DSMB colour

[Wookie]

Thank you all, yes I do have a crack bottle, it is on an orange one, my yellow one is co2. I don't fancy the hassle at airport security either would cause. Ideally I'll use the AP one inflated by my dry suit hose.

I love my crack bottle SMB...

 

[KeithG]

So you are suggesting that I shelve my get rich idea based upon a "barber pole" SMB?

 

[Wookie]

So you are suggesting that I shelve my get rich idea based upon a "barber pole" SMB?

That might actually be a worthwhile idea. I hate the yellow/orange ones, but a barber poly might be just the thing. Combine it with a crack bottle and you have a winner.

 

[Ron Lee]

That might actually be a worthwhile idea. I hate the yellow/orange ones, but a barber poly might be just the thing. Combine it with a crack bottle and you have a winner.

Absolutely it may be a great idea. You need to make visibility assessments with the sun in different orientations relative to the diver and boat. Perhaps some black is needed as well.

 

[Bubbles below]

I'm a girl so mine is 9ft and hot pink. But, it's oral inflate at the surface. I haven't used it cause my DM would inflate his down below. I want one that is hot pink and uses an air inflator!

 

[Skittl1321]

I would love if mine wasn't oral inflate, but it is, and I just am not confident enough to use it underwater, so it is surface inflate only. But I do keep it in case there is an emergency. Between my husband and I we have an orange one and a yellow one. Luck of the draw who gets what- we'd heard different visibility in different conditions, so we got both.

We went to the quarry to practice sending it up from underwater and he said it was "surprisingly easy" after being told what a difficult skill it was.

 

[Bubbles below]

Skittl1321, Did your husband oral inflated underwater or did he use his air inflator to send it up? I should try to send it up underwater when my instructor /DM is around.

 

[KenGordon]

In my experience putting up the DSMB isn't the hard bit, staying mid water without dropping or ascending while distracted by the DSMB is.

 

[Skittl1321]

Skittl1321, Did your husband oral inflated underwater or did he use his air inflator to send it up? I should try to send it up underwater when my instructor /DM is around.

He oral inflated. Ours aren't set up to be able to use an air inflator. We just went to the quarry and I watched him while he did it, not instructor or DM. It was a no current area, so if he started ascending with it (he didn't) the plan was to just let go, and then we would slowly ascend and get it. He actually ended up being able to pull it back down, deflate it, and reinflate it, so he did it several times in a row.

---------- Post added August 25th, 2014 at 04:09 PM ----------

In my experience putting up the DSMB isn't the hard bit, staying mid water without dropping or ascending while distracted by the DSMB is.

He seemed to do okay with this, as I was sitting on a platform watching him, while he was neutral off of the platform, and staying about the same depth (within a foot). We set it up to send up at 25 feet, and then he'll reel it in until we get to 15 feet for the stop. It seemed like sending it up at 15 feet gave him less room for error if he floats up with it, not to mention would need a larger breath to fill it.

But we both have experience towing a dive flag, so that might have helped a little bit with the "holding the line" thing.

 

[gopbroek]

Skittl1321 most people when learning to deploy a SMB will have a tendency to rise up during deployment. For this reason it is often advisable to launch it at around 25-30’. I have seen a lot of people try it from 15’ and in the process pop to the surface unexpectedly (myself included, the first time I tried) If you are still on the 3P boat in December ether the DM or myself could help you practice the process if you haven’t mastered it already.

For the record I like the small cheap oral inflate tubes with a finger spool myself but I dive the relatively calm waters in Cozumel, if I was offf the Pacific coast with swells I would use a jumbo size, and a locator beacon.