Safety sausage questions.

[H2Andy]

I was a bit curious about the DAN one and it says it has a lpi attachment (what is that?) and a dump valve. The presence of a dump valve would indicate that it may be deployable under water?

is this the one you are talking about?

http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/e...pec=&CFTOKEN=54658939&continue=1&SEARCH_TYPE=

i can't be certain, but i think "LPI" means low pressure inflator, which means
you don't have to "blow it up" manually, but can connect it to a low pressure
hose (most likely the BC inflator hose, since it's the only one that can be disconnected and re-connected easily).

so... i don't see an opening at the bottom through which you can fill the
sausage with air using your reg at depth.

sausages meant to be inflated at depth will have an open bottom so that
you can simply put the reg up to them and inflate them.

that said, nothing prevents you from inflating this sausage at depth, clipping it,
and deploying it. you'd have to attach a clip to it ahead of time, as it doesn't
look like it could be secured without one.

 

[Bibendum]

The DAN sausage is the one my dive buddy and I bought as well. It does have an open bottom. Now that I have it, I just have to figure out how to use it.

I notice that many say they keep their safety sausage in their bc pocket. The Dan sausage is pretty big, do you just keep it clipped to the bc in this case?

is this the one you are talking about?

http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/e...pec=&CFTOKEN=54658939&continue=1&SEARCH_TYPE=

i can't be certain, but i think "LPI" means low pressure inflator, which means
you don't have to "blow it up" manually, but can connect it to a low pressure
hose (most likely the BC inflator hose, since it's the only one that can be disconnected and re-connected easily).

so... i don't see an opening at the bottom through which you can fill the
sausage with air using your reg at depth.

sausages meant to be inflated at depth will have an open bottom so that
you can simply put the reg up to them and inflate them.

that said, nothing prevents you from inflating this sausage at depth, clipping it,
and deploying it. you'd have to attach a clip to it ahead of time, as it doesn't
look like it could be secured without one.

 

[H2Andy]

i have a sausage sleeve that attaches to the bottom of my bakcplate
(where the small of my back is). then i clip the "handle" of the sausage
to my left waist d-ring so that i can get it and deploy it quickly.

basically, this is what you do:

1. get the sausage out.

2. get your spool out.

3. attach sausage to line

4. switch to neck-mounted regulator

5. use primary regulator to inflate sausage

6. keep a hold of the sausage firmly, and do not let it go too early
(it needs enough air in it).

7. when the sausage is sufficiently filled, make sure it will not catch
on any part of your gear, and release it, holding the spool with
sufficient tension to pevent the sausage from deflating at the surface.


that's about it. you just need to practice.

 

[MarkUK]

I've just done a test of some 25 different kinds of DSMB – standard tubes you inflate with your octo, tubes with 'throats' that you fill the same way but are intended to restrict loss of gas if it 'tips over' on the surface, DSMbs with one-use CO2 cylinders (just pull a toggle and off it goes!), DSMBs with refillable .2-litre bottles that you just crack open and let go, and DSMBs with an oral inflate tube that you can blow a full breath into at depth and let go which will be fully inflated at the surface.

Some are just tubes, which can deflate on the surface unless you keep tension on them, others have over-pressure dump valves (like on a BCD) and these remain rigid on the surface till you pull on this.

It depends what you want, and what you use them for. But you need to practice launching them from different depths (both on the seabed and mid-water) so it is instinctive – the first time you launch it doesn't want to be when you need it!

There are plenty of reels out there (we tested 20-odd of them as well) and some of them are very small and compact, easily fit in a BCD pocket or clip out of the way on a D-ring, and work well for launching and reeling in with a DSMB.

Mark

PS: Just remember, gas expands as it heads for the surface, so you don't need to overfill your DSMB – we were at 20m and third-filled them, and they were solid on the surface.

 

[H2Andy]

Just remember, gas expands as it heads for the surface, so you don't need to overfill your DSMB – we were at 20m and third-filled them, and they were solid on the surface.

i find that both under- and over- inflation are a problem. if you under inflate,
the things just flop on the surface. it's best to slightly over-inflate at first
until you get the hang of it.

 

[Fastmarc]

Thanks H2Andy.
I would imagine when inflating it you would have to watch you bouyancy, but how much does it really affect you and what is the best way you have found to deal with it?

 

[H2Andy]

yes, you have to be very careful of your bouyancy

if the sausage starts to pull you up, let it go

alo, when handling the spool, make sure it can rotate freely so it won't
take you up with it

 

[MarkUK]

H2Andy, I know what you mean about getting just the right amount in, the only problem with over-inflating them - particularly if mid-water - when you are first getting to grips with doing it is that the DSMB, unless it is very small capacity, will really try and go as fast as possible, perhaps before you are ready if you think you need to get more gas in than you actually need.

That's why I like the crack and go type, either refillable off your main cylinder or one-shot CO2 jobs - just pile or crack it and forget about it. No messing around worrying about under or over inflation, no worries of freeflowing regs in cold water.

It is one of those things that practice makes perfect, and you get to the point where you know how much air you need to fill it fully at the surface.

Mark

 

[Mambo Dave]

I like this one based on a quarry dive I did:

hmmm... let's see.... these are the reasons i can think of:
2. to ascend in low vis and have a reference point (the line)
...

I actually do have one or two more reasons that I learned from a very experienced diving couple.

Both of these probably aren't for beginners, but...

They had two very small SS's attached to two, oh, about 8" diameter stainless snap systems. When the one diver speared a fish, she'd send it to the surface with one small SS. We'd pick it up in the boat.

Another - used somewhat just like a dive flag, we went down looking for a wreck in a good current with one of the small SS's on a reel and a grappling hook. A dive flag on a reel would have just acted as a sail (as it had on the deep reef dive I did earleir that day) and pulled me the wrong direction, making fidning the wreck a lost cause. Once I found the wreck, I deployed the SS so the boat, and any subsequent divers who wanted to jump in, could find me.

Lastly - I'm lucky in that I was sold a ~ 40 lb SS that is well designed, and made to double as a lift bag. It has the LPI, the relief valve, an opening at the bottom for reg inflation, and a nylon strap with a stainless ring at the bottom to attach loot. I've salvaged two anchors off of the bottom with it. It's bright orange, but has a yellow 'handle' on the top of it with what looks like 3M reflective tape. That I've seen, it seemed the best SS on the market for a good while. DAN's new one rivals it, and beats it with the mirror attachment I guess - but I'm not sure if DAN's is a lift-bag as well.

But for the first anchor salvage I ran into a problem like MarkUK wrote about:

H2Andy, I know what you mean about getting just the right amount in, the only problem with over-inflating them - particularly if mid-water - when you are first getting to grips with doing it is that the DSMB, unless it is very small capacity, will really try and go as fast as possible, perhaps before you are ready if you think you need to get more gas in than you actually need.

the key, for me and any diver, is to get the reel line out, hooked up to the SS, then organize everything out away from you - like at your arms' lengths so just your hands are fiddling with it. I wasn't expecting my reg to stick open when I purged it for a little air, but that's what happened. My SS and the good sized anchor were nearly instantly shooting to the surface. I had some line out, maybe too much ( loops of death-line floating around me waiting to grab on ), and I did my best to push it all away, including the cave reel, in the milliseconds I had.

This is important - don't leave your dive reel attached to your body when shooting the SS. If that line sticks (which I later found it did when we picked up the anchor floating mid-ocean - my dive reel hanging fromt he line about 20 feet from the surface), the reel will take you with it. An open delrin reel would probably be better than a cave reel when first practicing shooting SS's.

 

[Mambo Dave]

Thanks H2Andy.
I would imagine when inflating it you would have to watch you bouyancy, but how much does it really affect you and what is the best way you have found to deal with it?

For a boat pick-up , I'd rather not wait for the last third of the ascent, nor the safety stop, to fill it. I find the SS more dangerous to inflate there, as it needs to be inflated more make it visible at the surface. More inflation means trying to hold onto it longer, and a more rapid, or violent, rise when it is most unwanted.

Launching it at 50, 70 - or even better - 90 feet requires very little air to get it to slowly start going up. In fact it looks kinda saggy in the water column. As it rises, the air in it expands (or the pressure outside of it reduces), and the bag will rise faster - easily accounted for at this point with a working reel or open spool (make sure you have enough line to use it at a deeper depth, lol). Sure enough, that saggy, easy to handle, slowly rising SS will blow its pressure relief valve at the surface with that small amount of air at depth, and the SS will be standing tall.

Another way to account for it that I've been told about, but haven't done: an open spool can be let go of, and it will hold in place for a while, spinning, as the SS rises to the top. This might be a better method to launch a SS at a shallower depth. Palming a spool upward (not laying on its side on the palm), fill the bag and let the spool free-spool, floating above the hand (not really floating, but being pulled), being ready to grab it when the line stops pulling.