How to float a strobe?

[stuartv]

A buddy had a recent experience where he hung a strobe on the anchor line at the start of his dive. When he came back he was, fortunately, able to find the anchor line without a problem, but he couldn't see his strobe. During the dive, the current changed and the first number of feet of the anchor line dropped to the bottom. So, his strobe was laying on the bottom when he came back.

It seems like there are situations where one might want to mark an exit point with a strobe but not have anything up off the bottom that you can reliably hang the strobe on. So, it seems like an idea would be to put a (say) 15' leash on the strobe, with a float. Clip or tie the leash to something on the bottom (or take a weight down with you), and let the float hold the strobe up high, for you to see.

Thoughts on this? Any suggestions on a suitable float to use? It would obviously have to be something that wouldn't crush at depth.

 

[rhwestfall]

Short/small dsmb...

 

[CanadaDan]

Deleted repeated suggestion

 

[stuartv]

Short/small dsmb...

That is definitely one option I was thinking of. The only thing I don't like about that idea - and it's minor - is the time it would take to deflate and stow it at the end of the dive, as you're starting/going up. Also, it would be potentially more drag than a smaller float. Meaning, if there was nothing to tie the leash off and I took, say, a lead weight down to anchor the strobe, a stiff current could pull on that SMB and drag the whole thing away.

Another option was a non-compressible float. I.e. a high-density foam thing. Maybe sized to be just a little more buoyant than the negative buoyancy of the strobe itself. I was thinking that would likely be pretty compact.

For the kinds of dives I have experienced where this setup would be useful, being able to quickly deploy it and clean up and stow it are somewhat important. Some of these dives would be NDL dives. Spending 5 minutes screwing with deploy and stow out of a 25 minute NDL would be non-ideal.

 

[stuartv]

The ideas are trickling in...

What about a soda bottle (0.5 liter should work, I think) as a float? Drill a hole crossways through the neck near the mouth. No cap on it. Bungee loop through the hole, with a bolt snap on the loop.

Finger spool with bolt snap to use as a leash.

Get to the bottom and clip the strobe and bottle to the line from the finger spool. Put a little air in the bottle, so it floats the strobe up. Pay out enough line from the finger spool to achieve desired height. Tie/clip the finger spool off wherever.

Like using an SMB, but much quicker and easier to deploy and clean up. The bottle will be full of water when you go to climb the ladder to get out of the water. But, a 0.5 liter bottle full of water would only weigh about 1#, so no big deal to have it hanging off your rig somewhere as you climb the ladder...

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

I am sure you have thought of this but in NJ - we typically use a wreck reel with line. Tie off close to the anchor and reel back in when you need to get back. Sometimes you can not see a strobe due to the particulate or just the viz...

 

[stuartv]

I am sure you have thought of this but in NJ - we typically use a wreck reel with line. Tie off close to the anchor and reel back in when you need to get back. Sometimes you can not see a strobe due to the particulate or just the viz...

Yes. That is definitely the answer for a lot of situations. But, sometimes a strobe is a better answer. In some situations. For those, I want to use my strobe to its best advantage.

The more I think about it, the more I think a small float that is maybe 2# positively buoyant would probably be just about ideal. Just enough to float the strobe, bolt snap, some bungee, and maybe 20' of cave line and still be around 1#-ish positively buoyant.

 

[OTF]

Maybe a plastic bottle with a loop of line around the neck - fill it with water when swimming it down, purge air into it on the bottom to make a mini float. Dump the air when you ascend.

 

[rhwestfall]

Take a DSMB, Cut it down to a meager/useful size, and you have a great little system....

Between AquaSeal, Stitching, etc., I'd bet you can build a small float out of a DSMB....

 

[rhwestfall]

Maybe a plastic bottle with a loop of line around the neck - fill it with water when swimming it down, purge air into it on the bottom to make a mini float. Dump the air when you ascend.

We have small beverage bottles filled with foam that we use to shoot lines from depth to then haul up mooring lines....