How to carry SMB, so that it can be re-stowed?

[2airishuman]

What I've found from searching is most people (that don't put it in a thigh pocket or clip it to their waist belt) use either bungee loops or a Dive Rite sleeve and then attach it to the side (opening facing down) or bottom of their back plate. Some people clip it to the butt D-ring on their crotch strap.

I carry an SMB on most dives as a safety measure. I used to have a nice SMB with an integral sleeve, and I put some pieces of inner tube around it so it would stay secure, and attached it to the butt d-ring with a bolt snap. It came off and was lost on a recent dive. Unfortunately, I was unable to recover it.

I had previously used the XS scuba mesh sleeve attached to the side of my back plate and was unhappy with the streamlining. Now (having purchased another SMB) I'm experimenting with using the XS scuba mesh sleeve on the bottom of my backplate, which seems to work better. It fits between the cylinder(s) and my buttocks and although I can tell it's there it doesn't get in the way. Access isn't the greatest but I think it will stay put.

If I re-stow it during the dive without help, I would wrap line around it from a spool and clip it off somewhere else, probably a waist d-ring, for the duration of the dive. There's nothing that says it has to go back in the same place. If I really wanted it back in the sleeve, I'd have to take my rig part way off.

 

[stuartv]

I got a mesh sleeve from DGX. I used quick links to hang it off the bottom of my BP and tried it last weekend.

It seemed okay there. But the mesh sleeve has a velcro closure on the the end that opens. After seeing how difficult it was to stuff the SMB in there while sitting at my work bench, I'm a little dubious that it will be sufficiently easy to deploy. I didn't try deploying it on my dive last weekend as I had other things going on to occupy my attention. But, my SMB (the DAN one) has a nylon webbing strap that wraps around it to keep it rolled up. The hook part of the velcro on the sleeve was trying to grab that strap as I stuffed it in. I'm afraid the same thing will make it hard to pull out. Plus the difficulty of just getting the opening all the way open when it's around by my butt. I left the OPV dump cord hanging out, so it would give me something to grab and maybe a little leverage to open the sleeve. But, all in all, I feel like that particular sleeve is not going to work out for me.

Now I'm thinking about just putting bungee loops on the bottom of my BP and using a double ender to clip the SMB to a hole in my BP and the bungee loops to hold it from dangling and flopping around. I haven't tried rigging it up that way yet, though.

I was thinking of just using a double ender to clip it to my butt D-ring. But, it seems like it will flop around that way, which seems like it would run more risk of getting accidentally unclipped and losing it. And also give the possibility of not coming unclipped and getting lost, but having the retention strap get loose and let it unroll, while still attached to me.

 

[sheeper]

i have two loops of shock-cord (bungee cord) on the bottom on my DiveRite TransPlate. Easy to get to. As everything here is a drift dive, i rarely have to re-stow it....but i can. I can also fold it back up and just clip it to a d-ring.

 

[2airishuman]

But, my SMB (the DAN one) has a nylon webbing strap that wraps around it to keep it rolled up. The hook part of the velcro on the sleeve was trying to grab that strap as I stuffed it in. I'm afraid the same thing will make it hard to pull out.

I would be concerned. Maybe you could cut the velcro off the SMB, or cover it with tape or something if you think you might still want it.

Plus the difficulty of just getting the opening all the way open when it's around by my butt. I left the OPV dump cord hanging out, so it would give me something to grab and maybe a little leverage to open the sleeve.

If you pull the inner wind of the SMB out first, and then the rest of the SMB in spiral fashion, you should have an easier time, then save the dump valve for last.

But, all in all, I feel like that particular sleeve is not going to work out for me.

You could make your own in a more suitable size with the closure of choice. The material that XS scuba uses is sold as "pet screening" at Jo-Ann fabrics, $15 a yard.

Now I'm thinking about just putting bungee loops on the bottom of my BP and using a double ender to clip the SMB to a hole in my BP and the bungee loops to hold it from dangling and flopping around. I haven't tried rigging it up that way yet, though.

I was thinking of just using a double ender to clip it to my butt D-ring. But, it seems like it will flop around that way, which seems like it would run more risk of getting accidentally unclipped and losing it. And also give the possibility of not coming unclipped and getting lost, but having the retention strap get loose and let it unroll, while still attached to me.

I have had both of those things happen.

No better way to impress the DM on a new boat with your elite skills than to have your SMB unroll when dislodged by the force of a giant stride

 

[divad]

I keep mine in a small leather shoe box bound in wire and tucked away in a dank corner of a musty olde closet in a dilapidated cottage somewhere in North England.

 

[dberry]

I cut the velcro strap off my SMB and added two thin bungee loops to keep it tightly rolled while stowed. If I expect to use a SMB it gets clipped to a butt ring, otherwise it gets stashed inside the BP pad (with a bit of a bungie loop peeking out like a rip-cord.)