Making SMBs stand tall and proud

[Biodiversity_guy]

Am new to the whole SMB thing, but carrying and deploying one makes perfect sense to me.

When reading the carter website I saw: "A four pound weight will make the personal float stand up vertically in the water."

Am I to interpret this as one should attach a 4 lb weight to the SMB before deploying, so that it will stand out of the water upon reaching the surface? Will the weight of the line and spool accomplish the same thing? I can see with the added weight, it might be easier to add air at depth...

thanks for any feedback

 

[OE2X]

After deploying the SMB, just keep your line tight. As you go up in the water column reel in your line. You don't need to carry any extra weight to achieve the same result. This way you aren't four pounds over weight during the rest of your dive.

 

[TSandM]

I learned a lesson last night. If you weight yourself so that you are perfectly neutral at 500 psi at 10 fsw, then if you try to keep the line taut on a bag at 10fsw when you have 500 psi, you are going to try to go to the surface. Every other time I've ever shot a bag, I had enough gas left in the tank to be able to get convincingly negative, and put enough tension on the line to make the bag stand up. But every time I tried to do that last night, I tried to cork. Duuuuh . . . When was the last time I got to 500 psi in cold water?

 

[OE2X]

Change your weighting so that you are neutral at the surface with 500 psi. in your tank. That will help.

 

[Packhorse]

Instead of a spool i use a 1kg weight and spool the line around it. This way the SMB will stand tall and I can use it as an anchor so I can mark a spot then come back with the boat to GPS it.

 

[OE2X]

What happens if you are in deco and need the boat to follow you? Or if you are on a wall?
Do you still hold the weight?

 

[TSandM]

Thanks, OE2X, I think that was what I figured out from this less than graceful experience. But I've got 150 dives under my belt, and a total of TWO where I've breathed a tank down that far . . . wouldn't have gotten that low on this dive had I not had my tank slip at 95 feet and had to lie in the silt while Bob fixed it. Never tried to shoot a bag with that little gas left before . . . A lesson learned.

 

[OE2X]

I like to do my weight checks with about 200-300 psi at the surface. Exhale - sink. Inhale and hold - float to the surface. Sure I'm a bit negative at 10' but what the heck - I've been negative the whole dive.