Safety sausages and other essential safety gear

[rambaldi]

SMBs that you can inflate underwater and send up (DSMBs really) are very useful for dives with strong current where you may not be drift diving. I was recently the boatman for a dive where so long as the divers stayed closed to the rocks they were sheltered from the current. If they moved to far out they would very quickly get blown away. If that did happen then if they sent up the SMB while on their safety stop I would have been able to ready the boat and be tracking with them before they drifted too far away. This would be rather than them being much further away and thus more difficult to spot when they did surface and inflate their Sausage.

When ever I have skippered the boat I have made sure everyone had a Sausage at least though. You can get a stack of very cheap ones and give them out, if someone doesn't return one it isn't the end of the world.

ADDENDUM:
The safety device I have heard a lot of praise for is a mirror. If you are in the states you can get one from DAN pretty cheaply, in Canada you pay through the nose for shipping and anywhere else they won't send it to you Failing to find one that would survive being immersed I settled on a CD I picked up when packing the car for a dive trip

 

[Dsix36]

Personally, I think a SMB and a cutting device are necessities on each and every dive. The other safety devices may/may not be needed according to the particulars of the dive.

 

[Insta-Gator]

In the words of Shrek, "Yes, do it."

Anyway, yes, take it all, all the time.

I have a whistle on my inflator hose and a mirror rolled into my safety sausage which is clipped to my right d-ring.

Cutting tool stays on waist belt, left side.

 

[dmoore19]

Along with the whistle, mirror, safety sausage and cutting tool I also have a dive-alert. the mirror, whistle and safety sausage go into a pocket, the knife fits in the sheath on the pocket. The dive alert is inline and out of the way. Nothing dangles or hangs around lose.

 

[TMHeimer]

Not much to add. As suggested, I don't take everything every dive. If shore diving in a place where there are no currents to speak of and pretty much no people around (boats, houses, etc.), I don't take the SMB or Dive Alert. You can get a Dive Alert that works also underwater. I almost always bring the knife, the only exception being when diving right at our house as I know exactly what's down there and there is NO fishing line, because apparently most of Nova Scotia has been fished out and there are no boats anywhere around, and no entanglement possibilities. But if there is current, or I'm diving from a boat, or in a new place or place I haven't dived for a while I usually bring pretty much all the stuff.

 

[TSandM]

I carry a deployable marker buoy on almost every dive, and on EVERY boat dive. If current starts to blow me away from where I'm supposed to be, I want that marker on the surface as quickly as possible, so the boat will know that someone is drifting. Even if they can't follow me, they'll at least know to look.

I carry wet notes on almost every dive. Hand signals take care of all the common communications, and pre-dive planning reduces the amount you need to say, but when things turn strange, being able to say what you need to say can be pretty important.

For boat diving, our team always has at least one audible signaling device (we use DiveAlerts), a mirror, and each of us almost always has two lights, a primary and a backup.

We carry a cutting device, and for diving where nets or fishing line are suspected, we carry two, one of which is an Eezy-Cut Trilobite.

I try to keep safety equipment to a rational amount, because being a Christmas tree of gadgets is a risk in and of itself. Everything also has a place -- knife on my belt, Trilobite on the light head, and the rest all clipped into dry suit pockets.

 

[Mike]

Not much to add. As suggested, I don't take everything every dive. If shore diving in a place where there are no currents to speak of and pretty much no people around (boats, houses, etc.), I don't take the SMB or Dive Alert. You can get a Dive Alert that works also underwater. I almost always bring the knife, the only exception being when diving right at our house as I know exactly what's down there and there is NO fishing line, because apparently most of Nova Scotia has been fished out and there are no boats anywhere around, and no entanglement possibilities. But if there is current, or I'm diving from a boat, or in a new place or place I haven't dived for a while I usually bring pretty much all the stuff.

Safety equipment can only help you when you have it with you. Nobody plans on needing it, picking and choosing it based upon predicting an emergency fails to allow you to protect yourself from the un-predictable.

 

[farsidefan1]

Ditto what others have said. Just an interesting note. We had a search and rescue pilot post in here a few years ago and he said by far the most valuable tool was the mirror. On night dives it is amazing how your flashlight will light up your smb. Looks like a tall floating jack o lantern. Very hard to miss.just shine your light against the base and it lights the whole sucker up.

 

[freewillie]

My current brand SMB is Akona. Wasn't too expensive and came with mesh bag with clip and I put on my BC where I can reach back one hand and unclip it. I will take on boat dives. I bought a Storm brand whistle about $5 since it works even when wet. I put it on a carabiner clip with my line cutter.

I also have a signaling mirror purchased at a camping store. It has a hole in the center to help sighting when trying to attract attention. It's not really designed for diving but since costs less than $10 is one of the cheapest pieces scuba gear all things considered and easily replaced.

My PADI AOW course materials came with a PADI SMB that inflates with purging your reg in the opening then Velcro seals and clips to your BC. The velcro strap and clip also serve as storage to clip to your BC if needed. The packet also came with a whistle. Both are now on my daughter's BC.

DAN sells a SMB kit with whistle, mirror, and special pocket that holds everything one convenient package. Clips easily to BC and as others have pointed out doesn't help you out lost in the ocean if it is still on the boat in your dive bag.

I've considered the Nautilus but haven't brought myself around to getting one mainly due to the cost. On the other hand, small price to pay in the grand scheme if things if it saves your bacon.

 

[Bonairetrip]

To some extent, it is worth customizing your kit to your circumstance. That said, IMHO, there should be a core that you always dive with. You have practiced with them (first on land, and then in the water).

I would start with:
- Safety sausage. Make it large (at least 4 ft, 6 is better) and durable -- something like nylon.
- Dive alert. Very loud and very easy to use.
- Signal mirror.
- Cutting tool.
- Light (small but bright -- like the PCa or the Q40 LED)
- Storm whistle.

Depending on the when and the where, I might add a strobe, SMB (in lieu of the sausage), and something like a nautilus lifeline.