Help with deploying a safety sausage

[decompression]

From an instructor point of view, I think it's better to teach a single skill that can be applied throughout many levels of diving. So in that case, I'd prefer a properly rigged smb and spool (to include an anti-twist device) which can be used by basic ow to deploy in many situations (boat traffic, drift dives etc) and is a small package for stowing and gives many options for use.


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[dfx]

[video=youtube;FgVGgITqZW4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgVGgITqZW4[/video]

 

[Hickdive]

I may be dense, but I just can't picture how to do dSMB oral inflation via the LPI. Would you mind expanding a little bit on that?

Put LPI inflation nipple on dSMB in your mouth an blow as if blowing up a balloon.

It is slightly more complicated on Frog dSMBs as you need to push the nipple in to allow air to flow into the buoy. I usually just seal my lips around the tube and gently push the nipple against my teeth.

Here's a video of someone orally inflating via the LPI;

[video=youtube;EasqyQai7Gs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EasqyQai7Gs[/video]

 

[Storker]

IMHO, the vast majority of recreational divers don’t need the complexity of a spool. [...]

I have started using 22' of 1" Nylon webbing attached to the SMB and a bolt snap at the other end. I hold the folded SMB in one and swirl it around allowing the webbing to unwind under the weight of the snap around the depth of my first stop.

I'm a rec diver only, and I'd like to respectfully disagree.

It took me about two tries to be comfortable with my spool, a spool gives me more flexibility if I e.g. want to mark something on the bottom instead of just shoot a sausage, and, frankly, your contraption looks more complicated to me than my dSMB/spool assembly.

Personally, the part I hated the most about reels was winding it back up… especially finger spools. That was the motivator that led to this experiment.

I've learned to appreciate the slow winding up of the spool. It forces me to take it slow on the last part of my ascent, after my safety stop. Before I started shooting my dSMB, my computer always nagged me for ascending too fast the last 2-3 meters. When I shoot a sausage and have to take it slow to avoid loose line, that just doesn't happen.

Bottom line: I fail to see how a simple dSMB/spool assembly could be too complicated for a rec diver at my level (and I won't try to claim to be a particularly skilled rec diver...).

---------- Post added July 17th, 2014 at 09:12 PM ----------

Put LPI inflation nipple on dSMB in your mouth an blow as if blowing up a balloon.

Ah. I read you as if it was the LPI on the BCD. No wonder I was confused.

My sausage is the cheap type, with an open bottom and no nipple or dump valve, so that method won't fit me.

---------- Post added July 17th, 2014 at 09:13 PM ----------

[video=youtube;FgVGgITqZW4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgVGgITqZW4[/video]

...which is why I like to clip the double/ender on the line before I start inflating the sausage

 

[Mustard Dave]

What if you want to bag off from deeper? Say you are on a 25 metre deep wreck and the skipper wants you to ascend on a surface marker buoy - do you make a free ascent to 6m and bag off, or do you do it from the wreck and use the line as a reference?

Like I wrote…

This does not apply to technical divers that do spend considerable periods of time on stops deeper than 20' or divers that need to be mark objects on the bottom. That requires a spool of some sort...

Your scenario doesn’t apply to the vast majority of recreational divers who don’t need to master or maintain the skill of using a reel, but can benefit from popping a buoy during their safety or short decompression stop.

Who said anything about technical diving? I was diving last weekend in Cornwall. All single tank diving and to a max depth of 30m. Dive one was on a rock pinnacle, starting at 16m and descending to 40m (we went to 26m). There was no shot or anchor line, so we had to ascend on a DSMB. What is easier - a free ascent to 6m with a mid-water DSMB deployment or bag off from 16m and ascend up the line?

What if you are ready to inflate the blob and you drop all that webbing below you. You sort the bag out, look above, and then look at the buoy as you inflate it. Meanwhile that loose line has snagged a diver ascending below you….

You can easily feel if the dangling webbing is entangled and the great majority of time you can also see it… it’s only 22'. You will also be engulfed in bubbles if there is a diver below you. Remember the diver profile. It’s not plausible that divers below you will be on rebreathers at their 40' stop and you are on a recreational dive in such bad visibility that you don’t know they are there.

Secondly, the SMB is unfurled by the time you are ready to inflate it — it isn’t a blob or wad at that point. I like to put a small puff of air in it orally to aid holding the end up to make it easier to power inflate with a second stage. That is true if it is on a reel or the webbing.

You may not feel the line is snagged unless the diver snagged in it is pulling on it. What if they swim into it just as you launch? You may not have had time to feel or see their bubbles.

How do you know nobody is on a rebreather below you? Rebreathers are becoming more common, even in recreational circles. There are plenty of sites worldwide where you can pick your depth (wall dives etc) it is not infeasible that there may be other divers doing deeper profiles. Some of us also use our rebreathers in recreational depths as it maximises our NDL times and keeps our skills sharp.

Using a reel needs some practice, but it is not impossible, and it keeps the line exactly where you want it.

True, but do you really expect divers to waste their vacation time on drills who will never intentionally make a decompression dive? This is a case where one size does not fit all.

I expect them to be taught properly to begin with. Bagging off at the end of every dive will help keep this skill sharp. Breathing underwater is not a task we have evolved to be able to do. Diving carries risks which we have learned to manage. One of those risks is getting smashed in the head by a boat. We can manage this risk by deploying a DSMB to alert boats to our presence - if you cannot dedicate a little time to staying safe, perhaps diving is not for you. Besides, is handling the line the trickiest bit? I don't think so. Mastering the blob itself is the trickiest bit and not something somebody who is out of practice should attempt.

 

[00wabbit]

Who said anything about technical diving? I was diving last weekend in Cornwall. All single tank diving and to a max depth of 30m. Dive one was on a rock pinnacle, starting at 16m and descending to 40m (we went to 26m). There was no shot or anchor line, so we had to ascend on a DSMB. What is easier - a free ascent to 6m with a mid-water DSMB deployment or bag off from 16m and ascend up the line?



You may not feel the line is snagged unless the diver snagged in it is pulling on it. What if they swim into it just as you launch? You may not have had time to feel or see their bubbles.

How do you know nobody is on a rebreather below you? Rebreathers are becoming more common, even in recreational circles. There are plenty of sites worldwide where you can pick your depth (wall dives etc) it is not infeasible that there may be other divers doing deeper profiles. Some of us also use our rebreathers in recreational depths as it maximises our NDL times and keeps our skills sharp.



I expect them to be taught properly to begin with. Bagging off at the end of every dive will help keep this skill sharp. Breathing underwater is not a task we have evolved to be able to do. Diving carries risks which we have learned to manage. One of those risks is getting smashed in the head by a boat. We can manage this risk by deploying a DSMB to alert boats to our presence - if you cannot dedicate a little time to staying safe, perhaps diving is not for you. Besides, is handling the line the trickiest bit? I don't think so. Mastering the blob itself is the trickiest bit and not something somebody who is out of practice should attempt.

It's odd to me that the idea of using a spool is consider only for decompression diving.

What if you are on a recreational level wreck diving vacation? What if you have an issue that makes it difficult to get back to the anchor line? Equipment issue, low vis disorientation and can't find the line, panicky instabuddy. Now you have to make a free ascent. What if there is a current? What if there is other boat traffic (for instance other dive boats mooring to the same wreck)?
I choose an smb with reel. If there is a current I want the smb up as soon as possible which will have it come up as close to the wreck as possible. Then I can do my ascent while drifting in the current, but I can hope that the boat crew saw the smb come up and is watching the direction it is drifting off. Also I want an smb up at least when I am doing my safety stop to alert the boats at the surface.

Using a reel is not that difficult, but you don't want to have to figure it out the first time you need it.

 

[Akimbo]

Who said anything about technical diving? I was diving last weekend in Cornwall….

Please read it again, especially the part that starts with the word “or”. Maybe this additional emphasis will help:

…This does not apply to technical divers that do spend considerable periods of time on stops deeper than 20' or divers that need to [-]be[/-] mark objects on the bottom. That requires a spool of some sort...

I never wrote that people who are comfortable using reels should stop. I never wrote that this was a superior solution in every case. It is more compact, faster to deploy, requires less skill, can be made ready to fill one-handed, and is much easier to re-stow.

…You may not feel the line is snagged unless the diver snagged in it is pulling on it. What if they swim into it just as you launch? You may not have had time to feel or see their bubbles....

Not true. Having actually used this rig I can honestly say that you even feel it rubbing against kelp. A 20' piece of 1" webbing with a bolt-snap on the end is far less of an entanglement risk than blowing a bag from the bottom under other divers.

Using your logic, blowing a bag on a reel from the bottom is dangerous when you can’t see all the way to the surface… oh wait; divers on DPVs might run into your bag on its way up! A boat might wiz past, get your line wrapped in the prop, and yank you off the bottom at 1500’/minute. I see your point now, Reels, SMBs, and lift bags must be outlawed immediately for the safety of all mankind. Too sarcastic?

…How do you know nobody is on a rebreather below you? Rebreathers are becoming more common, even in recreational circles. There are plenty of sites worldwide where you can pick your depth (wall dives etc) it is not infeasible that there may be other divers doing deeper profiles. Some of us also use our rebreathers in recreational depths as it maximises our NDL times and keeps our skills sharp.....

The vast majority of recreational dives off boats have at least 20' of visibility. You know that nobody is entangled because you can feel the slightest contact and see the end of the webbing. You are stretching reality here.

…I expect them to be taught properly to begin with...

That would be nice… but they’re not. Far too many certified divers can barely swim, can’t manage their buoyancy, or have an effective understanding of the gas laws. A great many only have the opportunity or inclination to dive on holidays once or twice a year. They can be certified in a ridiculously short time, stand a good chance of drowning if their BC fails, are clueless how their regulator works, can’t read tables, and barely know how to use their computers. Somehow blowing a bag is pretty low on the list of things they should know, but don’t.

However, they can all charter a space on a boat, make drift dives, and swim off in the wrong direction where being able to deploy a SMB without training and drills would be beneficial.

 

[PfcAJ]

If you cant manage a spool, just practice it a few times. Its pretty easy to wrap a piece of string around a spool.

 

[Hutch12]

I think the most important point is that an SMB is always deployed.

How it is deployed and what equipment is used should be down to individual preference as long as it is done safely and within the divers comfort and skill level so as not to task load.

 

[Nasser]

I actually find a spool much easier to use than a reel - albeit with two hands. What has the most influence on my ability to deploy a bag smoothly is the size of the SMB more than anything else...