DAN SMB pics

[wKkaY]

I know this is an old thread, but... I bought one of these in 2019 and finally dove with it this past month and really had not unrolled it until I went to rinse it and dry after my trip and noticed it is actually fully sealed at the bottom. Not the very bottom, but there's a clear membrane on the inside just past the mesh pocket (about 3-4" up from the bottom). It sounds like what you have will allow The current listing on DAN's site says you can inflate from the bottom with an octo, but the amount that mine is blocked off would be nowhere near enough to get it to go up. Were these sealed at some point to only allow inflation through the LP valve? I was wondering if maybe there was some sort of valve, but it seems really solid. I also tried and couldn't get air through with the octo in a tank.

I guess my question is were these able to be filled from the bottom with an octo, or is this just a feature of the newer versions. It sounds like you could do this back then from your description(s).

I can fill mine (bought in 2014) from the bottom with an octo. It has a duckbill valve at the bottom; a membrane that tapers inwards into a small hole.

Perhaps yours stuck together while it was in storage? See if you can use a chopstick to gently pry the center open.

 

[Grog]

It isn't just stuck together. The flap was actually stitched over to the side. I contacted DAN and sketched out what is going on and they confirmed that it seems to be a manufacturing defect and have said they will send a new one.

 

[Grog]

It isn't just stuck together. The flap was actually stitched over to the side. I contacted DAN and sketched out what is going on and they confirmed that it seems to be a manufacturing defect and have said they will send a new one.

Got the replacement at the end of last week. It appears that the clear membrane that was blocking the air was supposed to be heat seamed to its side (the new one has a much more defined seam that the old one did. My guess is the clear material was from the end of the roll and curled up to miss the heat seaming and was in the way when the outer pocket was stitched on and just got caught up in that.

 

[D_Fresh]

Glad to hear you got that sorted, and that DAN took care of ya. I also use this dSMB and love it. Diving here in the Philippines, I will tend to prefer others use their smaller sausages, just because of the sheer size of the DAN sausage, but I sure am happy to have mine.

Real situation: During a guided drift dive at a popular site, the non-divers onboard wanted to snorkel near the anticipated surfacing position. Current was quicker than measured from the surface, and the boatman was paying more attention to the snorkelers. We drifted out quite a bit farther than expected, well beyond their position. The size of the DAN dSMB and my whistle got the attention of a near-ish boat, who retrieved us and took us to our boat. It is popular enough of a site that we we're not overly concerned with being actually lost, but certainly spent about 15 mins bobbing at the surface trying to get any boat's attention. (As I understand, the boatman got quite the ear-full upon returning....)