Lesson learned...check your finger spool before deploying SMB

[jgoodstein]

I spent Sunday diving with the local dive club. We were having a treasure hunt Dive ( coin with # = certain prize). On my way back up from the wreck I was doing my safety stop, packing up my flashlight, and dropped my prize. :shocked2: On my next dive I told my buddies I was going to go grab another coin then catch up with them on the drift. I figured If i couldn't catch up with them I could deploy my SMB as planned on the boat (I bought the SMB and finger spool the day prior).

So I dive down and it took me a bit longer then i wanted, to locate a new coin, I won a nice double sided slate ( magnetic and regular). I knew my teams heading and set off to catch up. I went from 50 to 30 feet to conserve air and locate my buddies easier, as the drift was going to a reef, from the wreck. For one reason or another the current was really strong at 30' and took me pretty far south instead of south east. I found another group from the boat that was diving and partnered up with them till my air got low. At this point I decided to go do my safety stop and deploy my SMB. After about 3 min at 18-13' ( Currents were not being nice to me) I decided to deploy my SMB while I waited for 2 more minutes.

I unrolled my SMB and clipped my finger spool to my harness. Normally you would run the string through the clip to prevent it from unwinding, and before you use it you would "unclip" it to deploy the string. Well at that point in time i was at 18' and I inflated without unclipping the f'n string :shocked2: (I had about 2' of slack) and..well...Started shooting up very quickly. I managed to unclip the string rather quickly as I only went to 12'.. but extremely fast. Lesson learned, so for those out there buying SMB's and deploying them, don't forget to release "unclip " the string. had I done this deeper and before my safety stop bad things could have happened. It was a stupid mistake that I learned from and hopefully prevent someone else from doing. I knew better and felt Like I should own up to it, so to scubaboard I post my penance.

 

[OneRestlessNative]

Did you check the thread I started using a pretty simple idea to keep everything neat and tidy and as one unit?

DIY easy deploy SMB......

 

[ibj40]

Did you check the thread I started using a pretty simple idea to keep everything neat and tidy and as one unit?

DIY easy deploy SMB......

Could you post a link to that thread?

Thanks!

 

[OneRestlessNative]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/do...humb-reel-line-keeper-ez-smb-deploy-stow.html

 

[Crush]

Glad you are OK!

My SMB is only ever clipped to me when it is stored. I deploy as follows:

1. Unclip one end of double-ended bolt snap to release SMB from my person;
2. Unroll SMB (Note: no "un-clipping" needs to be done at this stage with my setup);
3. Unclip other end of double-ended bolt snap to allow line to play out of finger spool;
4. Clip the to a D-ring somewhere so I don't lose it;
5. Switch to breathing octo (it is bungied under my neck);
6. Use primary regulator to fill SMB;
7. Launch it - keep hold of the spool!
8. Un-clip the double-ended bolt snap from D-ring, clip it onto the finger spool to keep line from playing out; and
9. Switch back to main reg;

 

[TSandM]

mpetryk's sequence is a good one.

It's never a good idea to have anything clipped off to you that has line attached to it, or air in it. Even if you have sent the bag to the surface successfully, you don't want to clip the spool off to you, because if a boat or something goes by and gets tangled in your line, you don't want to get hauled to the surface.

 

[DevonDiver]

Good lesson learned. Never, ever clip a reel to you when deploying an DSMB.

Onrestlessnatives' solution is a classic example of increasing equipment complexity to solve a skill-based problem. If the OP is getting confused by a single bolt-snap, then how would adding elastic bands, velcro etc etc help reduce his confusion and stress?

Deploying DSMB using a finger reel is a very simple skill. However, like any skill, it takes practice. Here is an excellent demo video that illustrates how the skill should be performed: 5thD-X DSMB Deployment

 

[Crush]

Deploying DSMB using a finger reel is a very simple skill. However, like any skill, it takes practice. Here is an excellent demo video that illustrates how the skill should be performed: 5thD-X DSMB Deployment

+1. I was looking for this video. Great!

 

[Cave Diver]

had I done this deeper and before my safety stop bad things could have happened.

Not necessarily. You've got the greatest pressure change in the first ATM, so the air in the bag will expand the most when shot from a shallower depth.

When shooting from a deeper depth, you don't need to add nearly as much gas to the bag. If you're deep enough, you just have to add enough gas for the bag to start heading up. Unless you just over fill it, it won't shoot up that fast and you should still have time to grab it and control it before it gets too far.

This isn't meant to undermine the need to pay attention, just pointing out that it's likely not as big an issue at depth as you might think.

 

[Crush]

No need to get pissy, just because I didn't see much value in your contraption.

You were the one who decided to post it into every DSMB thread running on the board. I just added a brief critique for the benefit of readers, before they go running to their local habberdashery shops in the false belief that there is some dreadful impossibility to the storage and deployment of a DSMB using finger reel and boltsnap.

I appreciate OneRestlessNative's ingenuity. I am not going to copy his design, but I believe that there is more than one way to skin a cat...

PS - I have nothing against cats.