Lift Capacity Question: HOG 4.5ft SMB

[Jorgy]

g1138......

Once you reach the surface, you just manually fill the DSMB the rest of the way with air, no matter how little air is in it when you shoot it from depth......

It is super easy to hold the base under the water and keep the inflated marker sticking straight up.....

If this was going to be am extended period on the surface (like a rescue and you are drifting in open water), I would use some of my finger spool line to attach a 4 lb weight to the marker, so it would float completely vertically by itself...

I would also disagree a 3 foot marker is really hard to see, a father and his two sons surfaced 100 plus yards from our charter in the Gulf of Mexico (Flower Gardens), they all had the smaller loaner dive boat markers, with the slight wave action the 3 footers were almost worthless....it was rough to see then drift further and further away as the charter launched the zodiac to go them, that is when I bought my Carter......

Just my thoughts.....M

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

Speaking from a first hand point of view as someone who drifted five miles from our boat in the Coral Sea, with 6 and 8 ft marker buoys that could not be seen due to the sun behind us, there is no sausage big enough when you need it bad.

Those three footers are cute for class, but that is where they should end up too!

 

[g1138]

Jorgy,
That explanation is different than what I was intending to do. What I'd like to do is be neutral at my safety stop and have an SMB deployed, one that I can have fully inflated and tugged so it's upright on the surface while I'm down below.
What I was mentioning was that with a 6ft 40lb SMB, this is hard to do. So therefore you're 6ft SMB is now laying in the water and is as easy to see as a 3ft SMB.

Are you implying that you keep your SMB laying flat on the water until you surface?

 

[Jorgy]

g1138.....
Not sure I follow.....it is hard to get any DSMB completely full of air at the surface unless you deploy it while very deep and then you get the benefit of massive air expansion....but your finger spool might not have enough line and there are issues (line fowling) with deploying from 100 feet.

If you deploy it from less than 30 feet....it will be limp on the surface unless it is a very small marker......

For a marker to "stand up" in the water it will need tension and you will pull a portion of the marker underwater, you have to put a fair amount of tension on the line to pull enough underwater to make it stand vertical......

All I am saying is that a 3 foot marker, pulled tight will be half submerged....the same with a larger marker but the larger marker is wider so would you rather have a 2" diameter 1.5 foot marker or a 4" diameter 1.5 foot marker on the surface?
Once you get to the surface, it is waaaayyyy better to have the largest marker possible, as other have said.....

One final point, if you are with students and they are struggling to maintain an open water safety stop I would rather have a bigger DSMB that you actually hang on because it has enough lift rather than a small tube you pull underwater......in fact a wide lift bag is even better for that (I carry both) DSMB on BP/W and 50 lb lift bag in drysuit thigh pocket.....

Just my thoughts....M

 

[Tortuga68]

If you deploy it from less than 30 feet....it will be limp on the surface unless it is a very small marker......

I can get my 1.4m x 0.2m (47" x 8") Buddy SMB fully inflated deploying it from <30' you just need the right technique

For a marker to "stand up" in the water it will need tension and you will pull a portion of the marker underwater...

True, but...

All I am saying is that a 3 foot marker, pulled tight will be half submerged

Not true

 

[Jorgy]

Tortuga68.....

So what is the "shallowest" you can deploy your DSMB and still get it fully inflated at the surface?

Your location says Shanghai - I lived in PuDong from 2001 to 2003.....did my classroom stuff in Shanghai at the Aquarium and open waters in Saipan....

M

 

[Tortuga68]

Pu Xi/Jing'An here.. I moved to SH last year for work, haven't dived here, don't plan to... the aquarium is a couple of blocks from my office but the Philippines and Green Island are too close to worry about it!

Probably 25' in answer to your question if you're referring to the Buddy SMB, anything less than that is pretty difficult - even from 25' you have to make yourself negative first so you can get 2-3 good exhalations into it (I inflate from the reg exhaust) and fin down to maintain your depth. Admittedly it's not easy, I just don't like being limp

With the 3.3 Halcyon oral inflate I can blow it from the 5m stop no problem, could do it from less - it's so easy

 

[iztok]

With the 3.3 Halcyon oral inflate I can blow it from the 5m stop no problem, could do it from less - it's so easy

IF 6ft and 3ft SMB have the same radius then inflating it with equal amount of air at the same depth should produce about the same result. 6ft will just show top 3ft (or so) out of the water while 3ft will also show 3ft out of the water.

 

[Tortuga68]

Yeah, but they don't have the same radius. So...

 

[Jorgy]

I have never used the H oral inflate, but I have heard good things about them....

My Carter look very similar to the Buddy SMB, just 6 foot tall vice 1.4 M.....

I keep 30 feet of line on my finger spool and normally deploy it while waiting at 15 feet....helps pass the time.....

So my Carter hits the surface with some air certainly not full (as I don't go negative, fin down and exhale three times), I put tension on the line and wind my finger spool up to get to the surface once I am ready to surface......

So my marker only sticks up a bit.....but enough that everyone who has ever looked for it saw it......

Once I get to the surface I fill my wing, unclip my spool and orally inflate the marker if the boat is not already there......

I just feel more comfortable with a larger marker, the just in case factor.......

Just my thoughts......M