What type of signaling device?

[Doc Intrepid]

Do any of these 'safety sausages' have a valve attached so you can inflate them with your BC low pressure hose? I bought one in a kit and it is just a big-*****ed orange, open ended six foot long grocery bag to me. I can't figure how it could be used since it isn't closed at the bottom, unless you tie a piece of string around it or use a ti-wrap. Better than nothing I guess.

Garrobo,

Closed circuit surface marker bouys incorporate an LP valve (that will not allow the LP hose fitting to lock to it) such that to inflate you simply apply an LP hose to the fitting and the SMB will inflate. Alternately you can orally inflate by blowing into the fitting, however, by the time you finish orally inflating a 6' Super Large SMB you'll definitely be dizzy!

Open circuit SMBs (which is what you have) have the open bottom. The benefit is that you merely need to use your primary reg 2nd stage to inflate it: attach your spool to the SMB at depth, inflate, allow the SMB to head to the surface while the spool spins, then finally secure the spool and hold it while you conduct your safety stops or deco hangs. The SMB lets the boat know where you are while you're holding stops. These work fine until you get to the surface. Then you need to find some way to keep the open end under the surface and/or weighted so the SMB will continue to stand up inflated. Some divers clip them to their waist strap. You can't take them out of the water to wave them as you could with a closed circuit device, nor can you use them to independently float an exhausted diver at the surface for any length of time (without finding some way, as you noted, to tie or otherwise secure the opening. And if you tie them shut you can't put in additional gas without untying it again.) Open circuit devices are fine for shooting bags or lifting objects, but if your primary purpose is surface use as a rescue bouy they have some distinct drawbacks.

Your mileage may vary.

Here is a website that discusses surface survival and how to shoot bags, etc.:
http://www.tabula-international.com/DIV/SMB3.html

 

[Tonio Anastasi]

I think it is hard to beat the DAN version. Very nice and good price.

DAN Surface Signal Kit​

You can find a good deal on it here.

http://subseasports.com/store/product48.html​

That is where I got mine.

Willie

Thank you for that Willie.

The diver alert is a definite must. It is, very loud. I know because I've been made almost deaf a few times just as I said don't press that

I would like to add three other items that have not been mentioned.

They are items for divers lost at sea.

Say you are carried away by a current, or you surface in a sea fog, or the dive boat leaving without you (which has happened much too often).

The first item is a beacon which transmits a distress signal on the emergency frequency and would lead the SAR helicopters or boats directly to you.

The other, and because even a sausage may be hard to spot, is a dye that is released into the water making, I think its a large yellow or orange stain in the water, many meters wide increasing your visibility.

The last are reflectors which are also stuck to the BCD and allow the Radar on Helicopters or boats spot you. I do not remeber yhow they work. But they are on the market.
I read about these around 4 years ago, in some British magazine.

 

[ggunn]

Thank you for that Willie.

The diver alert is a definite must. It is, very loud. I know because I've been made almost deaf a few times just as I said don't press that

I would like to add three other items that have not been mentioned.

They are items for divers lost at sea.

Say you are carried away by a current, or you surface in a sea fog, or the dive boat leaving without you (which has happened much too often).

The first item is a beacon which transmits a distress signal on the emergency frequency and would lead the SAR helicopters or boats directly to you.

The other, and because even a sausage may be hard to spot, is a dye that is released into the water making, I think its a large yellow or orange stain in the water, many meters wide increasing your visibility.

The last are reflectors which are also stuck to the BCD and allow the Radar on Helicopters or boats spot you. I do not remeber yhow they work. But they are on the market.
I read about these around 4 years ago, in some British magazine.

They sound like useful items, but (IMO) overkill for diving around Cozumel, where all the sites are in sight of land in a pretty narrow corridor just a few miles long.

 

[DandyDon]

I think you're right GGunn. I carry more than needed, too - probly...

If you carry a $15-20 sausage, a whistle, a mirror, and a dive light - you'll be better equipped than most divers, and they don't misplace any for long in the channel. As said, hitch a ride on any boat if yours is not close. I've done it. :blush:

I carry all that and a Dive Alert, but the price of that whistle is not needed for Coz diving. I bought it for other places I've been. I do think the Storm whistle is the best personal whitle.

Matt did commend my bud & I for bringing out own coffee thermoses full of decaf, tho - helps keep warm. I shudder when I see ppl drinking cold water. I use the bottled water to rinse my camera.

 

[jumpvideo]

Put a whistle on your BC and leave it there. In fact, regardless of whatever else you decide to carry, and you will have to carry it, the whistle should be there. It doesn't need batteries, lubrication, maintenance (except maybe a good rinse after a dive) or an air supply. It is also the smallest and least cumbersome piece of dive equipment you will carry.

 

[Web Monkey]

You can inflate the Carter SMBs from your Dive Alert. The horn fits over the manual inflation vlave.

Terry

Do any of these 'safety sausages' have a valve attached so you can inflate them with your BC low pressure hose? I bought one in a kit and it is just a big-*****ed orange, open ended six foot long grocery bag to me. I can't figure how it could be used since it isn't closed at the bottom, unless you tie a piece of string around it or use a ti-wrap. Better than nothing I guess.

 

[espantoon]

Thanks for the info, as usual SB is more than helpful! I dove Coz last year, and I'm not too worried about getting "lost at sea" as there were plenty of boats around. I was considering a "safety sausage" for added safety, as I was planning on a shore dive or two and thought that it would be good to have if needed. The choice I am trying to make now is the oral inflate type (for the surface), or the open end SMB style for deploying from depth as I ascend. I.m trying not to spend too much money, so that may be the deciding factor.

 

[PARADISE HUNTER]

Nice link Doc I. Thanks. Good to know your options.

 

[DandyDon]

All of the suggestions here have been good ones, some more advanced than others...

The choice I am trying to make now is the oral inflate type (for the surface), or the open end SMB style for deploying from depth as I ascend. I.m trying not to spend too much money, so that may be the deciding factor.

I dive with a $15 oral inflate that I have released from 70 ft on a reel; if you fill it full and send from that depth, it'll be tight, but not burst I'm told. I send it up 1/2 full form that depth. From 15ft, fill it. One the surface, hold it up higher if you wish. So if you want to go cheap, that'll work.

But the nicer ones suggested by other posters are excellent ideas, too - in their own ways.

 

[scubawife]

They sound like useful items, but (IMO) overkill for diving around Cozumel, where all the sites are in sight of land in a pretty narrow corridor just a few miles long.

There was a very experienced diver last year that was diving the C58 off of Cancun and ended up getting swept out by a freak current. I think it was about 10 hours and in a rain storm and rough seas into the night that he ended up drifting at sea. Helicopters and boats didn't spot him although he saw them. His safety sausage was useless. He ended up on the north shore of Isla Mujeres. In the latest issue of Undercurrent he said that after that experience he's added the marker dye to his gear for every dive. If you're familiar with the diving and the area it's easy to think anything more then the minimum is overkill. He thought that too.

I don't know that I'd want to travel with the dye marker. I have visions of it breaking in my luggage. I've always had a whistle and sausage on every dive, anywhere. I've added a flashing LED flashlight that has a cone difuser top to my gear. It's pretty small and can double as a backup light if you take the cone top off. And CD's are supposed to be amazingly effective at making it onto radar. There's a SMB with a CD attached to it that's currently in testing and expected to be on the market in the near future.