Safety sausage

[Snoweman]

I also put single knots at 10', 20' and 30', and then a double knot at 15' in the line. This provides a rough reference point of where I am in the water column and where to sit for my safety stop if my computers quit on me. Not very likely to have two computers die, but another backup never hurts - especially one that doesn't take up any room.

 

[Snoweman]

Insert stupid comment here...

 

[Hoag]

The DSMB I posted has 40+ lbs of lift when fully inflated. It's easy to inflate it by 50%+ when filling it with your octo from the bottom, so that would mean you've got 20 lbs +/- of lift shooting up. If the line from the spool gets tangled on you, or your equipment, even dumping your weights isn't going to keep you from rising - fast. I would definitely practice at your safety stop for a while before trying it at depth.

I am not a tec diver, nor have I ever shot a DSMB in my life, but wouldn't dumping your weights increase the rate of ascent, not slow it? It would seem to me that dumping your weights would increase the chances of you rising faster.

 

[islanddream]

The size of your safety sausage depends a lot on the conditions of where you dive. For example, yesterday when we diving in Jupiter, FL, the seas were about 3.5 feet and the waves were close together. My 6' DSMB was deployed at about 60' and seen easily by the boat captain. Although it flopped over a fair bit, I was able to pull on the string to make it come to attention. Once on the surface, I placed the lower 1/4 of the DSMB between my bended knees and that pushed the air up so the DSMB stood straight. Plus, with my BCD inflated, I felt like I was reclined in an easy chair...so fun!

I didn't get trained on an SMB or DSMB. Maybe 20 years ago PADI didn't teach that skill. On a trip years ago to Cozumel, my husband and I got separated from the DM and we had no SMB. There's a lot of boat traffic in Coz. After the dive we went immediately to a dive shop and each of us bought an SMB. We practiced with it while in Coz with the help of some of our dive buddies. We were by no means efficient at deployment, but we got better with each try. Practice, practice, practice!

 

[Snoweman]

I am not a tec diver, nor have I ever shot a DSMB in my life, but wouldn't dumping your weights increase the rate of ascent, not slow it? It would seem to me that dumping your weights would increase the chances of you rising faster.

Wow. Total brain fart on my part. Whoops!!

I guess I was thinking dumping air, but there wouldn't be that much to dump at depth anyway.

 

[Storker]

f the line from the spool gets tangled on you, or your equipment,

...you're doing it wrong.

Watch some of the many excellent YouTube videos on how to shoot a sausage (and some of those on how not to), and practice a few times at your favorite training site. After that, you're good to go and probably won't tangle in your spool line.

It ain't rocket science.

 

[Divingblueberry]

Thank you all for your input. That is very helpful (except maybe ditching the weight ;-))

I will certainly dive again in the South but I am planning to dive here in Canada and want to learn how to deploy it at depth. (More knowledge and skills never hurts).

I will definutely spend time practicing after whatching the videos.

 

[rabe]

Here in Queensland is mandatory...
...and i used it so many time!!!
Here, buy this one Signal Marker Buoy (orange)

 

[JamesBon92007]

Speaking of Cozumel, I had a DM tell us before the dive to wait until he deployed the SMB before surfacing because of the heavy boat traffic. Well, for some reason I ran out of air first, did my 3 mins at 15', and waited at around 10' for him to launch the SMB. He didn't. So, being an obedient customer I continued to wait at 10' until it was deployed and everyone else was surfacing. He yelled at me for having less than 500 psi left in my tank. Now I have my own SMB but I have not used it yet. Mine is closed and can be inflated orally or with my power inflator hose. It is one of the long ones. I think it is a good choice (was a gift) and has all the right features. I"m not sure why anyone needs 100' of line but that's what's on my spool.

Another time while diving from Isla Mujeres we all surfaced and there was no boat in sight. For some reason the DM did not deploy the SMB. If I had one I probably would have because it was choppy with 2-3 foot seas and was probably not easy for the captain to spot us. Things did not turn out like in the popular movie because it turns out the captain has built-in GPS and diver-tracking systems.

 

[rabe]

Now I have my own SMB but I have not used it yet.

you have thousands of dives and you've never used a SMB????? (I'm not trying to mock or anything, I'm just trying to figure it out how it could be possible)