Deploying DSMB with a spool question.

[Uncle Pug]

Karl... if it is a minor snag then it will only rise a bit and will come back down to you. If as you say it is a major snag (I haven't seen one with my spool so maybe I'm not an idiot) you will be pulled up before you can release and as your wing and suit gas expand you stand a good chance of making more than one blown stop.

 

[Genesis]

It doesn't have to be that major for it to hang up and rise upward without releasing... and not coming back down to you either.

This is especially true if there is any kind of current running.

I use two fingers in the "holes" kinda half-in, half-out under it when its unrolling. If it really hangs up, it will be yanked out of my hand. If its minor, it won't be and won't move me significantly either.

 

[Snowbear]

Dang spool went up and just hung there and didn't come down - and it didn't seem to be snagged at all? They were just practice runs, shallow, no current, so no big deal going and getting it. Maybe my spool is too light? I don't stick my fingers in the holes, but do keep the spool between my fingers and that seems to help - if it should snag, it will release without pulling me up.

 

[DivesWithTurtles]

Be aware that if the idiot who wound the spool the last time (that'd be you, the user!) was less than careful a spool can be yanked up and out of reach VERY quickly by even a minor snag - this is the risk in letting it "spin" out of your hand.

Hey, you talkin bout me?

Yep, yesterday was my day for the minor snag when I let the spool spin freely while shooting the bag from 50 feet. Vertical viz was good enough that I could watch the spool throughout my ascent. I picked it up at 15 feet and did my SS, so nobody on the boat noticed that I was an idiot.

I think I may unwind and rewind the spool now...

Do you think it should be wound tightly or loosely?

 

[Genesis]

It should be wound firmly, but not tight enough so that the line "digs". More important is that it lays cleanly, so that it can't get hung between two adjacent strands - that's how it gets momentarily "hung up" like that.

 

[FreeFloat]

When, then, is the best time to wind it up? Do you ever wind them underwater and have them foul that way? (newbie question)

 

[Genesis]

Carefully!

Seriously, underwater you won't be all that neat (unless you want to take a huge amount of time to do it); the big deal if winding underwater is not to put a huge amount of tension on the line, so you don't "cinch" it down between two other strands.

When I get done for the day, I soak them with everything else (esp if I was diving in salt water - salt makes the line stiff and ultimately degrades it) and then unwind and rewind it at home, attempting to insure that the line lays flat and nice on the spool.

 

[detroit diver]

When, then, is the best time to wind it up? Do you ever wind them underwater and have them foul that way? (newbie question)

I wind them underwater, and I wind them on shore/boat. Either way, I've never had a line get stuck while blowing a bag. Lucky? Maybe.

 

[Uncle Pug]

When, then, is the best time to wind it up? Do you ever wind them underwater and have them foul that way? (newbie question)

If you don't wind them up as you ascend you run the risk of getting tangled in all the line in the water and it definitely makes it more difficult on the surface to deal with all that line.

What we do (as DIR divers) is to clip the bolt snap around the line and then through one of the perimeter holes on the spool and if there is no current or wind drift let the spool go and back away from it a bit. This provides a reference for your stop and keeps you from getting the line tangled on any of your gear.

If there is current and/or wind drift you can hold onto the spool if you jerk it down once in a while being careful not to get pulled up by they bag moving off at an angle.

When it comes time to move to the next stop unclip the bolt snap from the perimeter hole but leave it around the line. Some folks use the bolt snap to wind the line around the spool but I prefer to hold the bolt snap steady and wobble the spool.

Note: you should not be winding *yourself* up... you should be maintaining your buoyancy control and ascending on your own winding the line as you go. This takes practice because if you ascend faster than you can wind then you will have excess line exposed to entanglement.

If you feel that you did a bad job winding you can certainly rewind later. One of the things that causes line jams is maintaining too much tension on the line as you are winding it in and winding *yourself* up is at the root of this many times.

 

[Genesis]

Yes on both counts.

DD, you dive mostly in fresh water, right? Its not as much of an issue in fresh water as the salt acts as an "adhesive" between line layers..... I find that I don't need to do it after I get done doing a dive at Vortex, for example (shooting the bag just for bag practice from the bottom of the cavern) but do after ocean dives, especially if I am not going to be diving again for a week or two.

Pug is also correct in that if you "crank yourself up" you will hose the spool - you don't want to be doing that.