Where do I put my (D)SMB?

[Dan]

Picture below shows my safety gears. Except for the knife, whistle & Dive Alert, the rest of the gears are in my BCD pockets. DSMB & spool with mirror & flashlight in the left pocket. PLB1 in the right pocket. All are securely zipped up & tucked in under the integrated weight pockets for streamline configuration to avoid entanglement.

The DSMB is a 6 ft tall one to make sure it is visible in a rough sea. The spool allows the line to be unscrolled & scrolled under tension to avoid entanglement. You need to practice it during a checkout dive at the beginning of your dive trip as a refresher.

 

[TMHeimer]

I clip to a D ring --weight pockets restrict pocket room. They're not hard to use. I never had training using one but assisted student divers doing it. That's funny--worrying about so many boats in Coz that you'd need one so you don't get hit. A problem we don't have here.......

 

[flyboy08]

Mine fits easily in my side pocket! Why would I want anything more dangling from my body?

 

[Dogbowl]

Picture below shows my safety gears. Except for the knife, whistle & Dive Alert, the rest of the gears are in my BCD pockets. DSMB & spool with mirror & flashlight in the left pocket. PLB1 in the right pocket. All are securely zipped up & tucked in under the integrated weight pockets for streamline configuration to avoid entanglement.

The DSMB is a 6 ft tall one to make sure it is visible in a rough sea. The spool allows the line to be unscrolled & scrolled under tension to avoid entanglement. You need to practice it during a checkout dive at the beginning of your dive trip as a refresher.
View attachment 430452

Nice set! Will work towards a set like this.

 

[rongoodman]

If not wearing a dry suit or neoprene shorts with pockets, then in the Halcyon weighted bellows pocket on my harness.

 

[Dogbowl]

I clip to a D ring --weight pockets restrict pocket room. They're not hard to use. I never had training using one but assisted student divers doing it. That's funny--worrying about so many boats in Coz that you'd need one so you don't get hit. A problem we don't have here.......

Lol, yeah I know. Apparently, people say there could be hundreds of dive/tour boats in the vicinity on a given dive. While I know I can be a little dramatic at times, I've actually been in a situation where a boat passed directly overhead in Coz, right at the time when my private DM was unrolling his dsmb to deploy it. At that time, I was hovering in the water next to him and he advised that I hold onto him, probably knowing that a beginner could very well pop up involuntarily during the last 10-15 feet. That's the context anyway, for this post, since I'm going back soon in what might be the busiest time on the island.

Contrast that with Mahahual, where the DM said, "Unlike in Coz, where you'll see hundreds of boats, you won't see a single boat out there with us today."

 

[DanielRJones]

I have mine attached to my reel and clipped off on my right ass D ring. Atleast every dive I practice unclipping it and then clipping it back on. And 50%of my dives since Ow have deployed it.
I learnt dsmb in padi Ow and in every dive on advanced and in my ppb had to deploy 6times

 

[Neilwood]

If in doubt, get an experienced (and competent) diver or a pro (such as DM or instructor) to give you a quick run through on how to do it and set aside some practice time at your next safety stop (and probably a few in future). Might cost a few beer tokens but better that than going uncontrolled while trying to deploy.

Ideally you want to get it to a point where you aren't shifting buoyancy too much.

As for stowing it, a lot depends on your choice of equipment:
1) Jacket BCD, use the pocket.
2) BP&W - butt D ring
3) Drysuit- pocket if available

 

[Dogbowl]

If in doubt, get an experienced (and competent) diver or a pro (such as DM or instructor) to give you a quick run through on how to do it and set aside some practice time at your next safety stop (and probably a few in future). Might cost a few beer tokens but better that than going uncontrolled while trying to deploy.

I'm going to suggest that as one of the adventure dives on my AOW course.

 

[dberry]

Clipped to chest D-ring when I giant stride, then transfered to tail D-ring in water. Make sure it's securely wrapped with a couple loops of bungie. If it came with a velcro band, cut it off and replace with bungies (IMO.) Diving with a 6 ft orange tail fluttering behind you is embarassing. Practice often, but warn the DM / captain first (or any "watchers" on shore, if diving in a quarry.)

Also, check out YouTube videos on DSMB screw-ups. There are some classics that are good to learn from. There are even some decent videos on ways to do it properly...