Simplest and most streamlined 'clipped-on' dsmb storage?

[roydude]

It “looks” like it might be a bit awkward to push the bungee on the bolt snap through the reel holes, especially with gloves in cold water. I wonder if small slots angled away from the rotation is worth considering?

These slots “could” make the string catch when unwinding (really bad) ...

It's fiddly but I can assemble it all with my thick gloves on. Not including rolling the smb up: underwater it took me somewhere around a minute (out of the water, maybe a little less, but I find if you swear at it under your breath it seems to speed things up :blinking: ). It's not too difficult but certainly not as easy to put together as putting a clip on though, that's true.

Yeah, unless someone could show a way that the slots wouldn't interfere at all with unwinding I'd be reluctant to try it. I've seen people have the reel snag, be ripped out of their hands and shoot out of view like a rocket - safety aside to be honest it's pretty hilarious to see, and the 'oh ... um ... I'll just look around nonchalantly and pretend that didn't happen ...' expression that follows is priceless ... as long as it not me it just happened to

 

[Akimbo]

I share your reservations. What about just enlarging the holes the bungee passes through — maybe obround leaving the minimum at the outer edge?

Maybe I will get an extra spool and try the modifications shown in the attached image. The spool would rotate clockwise as the line comes off. I am also thinking that the slots should be smaller than the bungee so it has to stretch a little to fit in.

 

[roydude]

Mmmm cool - that's food for thought at the very least! We're very much on the same page with the rotation direction being considered and I agree the slots should be a fair bit narrower than the bungee (it'll be under stress when it's all attached so it'll be pretty much as thin as it can get). Maybe just two holes to cut down on any chance of a snag? If I can find my old spool I might give it a whirl and see if I can do it without any snag risk.

---------- Post Merged at 05:31 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 04:55 PM ----------

For completeness, here's the same method with one of those 'handle' type spools:



In all honesty though, if you're doing this you can just put the bungee directly on a d-ring instead of on the clip (which you won't need anymore). That's very streamlined.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

Roydude...you got me thinking on this one. OBTW, I don't pick things apart trying to prove that they don't work. I am still eager to pick up a tip or two. My only problem is that I use my spools for a vast amount of differnt reasons (lift bags, searches, cave jumps, entering wrecks, etc.). Tying the line directly to the SMB just created a "situation" if you should need the spool for another reason. Not a big deal if your gear is dedicated for one mission / situation and one mission / situation only. That is the best reason I have for the double snap bolt. But, to say it again you have me thinking and I think that you have just given me an idea. Thanks for the thread.

 

[roydude]

That's true Tony - the reason I dedicate the spool (and go on about how quickly I can 'get it up' ) is because when I'm diving with students or guiding dives the need for speed (of deployment) can be pretty urgent sometimes so for me it's a priority.

 

[rhwestfall]

I like it, and have similar concepts to experiment with.

Question: The double ender alows for a way to secure the line thus keeping it from continuing to deploy off the spool (one gate is wrapped with the line, the other gate is through the spool's side hole). What do you do to accomplish this?

As I keep my spool and SMB in a tail pouch, I prefer them "flatter" so it isn't as compact as your method. Each way seems to have pros and cons.

 

[danvolker]

I've seen many-a-video showing dsmb storage options, almost all of which use a double ended clip and almost all of which leave the spool and dsmb dangling apart a bit.

In my unending quest to simplify and streamline I came up with this method, simply using two loops of bungee on a single clip:

View attachment 138530View attachment 138531View attachment 138532View attachment 138533View attachment 138534

The loops go through two holes in the finger spool (or through the handle of a larger spool) and then around the dsmb and voila! It's simple and is held very streamlined with no dangling!
It's a doddle to deploy (even with thick gloves on), just take the loops off the smb and pull the clip away from the spool (holding onto the spool in the process of course! ). It's very quick to deploy too - takes me about 15-20 seconds including unclipping it from the back of my crotch strap, and since I never clip a deployed dsmb to myself I only need a single-ended clip to lock the finger spool.

What do you think? Am I missing anything here (I might be, which is why I'm asking )?

Haven't you ever seen the storage pouch that goes on the backplate of a Halcyon bp/wing system? You can slide an SMB or a Halcyon Surfmat, or even life raft, into the pouch..which is then like a pad on your back you can pull out when needed. See DirDirect :: ALL HALCYON KIT :: Halcyon Wings and Wing Systems :: Parts, Accessories & Weight Systems :: Halcyon MC Storage Pak
or Backplate and Harness | Halcyon

Completly out of the hydrodynamic drag....no longer something that can get tangled....

 

[roydude]

I like it, and have similar concepts to experiment with. Question: The double ender alows for a way to secure the line thus keeping it from continuing to deploy off the spool (one gate is wrapped with the line, the other gate is through the spool's side hole). What do you do to accomplish this?

I just clip the one end through the spools side hole catching the line in the clip too (if you see what I mean) - you only need one clip to do that and line can't come out any more.

Haven't you ever seen the storage pouch that goes on the backplate of a Halcyon bp/wing system? You can slide an SMB or a Halcyon Surfmat, or even life raft, into the pouch..which is then like a pad on your back you can pull out when needed. See DirDirect :: ALL HALCYON KIT :: Halcyon Wings and Wing Systems :: Parts, Accessories & Weight Systems :: Halcyon MC Storage Pak or Backplate and Harness | HalcyonCompletly out of the hydrodynamic drag....no longer something that can get tangled....

Si! They're very cool - my buddy bcd had a built in pouch that did the same sort of thing (even had a quick release), I used it that way for quite a while too but I prefer having a 'unit' of spool and smb that i can clip somewhere else if I feel like it and to be honest I find I can reach behind me and unclip thi with one hand faster than anything I've tried yet.Also (back to the 'students' and 'guided dives' thing) I sometimes unclip it and have it 'poised' to deploy if I'm following the back of the group and see a potential issue that might cause an ascent. If things seems to settle down I just clip it back away again.---------- Post Merged on October 24th, 2012 at 07:37 AM ----------

rhwestfall : just to clarify (don't feel like explained the 'spool choked with a single clip' very well there) ...

... if you're worried about the line between the spool and the smb becoming loose and slipping back through the clip and causing a mess, then you can do this:

... but in practice I've never found it necessary (I've done tons of dsmb deployments in all sorts of conditions - in Scotland we used to finish every dive with them just for the practice) and the 'simple' first method is the only one I've ever found necessary.

 

[SangP]

Personally I prefer my large waist/thigh pouch which I had made for me at the local army surplus shops however, my buddy also likes this a lot.

Dual Holder Butt Pouch with zippered pocket on bottom!, Piranha Dive Manufacturing

 

[roydude]

Improvement to that configuration ...

In case anyone's looking for a simple DSMB storge solution, I found this to be much simpler and quicker to store and deploy than my original idea:




Attached to the bcd using the cuffs from an old pair of neoprene gloves ...





... it can be deployed in seconds and takes only a few seconds to store (and doesn't fall out after being tested with all sorts of high entries / boats etc...).