Yellow or orange safety sausage?

[flyinghuntster]

OK, Now my 2Cents. When trying to decide which color to get don't put yourself in your FINS put yourself in the boat looking for YOU the diver.
You are usually 5 to 10 feet above the water line so if you are anywhere with in 1/4 mile from the dive boat you will have the ocean as a back drop to your float. Depending on where you are most of my dives the water has been dark so the Yellow one would work best for me during the day and especially at night with the help of my Dive light. If your water is lighter because you are near sand more often the orange one might work better for you. But it is all subjective opinions and you can only go so far before you begin to over think the whole color thing so just buy both

 

[Charlie99]

But it is all subjective opinions and you can only go so far before you begin to over think the whole color thing so just buy both

One more subjective opinion: while diving off of WPB, Florida I asked the captain which color SMB he preferred. LIME GREEN was what he said worked best for him --- very distinctive amongst the various other buoys and markers already out there.

I guess you gotta carry 3 Flyinhunster

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

I like the idea mentioned in the thread of red meaning "I'm surfacing here" and yellow meaning "Come get me, NOW!"

Also, on a similar thread posted a while back there was a link to in-water survival advice (how's that for an obscure reference?) they suggested shining your dive light inside the tube to light it up, rather than attaching a chemical glow stick. Seems like a 6' glow stick would be much better than a 6" one.

 

[flyinghuntster]

Charlie: We'll all be ok as long as they don't start making them in many more colors...

No matter what color you use, It is better to have them than not to have one at all.

 

[Mako Mark]

I was making plans for 3 weeks of diving in the Keys last summer and while setting up our trip to go the Dry Tortugas, one of the Live-A-Boards had their general rules posted. Not quoting here, but it read something like:

required equipment:
BCD
Underwater timer
Alternate air source
Safety Sausage (Orange, not Yellow)
ect......

There was no explanation,

I don't remember which operation it was, as we didn't use them for another reason (not the color of their sausage requirment). I do remember that I found them on the Kew West tourism site if anybody doubts what I am saying.

I looked to see if I still had their web site, but my computer crashed since then and I lost all my saved sites. Actually it was worse than a crash, it died and I had to get a new one and start from scratch....

So, Mark, I can't actually answer your question as to why, I can just say it was a "first hand" experience and not "hear-say".........

I wasnt doubting you Desa, just intrigued.. I guess they must have a reason and I wondered if they had told you..

 

[Charlie99]

I wasnt doubting you Desa, just intrigued.. I guess they must have a reason and I wondered if they had told you..

Maybe they heard that in some locales yellow is used to signal emergency (or at least "assistance needed") and prohibited them with the same sort of logic that has some people freak out about masks being worn on the forehead.

When carrying a yellow DSMB, I do mention it and show it to boat captains just so they aren't surprised.

 

[Charlie99]

No matter what color you use, It is better to have them than not to have one at all.

It's also better to have a 44" one with you than a big monster one sitting in your gear bag.

I always carry a small 4"x44" sausage in my BC, with 20' of cord wrapped around it with a boltsnap for a weight. Since I don't do long deco stops, my need is more one of DON'T RUN ME OVER than the need for long range visibility.

I see way too many divers at places like Cozumel and Molokini coming up to the surface while relying solely upon the ability of boats to spot their bubbles to stay clear of them.

Charlie

p.s. Contrary to popular belief, you there are a lot of sausages without overpressure relief valves that work fine as DSMBs. All of the 4x44" (nylon??) sausages (Trident & See Me or something similar) that I've seen will bleed out excess pressure through the fabric rather than bursting a seam.

 

[Desa]

I wasnt doubting you Desa, just intrigued.. I guess they must have a reason and I wondered if they had told you..

Sorry Mark,

I didn't mean to sound defensive, somtimes I type way faster than I think. (which is really easy for me to do). Anyway, I didn't talk to them. when I was researching it was posted on their site. Since I didn't end up using them, I didn't call and get their logic/explanation. I have a couple of each color, so I hadn't ever given it any thought until this thread popped up.

 

[Tom Winters]

In the UK, red or orange DSMB's are for normal use and yellow DSMB's signal distress and immediate help, which I think is a great system.
Yellow and lime green are the easiest colors to see at sea and in low light, which is why in the last decade a lot of fire departments have gotten away from the traditional red fire engines.
One tip that REALLY helps the captain spot you is to fold your float into a triangle shape - this is about the ONLY way anyone will see you if you have shot your bag so that the boat is looking into the sun for you ---> especially on early morning or late afternoon dives.
So here in southern Florida, there is no consistency on the use of color. People use whatever they have. You could always carry a few of those waterproof road flares - fire one of them off in the water and you'll have lots of boats zooming in. Hopefully.
There's one guy in West Palm who dives with a 9' fluorescent yellow sausage - damn is that thing ever visible!
I just use a little bitty 6' one, but it works for me.

 

[Mandy3206]

I've been using my 48" orange SeeMe for years and only inflate at the surface, not to much boat traffic in the dive sites.

Just got last week the Oceanic 2 color 6' sausage, it has a zipper and can double as a collar flotation device if needed to keep the head out of the water of an unconcious diver.

The Oceanic is bigger than the SeeMe, so I'll have to get used to the bigger roll, doubt it will make any diference in storage or streamlining my gear.

All my sausages, have the glow stick sleeve, I've never use it, but it's there and I'm not going to rip it off the sausage. I carry the Pelican Mini Flasher attached to the loop at the bottom of the sausage, and if needed, I'll turn upside down the sausage with the flaher on.

http://www.pelican.com/lights.html

Click the"Small Flashlights" icon after loading the link.

Can't wait to test it, due to rough seas, I've not seen action since thanksgiving, seas are going low now, so maybe next sunday or the week after.

Just my 2ct.