DLEGARE
Registered
who makes a really good deployable surface marker Buou (safety sausage)
Suggestions please.
Suggestions please.
Surface Marker Buoy
- Thread starter DLEGARE
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
I'm partial to the Halcyon ones, the build quality is awesome and I love the stainless inflate nipple. The Hog ones are also pretty good, but the build quality is slightly less. I dive a rebreather so I use closed bottom bags that I can inflate with an inflation hose. I used to have a DAN one but I found it didn't quite meet my needs however it still is a decent one.
cool_hardware52
Contributor
Whatever you buy, practice and make sure you can safely deploy it, and it's full when it reaches the surface.
Many will argue for large smb's, but many of the larger SMB's are difficult to fully fill, particularly if they are deployed shallow, and large bags are far more likely to lie down on the surface either due to wind, incomplete filling, or insufficient downforce to keep them upright.
What is more easily seen a 6 ft bag 2/3 filled and another 1/3 under water as required to keep it upright or a 1 meter bag with almost all of it standing straight up?
Me? I carry 1 or sometimes a 2nd 1 meter DSS SMB's, and if the circumstances warrant it a much larger "safety sausage" that can be orally inflated at the surface.
Tobin
Agree with Tobin on this. Especially for newer divers learning to deploy a DSMB at depth is easier and safer with a smaller one.
I use and sell a 36 inch from HOG that only has about 8-10 lbs of lift. Unfurling a 6 ft tube at depth can be a pain and getting enough air in to be fully inflated at the surface can also result in it having enough lift to drag you to the surface if you get tangled up in the line.
The smaller one can be inflated at depth with a 1/4 - 1/2 breath. I can pull it back down with some little effort to practice multiple deployments.
For local inland dives it's normally all I carry along with my 50lb lift bag. For big lakes and open ocean I carry it and a 6ft DAN sausage that can be deployed on the surface if need be.
I use and sell a 36 inch from HOG that only has about 8-10 lbs of lift. Unfurling a 6 ft tube at depth can be a pain and getting enough air in to be fully inflated at the surface can also result in it having enough lift to drag you to the surface if you get tangled up in the line.
The smaller one can be inflated at depth with a 1/4 - 1/2 breath. I can pull it back down with some little effort to practice multiple deployments.
For local inland dives it's normally all I carry along with my 50lb lift bag. For big lakes and open ocean I carry it and a 6ft DAN sausage that can be deployed on the surface if need be.
I use a Halcyon 3ft DSMB tied onto a 150' hand spool. Even though I most likely will not deploy to it until I am between 100' and 70' fsw, if there is any current you will need the extra line to account the extra angle to the surface. I also use Halcyon's hand spools.
I'll just say, pick one for the conditions you dive in. While I respect the comments about small dsmbs. If you only have one that floats 12" above the surface in oceanic swells you are eating your time
cool_hardware52
Contributor
12" is more than a "jumbo" smb lying down on the surface.
I still recommend a 1 meter for launching from depth and something bigger to inflate at the surface if the concern is being found after drifting. That provides something to wave around and additional buoyancy if needed.
IMO a newbie buying a 8 ft x 8 inch diameter super jumbo SMB is a problem waiting to happen. Trying to launch a bag with ~3 cuft of volume and ~180 lbs of lift is like trying to learn to drive in a Monster Truck.
Tobin
- Messages
- 16,400
- Reaction score
- 5,218
- # of dives
- 1000 - 2499
I have one that's about a meter. Only use it when outgoing inlet tides may find me half way to Cuba. Haven't deployed it yet.
I have a couple of 6' ones, and that is what we train students with from sport diver (PADI Rescue I think) level onwards. If you are worried about getting it full then you can buy ones with a built in small ( 0.1 litre ) inflation cylinder that you crack open and then let it run.
When you get a little more experienced it is best not to leave the cylinder open, when the cylinder is discharged water can get back into them, so open them, let the dSMB fill (which is quick) twist the cylinder back shut and let it go - I have never had a problem with full inflation from any depth.
UK sea dives we use them on virtually every dive unless we are coming up a shot line.
I think they are made by AP Valves, but BSAC sell them through the online shop (UK) and a number of other UK shops sell them, I don't know how common they are abroad.
I would certainly never dive UK waters without a 6' buoy, the others are just too small.
Phil.
When you get a little more experienced it is best not to leave the cylinder open, when the cylinder is discharged water can get back into them, so open them, let the dSMB fill (which is quick) twist the cylinder back shut and let it go - I have never had a problem with full inflation from any depth.
UK sea dives we use them on virtually every dive unless we are coming up a shot line.
I think they are made by AP Valves, but BSAC sell them through the online shop (UK) and a number of other UK shops sell them, I don't know how common they are abroad.
I would certainly never dive UK waters without a 6' buoy, the others are just too small.
Phil.
Similar threads
