Safety Sausage and Wreck Reels

[lairdb]

The DiveRite Marker that we have been talking about in this thread fills up solid. I am sitting here at my desk and I filled it up with air and it is completely rigid. I can balance it on my finger and it sits horizontally in front of me, just like a traditional completely sealed one would. I have seen others using the OMS marker and it behaves in a similar way. There are probably others that will also do this.

And the OPV pops before the "funnel" turns itself inside-out or otherwise gives up? That's some clever sewing....

I use an OMS SMB (surface marker bouy). I have a 6' and 9', but I use the 6' mostly. Dive boot captains love it.

I do suggest getting some training first and practice at a shallow depth.

standrod, are those the 255 and 268 (officially 5'2" and 9'7")? Couple of questions about those:
- How are those lengths measured? Or, asked differently, what is the length of the inflated portion?
- Do they inflate and stay, um, "rigid", as Mark indicated the DR product does?
- How small do they roll up (or do you fanfold them?)

Thanks.

 

[Mark Vlahos]

Mark:
I've really enjoyed your informative posts about safety sausages, but now you're just getting weird.

I was wondering if anybody would call me on that one.

Mark Vlahos

 

[AmyJ]

Sorry to revivie this... and with stupid questions no less..

I am a new diver, so pretty uninformed. I have been thinking about getting a 'sausage' , but now I'm just confused. My initial impression was that this was something to be used at the surface (i surface... the boat is not near, I inflate bright colored thingy, boat sees me and comes to get me)...

but from this thread it seems like you all are talking about a lot of different uses (spools, underwater inflating!) Anyone care to break this down into a simple outline for me? What are the various uses for these sorts of things?? And what different things should be practiced with them??

And what would you recommend for just a rec diver who frequents the Cozumel area? Sorry to be such a newbie! Thanks

 

[Charlie99]

Anyone care to break this down into a simple outline for me? What are the various uses for these sorts of things?? And what different things should be practiced with them??

As you noted there are several uses for sausages/DSMBs/dive flags/lift bags/float balls.

They all boil down to 2 very basic needs:
catching a ride back home, and not getting hit by a boat.


If a diver has, for example, a 20 minute decompression obligation after a dive on a wreck, he has the options of hanging onto an upline in a current, or drifting free while ascending and doing stops. Drifting is much easier than hanging onto a line in a heavy current, but he would go a long distance during 20 minutes, and the boat would have a hard time finding him. The solution is to send up a lift bag or sausage when leaving the wreck. The boat then follows the bag.

And what would you recommend for just a rec diver who frequents the Cozumel area?

Unless you are diving the advanced sites in the far north of Cozumel, the danger of getting run over exceeds that of getting lost. A sausage that you only inflate at the surface will help your boat relocate you, but it doesn't warn off other boats as you ascend to the surface. That's why I use the 44" sausage with 20' of cord as mentioned a couple posts above.

Charlie Allen

 

[geraldp]

Sorry to revivie this... and with stupid questions no less..

I am a new diver, so pretty uninformed. I have been thinking about getting a 'sausage' , but now I'm just confused. My initial impression was that this was something to be used at the surface (i surface... the boat is not near, I inflate bright colored thingy, boat sees me and comes to get me)...

but from this thread it seems like you all are talking about a lot of different uses (spools, underwater inflating!) Anyone care to break this down into a simple outline for me? What are the various uses for these sorts of things?? And what different things should be practiced with them??

And what would you recommend for just a rec diver who frequents the Cozumel area? Sorry to be such a newbie! Thanks

Hi Amelia: This was a great thread. Charlie99 is correct -

They all boil down to 2 very basic needs:
catching a ride back home, and not getting hit by a boat.

with the exception of adding that a lift bag is for yet another purpose - to assist in lifting objects. IMHO, using a DSMB with a reel requires certain skill, and you can easily get fouled in the line if you're not careful. I think this thread goes into a lot of detail about that. I've read threads in the Accidents & Incidents forum where divers have gotten fouled in their reel and panicked. If you want to go that route I would recommend practicing deploying a DSMB/reel in a (deep) pool. Mark Vlahos has a pretty good description on how to deploy it (post #21 here), plus you can check out the shootbag.avi video.


For my case, I have a 6' bright orange DSMB that I have to manually inflate connected to a D-ring on my BC (along with a whistle). My idea is that I'm more worried about Charlie99's first subject - making sure my dive charter doesn't lose me. For all the dive ops I've been with in Cozumel/PDC the DM already has a DSMB with reel, and they deploy it at depth. That way the boat follows you on the drift dive, and there's a warning overhead that divers are below. You also have the advantage that you can hang off the line for your safety stop if you want. Having your own DSMB and reel wouldn't hurt (as long as you could safely deploy it), just in case you get separated from your DM, but is probably overkill (again, IMHO).

Also, check out this excellent primer on surface survival.

Jerry

 

[Mark Vlahos]

Sorry to revivie this... and with stupid questions no less..

I am a new diver, so pretty uninformed. I have been thinking about getting a 'sausage' , but now I'm just confused. My initial impression was that this was something to be used at the surface (i surface... the boat is not near, I inflate bright colored thingy, boat sees me and comes to get me)...

but from this thread it seems like you all are talking about a lot of different uses (spools, underwater inflating!) Anyone care to break this down into a simple outline for me? What are the various uses for these sorts of things?? And what different things should be practiced with them??

And what would you recommend for just a rec diver who frequents the Cozumel area? Sorry to be such a newbie!

Thanks

Hi,

As Charlie has indicated there are 2 basic uses for the marker.

When inflated at the surface it will help the boat find you assuming that you are still in reasonable proximity to it. It will also aid other boaters to see you and hopefully not run over you. A marker that is only for inflating at the surface is inexpensive and simple to operate.

If you are interested in inflating a marker or lift bag while at depth, things get more complicated. Most of the comments earlier in this thread are about this application.

If you are in Cozumel and plan on surfacing while you are not with the guide, you would probably get greater utility from the second type. As I said in several of my earlier posts on this subject the skill involved in the use of an underwater inflatable marker or lift bag is worth seeking instruction.

If you are in Cozumel and always surface with or near your guide he or she should have a marker of some sort that they will deploy. If this is the case you should not need to carry a marker of any kind. You have indicated that you are a new diver so you might just want to wait on this for now. If you want to get one I would suggest that because the underwater deployable type is more difficult to use you should not get one of these but rather get the type that is designed to be inflated only at the surface, these are cheaper and more compact.

As for bringing up an old tread I thought this was one of the better threads I have seen so seeing it agian is good.

Mark Vlahos

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

primer
Jerry

Jerry, thanks for that link. Shining your dive light up inside the SMB is one of those simple things I'm not sure I would have thought of.

 

[ShakaZulu]

I like the idea of using your exhaust bubbles to straighten out the SMB, one skirt of the octo is normally enough to get you moving to the surface.........

 

[Michael Schlink]

AmyJ - although it does require some training and practice to "shoot" a lift bag with a spool/reel you can rather easily and safely inflate a "sausage" while hanging at your safety stop (15' depth) and then hang on to the 15' cord attached. Yes it will take a little practice but hey you have 3-5 minutes to spend so why not use the the time wisely.
I usually carry a 6' "lime green" sausage, I don't think red shows up as well. I carry a small spool, but I'm experienced at reels and spools. What you can do is tie a 15' to 20' piece of cord, parachute cord works very well, to the end of your sausage then roll it up with the cord rolled up inside. Once you get to your safety stop take your time to slowly pull out your sausage. unroll it, blow it up and let it go up. Then you can lightly hang on to the end of the cord to help control your buoyancy.
This can also be a great learning /practice tool for getting your buoyancy at your safety stop just right. Using your breath control try to hang at 15 fifteen feet with out rising and falling too much. If you feel your self having to hang on to the line too much or you keep floating up and getting slack in the line you know you need a little more practice
I haven't looked yet but on another thread apparently someone has discovered that you can use a DiveAlert to inflate some sausages?-Merry Xmas-M