Quick poll—When do you inflate your SMB?

[Marie13]

I like the ones with fish on the top.

I’ve got a 6ft hot pink one. Needless to say, none of the guys will mistake it for one of theirs.

 

[Manatee Diver]

I’ve got a 6ft hot pink one. Needless to say, none of the guys will mistake it for one of theirs.

I actually did that for an item that I had walk off a couple of times, even though it had my name on it. After I got a pink one, no one ever took it. Weird how that works.

 

[ontdiver]

I always deploy a SMB before the safety stop. This is particularly important while diving in the St.Lawrence River as it helps the boat sort out logistics for picking up buddy pairs.

 

[Searcaigh]

There are loads of colours

I don't understand the black unless you're sending it up through a hole in ice, but orange is still way better.

 

[Edward3c]

I don't understand the black unless you're sending it up through a hole in ice, but orange is still way better.

Special Forces.

 

[NAM001]

I've never dived where SMBs are actually required like they are in Florida, and don't regularly drift dive. Actually, all my SMB deployments have been practice for situations like that. I've done them all in or close to safety stop range, no deeper than 30 feet.

If I were actually on a drift dive or a place with a lot of random boat traffic, I could see the wisdom in deploying it a bit deeper, say, 50 feet, to give a little more warning. But on an NDL dive, I don't see much value in deploying deep, since it will just eat into your NDL time. Deco dives are another story that I cannot speak to at all.

just how large or small of an smb do you use because at SS you have to use a lot of air for any smb of size a 4 foot 3 incher is one thing a a 6-6 foot 6-8 incher is another thing. I dont think I know anyone that can get one of the larger ones upright when it hits the surface I would shoot min depth 30 ft 50 or better for larger ones.

 

[RainPilot]

Strongly recommend you measure the string length on your DSMB. Even if you don't plan on deploying at depth it's good to know what you have.

If it's choppy or you're deploying from depth, it's not unusual for the line to be diagonal if there's a moderate current or wind topside. I find it's always sensible to have plenty of extra line available. From 30m, I would want at least a 45m line.

I have had the distinctly odd sensation of letting a DSMB go, only to watch it go sideways for a while before heading up, due currents. I have heard of folks who have had one go down initially, but only mad people (and @Diving Dubai ) dive in currents like that regularly.

it unclips and unfurls itself. Not that its every happened to me, oh no

I have never had that happen. I have had many unscheduled line measurement events, though...

Hands up who's had an embarrassing DSMB episode!

I did admit on the surface that it was a balls up on my part, not some casual trick. They were impressed though all the same

If there was a standard UW sign for "ta-daaaa!" you would have been a rockstar.

I'm capable of following bubbly folks.

I suspect there's a bell curve for boat captain diver following ability, and I am pretty confident I know which end you are on, Wookie.

After I got a pink one, no one ever took it. Weird how that works.

Same works with lighters, strange phenomenon indeed...

 

[Graeme Fraser]

I have had the distinctly odd sensation of letting a DSMB go, only to watch it go sideways for a while before heading up, due currents. I have heard of folks who have had one go down initially, but only mad people (and @Diving Dubai ) dive in currents like that regularly.



I have never had that happen. I have had many unscheduled line measurement events, though...





If there was a standard UW sign for "ta-daaaa!" you would have been a rockstar.



I suspect there's a bell curve for boat captain diver following ability, and I am pretty confident I know which end you are on, Wookie.



Same works with lighters, strange phenomenon indeed...

Oh yes, I've also had a DSMB go down rather than up. However it wasn't due to wayward currents, it was because I'd forgotten to fill my crack bottle before the dive.

One, of many, of my embarrassing DSMB episodes .

 

[Diving Dubai]

it was because I'd forgotten to fill my crack bottle before the dive.

Once instead on my dsmb inflating I was just surrounded by bubbles, having not tightened my crack bottle. Much to the hilarity of others.

I claim of course, that like all my "errors", they're not accidental, but deliberate acts on my part for the entertainment of others

 

[Graeme Fraser]

Once instead on my dsmb inflating I was just surrounded by bubbles, having not tightened my crack bottle. Much to the hilarity of others.

I claim of course, that like all my "errors", they're not accidental, but deliberate acts on my part for the entertainment of others

As a salty old DM and close friend used to tell me after I'd cocked something up in front of students, "you can't bullsh!t a bullsh!tter!"