Anybody know of a good (long) non-yellow SMB

[Web Monkey]

Right now, I've got a yellow Carter SMB (about 9' long) and an orange OMS SMB about the same size.

They're both nice, but the Carter has flat welded seams and rolls up beautifully, while the OMS has some sort of edging sewn on, which makes it roll up almost twice as thick.

The difference is that the Carter fits nicely in a pocket, while the OMS ends up clipped to a D-ring. I'm looking to reduce the number of clipped items I carry (so far, light, reel, SMB and sometimes camera), and this looks like a good candidate.

I'd love a Carter in a non-yellow color, but I called today and that's the only color they make.

Anybody know of another good manufacturer of SMBs withouth the sewn on edging?

Terry

 

[LJinFLA]

Right now, I've got a yellow Carter SMB (about 9' long) and an orange OMS SMB about the same size.

They're both nice, but the Carter has flat welded seams and rolls up beautifully, while the OMS has some sort of edging sewn on, which makes it roll up almost twice as thick.

The difference is that the Carter fits nicely in a pocket, while the OMS ends up clipped to a D-ring. I'm looking to reduce the number of clipped items I carry (so far, light, reel, SMB and sometimes camera), and this looks like a good candidate.

I'd love a Carter in a non-yellow color, but I called today and that's the only color they make.

Anybody know of another good manufacturer of SMBs withouth the sewn on edging?

Terry

Hey Terry,

I just corresponded with Jim Carter a few weeks ago on the same subject and he said that they only make the yellow ones for distribution, but they custom make red ones too on request. He said they do it all the time. I also saw a store on the web that sells their own custom made genuine Carter SMB that is the same dimensions as the 9' by 7" one (110lbs of lift) and it is yellow on one side and red on the other. Carter only makes them for this store right now. It also comes with the optional Dive Flag.

That site is: http://www.divesports.com/mall/carter_110personalfloat.asp

Neither of these options are cheap but they sound like what you really want.

LJ

 

[Captain CaveMan]

if you wanting to get rid of your OMS let me know im looking for a OMS but have not been to the lds to order it + it will take about 1-2 months to get. (dont ask why because i dont know) let me know if you want to sell it.
chris

 

[Web Monkey]

Cool! Thanks!

I'll ask him to make me a red (maybe orange?) one when he gets a chance!

I'll skip the red/yellow one, since you could never tell which side was which.

Terry

Hey Terry,

I just corresponded with Jim Carter a few weeks ago on the same subject and he said that they only make the yellow ones for distribution, but they custom make red ones too on request. He said they do it all the time. I also saw a store on the web that sells their own custom made genuine Carter SMB that is the same dimensions as the 9' by 7" one (110lbs of lift) and it is yellow on one side and red on the other. Carter only makes them for this store right now. It also comes with the optional Dive Flag.

That site is: http://www.divesports.com/mall/carter_110personalfloat.asp

Neither of these options are cheap but they sound like what you really want.

LJ

 

[LJinFLA]

Cool! Thanks!

I'll ask him to make me a red (maybe orange?) one when he gets a chance!

I'll skip the red/yellow one, since you could never tell which side was which.

Terry

I asked him about orange too, but he says he can only do red.

LJ

 

[PhilEllis]

Cool! Thanks!

I'll ask him to make me a red (maybe orange?) one when he gets a chance!

I'll skip the red/yellow one, since you could never tell which side was which.

Terry

Last spring during a trip to the Dry Tortugas, we did some pretty serious testing to determine which color was easiest to spot in a variety of lighting conditions. We found that the yellow color was best spotted from the boat deck when the boat is between the sun and the diver, such as sunrise or sunset. The dark red was the easiest to spot in overcast or high sun conditions. No color was particularily easy to spot if the diver was between the boat and the sun, with the sun low on the horizon. Interestingly enough, the pale orange color that was so popular a couple of years ago had problems in each of the lighting conditions where the dark red and the yellow was easily spotted. We also learned that a two colored tube, moving slightly in the wind and presenting changes from side to side was by far easier to spot than any single color. Of course, if you do some simple earth calculations, regardless of the color of the bag, size definately matters! The larger diameters are more resistant to bending in the wind. Hence, the two colored bag we have custom made by Carter.

Dive Sports/Carter Custom Two-Color Personal Float


Phil Ellis
Dive Sports Online
www.divesports.com
(800) 601-DIVE

 

[LJinFLA]

Hey Terry,

Phil, above, is the owner of the store I recommended to you. He is a knowledgable guy and good business man. Nice guy too.

Hey Phil, good seeing you again on here. Thanks for everything. Love the Float. Works great.

LJ

 

[gt3073b]

I was about to post in another thread, but since there seems to be a wealth of experience on large smbs here, I figured this was a good place to put it.

How long at depth (say 66 fsw) does it take to fill the smb? The Carter takes 1.7cf / 3 = 0.566cf to fill. Is that a blip on the reg purge, one second?, 5? I know i can use the air in my wing to fill the smb to maintain neutral while it fills, but that would be over 36lbs of lift. I doubt i'd ever be that heavy even if I had a steel tank (I currently dive wet with AL80).

I've been looking at the OMS 9'7" but this thread has me considering the red/yellow Carter.

I am still relatively new (just over 20 dives, mostly quarry, springs, some ocean). I've been reading ScubaBoard and practicing with with some very experienced friends at the quarry, but I haven't shot a bag yet. I'm interested in using it mostly for safety stops in open water (in case I end up away from the anchor line for whatever reason).

Thank you,
Bryan.

edit: corrected a typo in the math

 

[ba_hiker]

I asked carter to make me a red one last monday, sent them an email. Got an email back the same day asking for address and phone number. Thursday got a call from them saying "I just finished it, do you still want it?". I said yes and gave them a CC number, the said it would go out in the thursday UPS, and to expect it today (monday).

Totaly a joy to deal with them, and I will order anything they have from them.

 

[Web Monkey]

Can you let us know what color it is when it comes in?

If it's really red or orange, I'll give them a call and order one. They were probably just frazzled by the hurricaine when I talked to them last time.

Terry

I asked carter to make me a red one last monday, sent them an email. Got an email back the same day asking for address and phone number. Thursday got a call from them saying "I just finished it, do you still want it?". I said yes and gave them a CC number, the said it would go out in the thursday UPS, and to expect it today (monday).

Totaly a joy to deal with them, and I will order anything they have from them.