How would you deploy it if you wanted to use it as a hang-line from your safety stop? If you simple drop the spool and allow it to unravel to the bottom, you’d likely have a mess and you’d have to wind up a lot of line afterwards. You might also get entangled in the line. If you hold the spool, fill the sausage, and allow the line to pull off as the sausage rises, then you could get tangled in the line, your fingers might also get cut on the edge of the spool, or you might end up dropping it and be in the first situation. I’ve thought about tying the line off on the spool at say 30ft, then dropping it before filling the sausage. That way it would only unravel the 30ft of line and wouldn’t be so bad. But you still run the risk of entanglement. You’d also have to unravel the line down to where you tied it off and untie it before you could use it as an upline, at depths beyond where you tied it off.
   
2. Would the line on the spool be big enough and strong enough to work as an upline, especially in a strong current where you’d need it the most? For both you and possibly your buddy?
   
3. And when deploying a sausage/lift bag to use an up line, do you wrap the line around your tie-off point, fill the sausage, and gradually feed it line allowing it to rise to the surface? Or do you simply let it fly and then tie it off after it surfaces? I’d think the first method would be best, but I’ve heard different divers say they do both.

I guess you could use a reel, but then that also has problems like a birds nest as the sausage ascends and I’m looking more for something that would fit inside a BC pocket. What do you guys think? What do you use?

[Rick Murchison]

When I'm using a reel and float (lift bag or sausage) for a deco stop, I first attach the line to the float, then pull off the length of line needed, lock the reel and let it drop, then, when close to my stop depth, fill the float and let it bring the reel back to me. Never had any entanglement problems this way.
Rick

[100days-a-year]

My sausage is often deployed with peppers,occasionally with pasta.Oh wrong sausage.Never used a spool,never had a reel jam.I like my dive-rite reel for hanging around.Hand away from me,finger on the spool to prevent backlash.I'd also beinterested in finding a spool so I can mark lobster spots at 125'or so with my GPS,something small and easier to deploy.

[TexasMike]

WH, check with your TDI instructor that is teaching staged deco.

When I went to Lake Travis to get in my PADI Adv. O/W deep dive, the instructor was also doing the training dives for the staged deco class. And one of thier tasks was deploying a bag/bouy off of a reel to assist in determining where their stop depths were.

If you don't find anyone local, I can give you the e-mail addy of the instructor who taught that class.

--Michael