Accessory recommendations - SMB, lines, whistle, mirrors, etc.

[fuzzybabybunny]

I've got the main SCUBA equipment and now need to buy the small accessories that could help me along in a dive. Looking for specific brands and products that are good.

SMB (is this the same as a Safety Sausage?) - Official DAN safety sausage? Includes mirror and lightstick and whistle. I guess I wouldn't need to get a whistle and mirror seperately huh?

Lines?

Flashlight, both primary and secondary?

Anything else?

 

[knowone]

BCD inflator. Zeagle.

 

[muddiver]

As a basic openwater diver you will only need a dive light, a cutting implement like a knife or scissors and a bag to carry all your stuff in.

An SMB is a float that is commonly inflated while the diver is still under water and sent to the surface on a line to mark the divers position and provide a verticle reference for the diver to ascend along. Typically that is considered an advanced diving technique.

The DAn kit you are referencing is for signaling for assistance when you are on the surface and is a really good kit if you do a lot of boat diving because one can become seporated from the boat due to many reasons. It is not a necessary basic diver item. The Safety Sossage and mirror are the most important part of the kit, but getting it all in one is even better. The best part of that kit is that it has it's own pouch for all the items that keeps them in one place. It's best to know where it all is when you need it.

Lines and reels are also advanced diver tools that require practice. Lines become unmanagable very quickly underwater and can be a major entanglement hazard if not handled correctly.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

As a basic openwater diver you will only need a dive light, a cutting implement like a knife or scissors and a bag to carry all your stuff in.

An SMB is a float that is commonly inflated while the diver is still under water and sent to the surface on a line to mark the divers position and provide a verticle reference for the diver to ascend along. Typically that is considered an advanced diving technique.

The DAn kit you are referencing is for signaling for assistance when you are on the surface and is a really good kit if you do a lot of boat diving because one can become seporated from the boat due to many reasons. It is not a necessary basic diver item. The Safety Sossage and mirror are the most important part of the kit, but getting it all in one is even better. The best part of that kit is that it has it's own pouch for all the items that keeps them in one place. It's best to know where it all is when you need it.

Lines and reels are also advanced diver tools that require practice. Lines become unmanagable very quickly underwater and can be a major entanglement hazard if not handled correctly.

Oh... I see.

So the SMB is not necessary a safety sausage, but can a safety sausage be used like a SMB (attach a line and use it as a vertical reference, or to mark your dive spot so that boats don't pass overhead) or is a safety sausage only used for emergencies/pick-up (ie. if a boat sees it, they will actually come rushing *to* the area)? I will probably be doing boat dives fairly soon.

Any specific recommendations on good dive lights?

 

[scubamarketing]

For recreational use, I've been very happy with my Princeton tec lights. I'd also look into a dive alert (tank powered surface signal device), they are far more effective at signaling a boat IMO.

 

[muddiver]

Typically a surface signal device that would be referred to as a Safety Sossage does not have a clip for a line, an over-pressurization valve and can be just a tube with one open end. If you sent that to the surface it would fall over and deflate. The simple open ended tubes are ment to be held down in the water a little to keep the air in when inflated.

Safety Sossages are used to help a dive charter boat find you if you surfaced farther than 50 yards from the boat. Typically you would use one after surfacing from a drift dive, or if diving from a "live boat" where the boat drops you while underway and runs around picking up divers after they surface. It doubles as a surface signal if you are left behind or surface too far away to swim back to the boat.

An SMB will have a valve that will release air if there is too much in it when it is rising so it does not pop. Some are open with some sort of one-way flap and some are fully closed so that they don't deflate on the surface. An SMB can be used as a surface signal device just like a Safety Sossage if it is tall enough.

SMB can also double as a small lift bag because they generally have a clip. You can clip something that is too heavy to swim around with and use the SMB (lift bag) to give the object positive buoyancy until it is neutral, and to add buoyancy to lift it to the surface safely by NOT using your BCD to add buoyancy to the object. BCD are only for people, not for objects being held by people. If you drop the object and you are using your BCD to add buoyancy, you are now way over buoyant and you become a cork headded to the surface.

I have been using an Underwater Kenetics C-8 dive light for many years. I take the batteries out when I store it or when I travel with it. The newer models now come with light emmiting diodes instead of the high intensity bulb. I not so sure I would like the blue light of the diodes, but the battery life should be a lot longer than a conventional dive light. Princton Tech seems to be a good manufacture as well. I had bad experiences with Pelican dive lights.

I hope all of this helps.

 

[diver 85]

What did you instructor say about all this??.....

 

[TSandM]

Signaling devices are, in my view, a must if you dive off boats. I carry a Dive Alert in my pocket, as well as a mirror, and I carry one of the deployable surface marker buoys. You can, much more cheaply, buy a simple tube that rolls up, and which you unroll at the surface and orally inflate and wave. The only problem with that is that, if you are being blown away from your boat, the sooner you get a market on the surface, the sooner they will know where you are. If you have to wait until you surface, you may be far enough away from the boat that your marker is much less useful.

If you want to dive at night, a good primary light and a backup are needed. You can search the threads here -- lights are very frequently discussed, because there aren't any perfect ones. I've come to believe that switches are heinous, so all my small lights are twist-on/twist-off, and I like them small enough to fit on my harness. Primary lights should be fairly bright, if you are diving locally, so they'll punch through murky water.

Another thing I carry is wetnotes. I like them better than a slate, because they fit in a pocket, and because you can keep some permanent information in them. There ARE times when you just can't communicate what you need to with hand signals, especially if you are lost.