Signal tube deployment : going up with the device! scary...

[DevonDiver]

If you want just let your spool go as the bag shoots up, no need to keep hold of it. It doesn't drop discernibly. Once your bag has hit the surface take hold of your spool.

Very bad drills.

1) Quite often, the spool will unwind down below the diver, forcing you to descend and retrieve it.

2) Your 'advice' doesn't account for current or low viz.

3) Uncontrolled spool increases risk of entanglement.

4) It's easy to control the spool on deployment, why risk a fubar situation by letting it go?

 

[farsidefan1]

I remember a post some time ago by a relatively new diver who had read about how to deploy an SMB and commented that he saw no need to practice it because only an idiot wouldn't be able to do it right the first and every subsequant time. He could not be convinced otherwise. I can only hope he is alive and reading this thread

 

[TheMic]

Thanks for sharing, it is something that you never think about until it happens.

 

[billt4sf]

Would anyone like to recommend a specific SMB for purchase? Of course, I can buy SOMETHING online or at the LDS, but I think I would like a duck-bill opening (I forgot why) and a shorter tube, maybe 3 feet? We are novice divers just getting started with this, want to develop our skills. We are planning to do our own shore dives so I think it's time to get the skill but I do believe that we will be in safe waters (Hawaii, no or little current, in bays, fairly close to shore) for quite some time.

The SMBs I see online are not well-described and usually 6 feet.

Thanks,

Bill

 

[Tortuga68]

Would anyone like to recommend a specific SMB for purchase? Of course, I can buy SOMETHING online or at the LDS, but I think I would like a duck-bill opening (I forgot why) and a shorter tube, maybe 3 feet?

Halcyon 3.3 closed circuit - no need for duckbill on these little SMBd

 

[bj139]

Would anyone like to recommend a specific SMB for purchase? Of course, I can buy SOMETHING online or at the LDS, but I think I would like a duck-bill opening (I forgot why) and a shorter tube, maybe 3 feet? We are novice divers just getting started with this, want to develop our skills. We are planning to do our own shore dives so I think it's time to get the skill but I do believe that we will be in safe waters (Hawaii, no or little current, in bays, fairly close to shore) for quite some time.

The SMBs I see online are not well-described and usually 6 feet.

Thanks,

Bill

SMB
45 inch Dive Signal Tube with Inflator

Finger Spool
Blue Reef Finger Spool Reel

Get 1 of each for you and your wife. I use one like this and it is easy to inflate by mouth at 15ft. Youtube has great videos on SMB with finger spool deployment. If you go on boat dives and drift away from the boat, 2 of these should be more visible than 1.

I just bought 1 of these.

Carter Personal Float

When I dive out in the Atlantic this might be more useful, just in case SHTF and with the quality, may be the last one I will have to buy.

Bill

 

[chachita]

Absolutely! Deploying SMBs should be taught and practised in OW and AOW courses. I've taken many courses and it was never mentioned. I learned about SMBs here on SB's Accident threads.