Safety Sausage technique question

[Barracuda2]

I've got a trip to Palau coming up where because of the currents, a safety sausage is required. I've been practicing deploying my brand new 6 ft. DAN safety sauage and finger spool to get prepared. Is is true that to use the sausage for a 15 ft. safety stop and have it fully inflated on the surface, I really need to deploy it from 25 to 35 ft.? When I deploy the sausage from 15 ft, it starts dragging me up before I can get enough gas into it to be fully inflated when it hits the surface. When I look up, there is only about a foot or two actually sticking up from the surface; the rest of the sausage is still submerged. Did I just answer my own question or are there any other suggestions? Thanks.

 

[cool_hardware52]

I've got a trip to Palau coming up where because of the currents, a safety sausage is required. I've been practicing deploying my brand new 6 ft. DAN safety sauage and finger spool to get prepared. Is is true that to use the sausage for a 15 ft. safety stop and have it fully inflated on the surface, I really need to deploy it from 25 to 35 ft.? When I deploy the sausage from 15 ft, it starts dragging me up before I can get enough gas into it to be fully inflated when it hits the surface. When I look up, there is only about a foot or two actually sticking up from the surface; the rest of the sausage is still submerged. Did I just answer my own question or are there any other suggestions? Thanks.

There are "Safety Sausages" and "SMB's" A safety sausage is typically without a OPV, and is intended to be oraly inflated at the surface.

A SMB or Surface Maker Buoy usually has either an open bottom, or if closed has an OPV.

These can be inflated at depth and won't burst if over filled due to the OPV.

I assuming you are using a SMB. The deeper you deploy the smb the less gas you need to introduce into it to acheive a full bag on the surface.

It is most difficult to full fill a large bag when you are shallow, for exactly the reasons you state, you can't get enough gas into the bag before it wants to haul you to the surface.

What I do when launching a semi closed lift bag: Get a little negative, and hold depth by over filling my lungs. This way as you add gas to the bag you can exhale to compensate. BECAREFUL a full lung when shallow can be a bad combo.

Last a plug see : http://www.deepseasupply.com/page28.html


This 1 meter SMB is an oral inflate, OPV equipped, closed circuit bag. It easily inflates with less than one full breath. That makes deployment easy. As you breathe into the bag there is no change in buoyancy, the air in your lungs simply fills the bag. Once it's full you can replace your reg, launch the bag and breathe in. Pretty simple.

Because you can be sure you have the bag 100% filled, and because of the tapered design, most of the bag will be standing out of the water.

Regards,


Tobin

 

[Xman]

You did pretty much answer your own question. The specifics, however, will depend on the volume and to some extent, shape of your dsmb.
I am assuming you are meaning a DSMB rather than simply a "safety sausage" from the context of the question and the fact that you require a spool.
To safely deploy this from a reasonably shallow depth requires a lot of practice, but I'm not sure why you wouldn't deploy it from deeper anyway. This is half the point, as it will indicate to those topside, where you are drifting to whilst ascending. It is no good to inflate it just before surfacing as by then you may be quite some distance away.

Disclaimer: I have not been to Palau, or used the specific marker buoy mentioned.

 

[MarkUK]

I don't know the size of the DAN DSMB (I know it is 6ft long, you said that, but I don't know the width and, hence, capacity of it), but I have a 6ft Scubapro DSMB and a Bodaine reel (www.bodaine.co.uk) and I can send up my DSMB from 6m and have a good 4ft or more standing upright on the surface without being dragged up by it.

I tend to dump air out of my BCD so that I am negatively and gently finning to stay in place while I fill the DSMB. Hence, it has to counteract my slight negativity before I will begin to rise. Once I have launched it, I just get myself back to neutral and away I go.

That is one of the reasons I like the DSMBs by the likes of AP Valves, where they are fully sealed and feature an over-expansion/dump valve like on a BCD and a refillable mini-cylinder that you fill by decanting from your main cylinder. With these, you just get your reel ready, crack open the valve and let it go – it will hit the surface, fully inflate and then allow expanding air to escape till the cylinder is empty. Now worries about being dragged anywhere, it stays solid at the surface - job done.

Mark

 

[www.scubamazing.com]

If I can I usually launch mine from about 25 feet. It find it easier to fill down there. As others have stated, I get negativley buoyant, it's just easier that way.

 

[Dragon2115]

This website has several videos demonstrating various skills. Deploying a lift bag is at the bottom of the list. Hope this helps.

http://www.thumpershole.com/dir_training.htm

 

[Mako Mark]

What I do when launching a semi closed lift bag: Get a little negative, and hold depth by over filling my lungs. This way as you add gas to the bag you can exhale to compensate. BECAREFUL a full lung when shallow can be a bad combo.

Tobin

Bingo Tobin.

Just exhale heavily as the bag becomes positive and release it just before it starts to make you positive.

.

 

[Barracuda2]

Thanks guys for all the info. I'm heading to Little Cayman and Bloody Bay Wall this week and I will be practicing diligently using your suggestions. I wish I had four hands for Palau because I also will be handling a video housing and reef hook as well as the SMB, all in current. THIS IS GONNA BE GREAT!!

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

I own a SMB, but haven't started practicing with it yet, so I can't answer the question. However, there is something that I've been pondering, and it seems fitting to bring it up here...

A couple of posts have suggested getting a little negative before inflating the thing. Makes sense to me, but why not capture that air in the SMB? That way you will get a little head-start on inflating the SMB, and your net buoyance doesn't immediately change?

For instance, if you do have air in your BC at the end of the dive (more on that below), use your corrugated hose to dump the air from your BC into your SMB. As long as your holding on to the SMB your net buoyancy has not changed, you've just moved air from one bladder to another. Then add any additional air that might be needed to inflate the SMB, and release it. You will be negative at this point, so tap your inflator to get neutral again.

Or if you talking about exhaling to get a little negative, exhale into the SMB inflator. Again, net buoyancy change will be zero until you 1) add more air to the SMB from a compressed source, 2) release the SMB, or 3) inhale.

Either way, it seems to me that you get a little head-start on inflation without affecting your buoyancy, and thus won't have to add as much air to finish filling it.

Pardon me if this has been discussed recently, I haven't been around in a few months. I know that it was mentioned years ago, and the main objection was that you shouldn't have air in your BC at the end of a dive, but for the sake of arguement let's say you end the dive before you get low on air, so you still have some air weight to offset. I haven't seen any discussion on exhaling into the SMB.

So, what am I missing?

 

[cool_hardware52]

With a small SMB launched from 30+ feet, holding depth is pretty easy. It the large bags that are challenging. A 50 or 100 lbs lift bag launched from 20 ft is skill worth practicing. You have very little time to introduce 40-60 lbs of gas before the bag drags you off your depth.


Tobin

I own a SMB, but haven't started practicing with it yet, so I can't answer the question. However, there is something that I've been pondering, and it seems fitting to bring it up here...

A couple of posts have suggested getting a little negative before inflating the thing. Makes sense to me, but why not capture that air in the SMB? That way you will get a little head-start on inflating the SMB, and your net buoyance doesn't immediately change?

For instance, if you do have air in your BC at the end of the dive (more on that below), use your corrugated hose to dump the air from your BC into your SMB. As long as your holding on to the SMB your net buoyancy has not changed, you've just moved air from one bladder to another. Then add any additional air that might be needed to inflate the SMB, and release it. You will be negative at this point, so tap your inflator to get neutral again.

Or if you talking about exhaling to get a little negative, exhale into the SMB inflator. Again, net buoyancy change will be zero until you 1) add more air to the SMB from a compressed source, 2) release the SMB, or 3) inhale.

Either way, it seems to me that you get a little head-start on inflation without affecting your buoyancy, and thus won't have to add as much air to finish filling it.

Pardon me if this has been discussed recently, I haven't been around in a few months. I know that it was mentioned years ago, and the main objection was that you shouldn't have air in your BC at the end of a dive, but for the sake of arguement let's say you end the dive before you get low on air, so you still have some air weight to offset. I haven't seen any discussion on exhaling into the SMB.

So, what am I missing?