Lift bag newbie

[Far_X]

Ok, I have this lift bag. I am taking it with me on Caribbean vacation so I can practice it before I start taking my advanced nitrox check out dives - passed the exams on Sunday. I have not used one before. The question is, where is the best place to carry it with the Caribbean gear? I have back plate and wing; wet suit will be minimal, if at all. I have five D rings - two on crotch strap, one each shoulder and one on my right hip. My reel will be on my right hip so I was thinking rear D-ring on crotch strap so it kind of just rests on my butt as I dive along. Anybody got any better or alternative suggestions? It is a 55lb Subsalve - about one foot wide.

Cheers

 

[El Orans]

Several possibilities:
:06: Storage pack on your BP
:06: X-shorts pocket
:06: Rear D-ring

 

[DiveGolfSki]

You can get a diverite lift bag sleeve and store it behind and below your BP ...

http://www.diveriteexpress.com/tools/liftbags.shtml#liftsleeve

 

[Rick Inman]

I have two loops of surgical tubing in the outer holes on the bottom of my BP. I just roll up my lift bag and slide it into the loops of tubbing (or bungee) where it sits tight across the bottom of my BP out of the way. It's really easy to pull out. As to the reel/spool, I keep mine in a pocket. Of course, I have pockets in my DS, but I even glued pockets onto 3/2 wetsuit for tropical diving. I also keep a safety sausage in a pocket.

 

[tedwhiteva]

Ok, I have this lift bag. I am taking it with me on Caribbean vacation so I can practice it before I start taking my advanced nitrox check out dives - passed the exams on Sunday. I have not used one before. The question is, where is the best place to carry it with the Caribbean gear? I have back plate and wing; wet suit will be minimal, if at all. I have five D rings - two on crotch strap, one each shoulder and one on my right hip. My reel will be on my right hip so I was thinking rear D-ring on crotch strap so it kind of just rests on my butt as I dive along. Anybody got any better or alternative suggestions? It is a 55lb Subsalve - about one foot wide.

Cheers

The diverite or other sleeve mounted on the side of the backplate works great. The velcro holds the bag in but the d-ring can stick out the bottom for easy deployment (easy is a relative term depending on how you stuffed the bag in the sleve). See the attached photo.

 

[double80s]

I have two loops of surgical tubing in the outer holes on the bottom of my BP. I just roll up my lift bag and slide it into the loops of tubbing (or bungee) where it sits tight across the bottom of my BP out of the way. It's really easy to pull out. .....

Agreed, tubing or bungee works great. This is method is cheap and you bag is very easy to remove and even replace in the water. Depending on your plate, the holes might not be close enough to effectively hold you lift bag. Roll your bag up and hold it up the bottom of the plate to see if it will work. I bungee on the bottom of my Hammerhead plate and on my DiveRite I bungee it to the side.

 

[Meng_Tze]

Question I have. Why a lift bag? What are you going to lift? If you need a signalling device, a SMB (sausage may be better, can be seen from much further). Liftbags have a wide profile to lift, usually not very high above the surface, in 2ft swells, it can already be difficult to see unless you are on top of it.

But to answer your question directly: best place is in a pocket, if that is not available, I would say hip d-ring, second d-ring on crotch strap. Somewhere where you can reach it easily.

Advise on 'shooting the bag'. blow up slightly (the more gas you add, the more it will pull you up as well.....beware buoyancy), gas will expand while going up (with venting bag less of an issue), and NEVER attach it to yourself while deployed. If a boat catches it, you are going for a ride....

deploy bag, lock spool (reel) at the depth, hang for a while (is nice to have a reference in the open. Reel in a bit more, lock and hang, etc, etc. When reeling in, make sure you hold the reel in such a way that you can let go.......the bag and line in front of you...as above if a boat cathces it...


People may slam me for this. But be aware that you are in a different area, where safety rules sometimes are not adhered to as what we are used to. (having been around the globe and seen things). It is always better to be safe than sorry.

Hope this helps, have fun.

 

[DiveGolfSki]

....People may slam me for this. But be aware that you are in a different area, where safety rules sometimes are not adhered to as what we are used to. (having been around the globe and seen things). It is always better to be safe than sorry.

Hope this helps, have fun.

I'm not slaming you on this but what area are you commenting on? New York or the Caribbean?

 

[Meng_Tze]

When you dive around the world, you will find that standards and the way things are done are different. What someone may find normal in his/her home area may not be done else where. I give you an example: while diving in malaysia, we were brought out in small (I mean small long boats) and when we came up, the boat had run out of gas from picking up all the divers. When diving in carribean, we were told to be at the dock at 08:00, the captain showed up at 10:00. When diving in Thailand, we were supposed to have extra tanks on the main boat, they didnt, we had to refill at a floating pontoon in high seas.

I personally can live with these sort of differences, I am just pointing out that while one may expect some standards, they are different when you travel and you have to be prepared to deal with them. I can see a clear danger if the 30m (100ft) distance limit is not adhered to when you see a SMB. Lots of people in the US dont adhere to it.......

 

[Far_X]

Question I have. Why a lift bag? What are you going to lift?.

I already have an SMB but the exercises we are going to be doing requires using a lift bag. We will probably be using it to hang time on when we do our decompression procedures, and to use it as our ascent line. Diving the wrecks up here you also never know when you are going to need a lift bag with your catch of bugs or other goodies

I am off to Beneath The Sea tomorrow so I will see what they have in the way of mesh bags. I like the idea of hanging it from the bottom of the BP.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.