I didn’t bother with a clip at all. The larger line seems to stay put better than the “string” so I just shove it into a pocket while it is attached to the rolled bag. Conceivably (thinking out loud) you could just wrap the line around rolled bag, maybe with a large washer or small fishing weight tied to the end. The spool itself may be unnecessary??? I might try that with ¼"/6mm braided line which is really easy to handle even in mitts or dry gloves. I will probably reduce the length to 20'/6M since the end hangs about a foot deeper with a fully inflated bag.
You could do it that way but a spool is a lot cleaner and will not get tangled in your pocket. even 20 ft of 6mm cord will get tangled sooner or later. Even wrapping it around the bag with a washer for weight will mean you have to un roll it mid water, and while you're busy un rolling, dropping the line, keeping it clear of you and maybe the anchor line, line I've already shot my bag and am watching you for the entertainment value. You're really making it more complicated than it meeds to be - and you'd be stuck with a fixed line length.
If it's a long stop and I want to use both hands, I clip one end of the double ender over the line and through a hole in the spool (which locks the line and prevents it from unspooling - fixing the length of line) then clip the other end of the double ender to a shoulder D-ring, so I can in effect hang from it and use both hands, read a book, whatever.
More importantly, I can ascend part way by rolling line on the spool and locking it off again. With a fixed length line and weight, you'll have to hold the middle of the line with excess line below you, or wad up the excess and try to control it. A spool is just a lot easier all the way around.
I have never had an SMB that stood-up unless I went a little negative and hung on. I don’t understand how bag dynamics changes by having shorter thicker line. I guess the real question is why have all that line unless you are searching and need to mark something (assuming minimal-to-no-D)?
I don't understand your objection? SMBs do nto stand up without some downward pull, as their center of mass is above water and they just tip over. That was the point - if you are a recreational diver and are properly weighted, you will be neutral at the end of the dive with no gas in the wing and 500-700 psi in the tank. If you will really need to make an SMB stand up, you'll need to plan accordingly and wear an extra pound or two of weight.
The size of the SMB does matter as a 6' tall, 90 pound SMB needs a bit more downward pull to stay erect than does a 3' tall, skinny, 10 pound SMB.
I use a 150' safety spool in most cases, because I happen to have it and the size is such that it will roll line back on quickly. A mini-spool with 30-40 ft of line on it is fine for recreational purposes and takes up less space, but they are slower to roll line back on (fewer inches per turn).
SMBs have a purpose based on the dive being done. If I am doing a technical dive, it's not uncommon to shoot a 6' tall 90 pound SMB from 180' of water in the first 30-40 feet of ascent from a wreck. I do that as the boat knows where the wreck is and that's where they'll see an SMB come up so they can follow me on a drift deco. If I am doing deco on the wreck, but can't reach the anchor/ascent line, I'll shoot the bag on the wreck (and in some cases tie into the wreck so I don't drift off). Again, shooting the bag early establishes the ascent line, and lets the boat know I am ascending somewhere other than the anchor line - and tells them whether or not I am drifting at a point when they will
see the bag. Doing a drifting deco for a mile before you shoot a bag from a 20' stop would leave your bag a mile down current, where the boat may not even see it, making it harder to recover you.
"Ahhh..but that's technical diving" the OW diver says "I don't need a long line for my SMB because I just do recreational dives". Now, let's say I am *just* doing a recreational dive on a deep recreational depth wreck like the Vandenberg, and since the current is light I swim from the anchor line on the stern all the way to the bow expecting an easy swim back up current. However the current picks up and I realize I can't swim back without both depleting my gas reserve and getting into deco -
a really, really bad combination.
So...I start my ascent and drift down current. I'm already a few hundred feet down current of the boat when I start, and I am a few hundred feet farther down current by the time I reach my safety stop depth and shoot the bag. So now I have a 3' recreational bag 600' downstream from the boat in an area where no one is looking. I'd much rather have had a 150' safety spool and shot the bag immediately from the wreck, bringing the bag up closer to the boat, and increasing the chances that someone would have seen it and immediately recognized there was a drifting diver to track and recover, rather than noting it 15 minutes later after the diver count comes up short.
A short SMB line just does not make sense, even if many come with short lines, as a spool is much more practical, easier and safer to handle, and more adaptable to real world situations - even for an OW diver.
(solo diver here)
