SMB Question

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Spool, I usually carry two 30M ones in my pocket.

Rarely shoot the SMB from below 15M

To all you spool users...do you ever encounter any curling of the line after winding in greater lengths of line. I have seen
the double ender used to wrap the line and also just hand over hand. The one problem with hand looping something onto a spool
is it can cause curling of the line. The reels of course bring the line in without any looping effect. The reason I'm asking,
I was on a boat one time and someone had what looked like freshly spooled line on a spool and had a terrible tangled mess
when reboarding the boat without taking in all the line.

Never had that problem, but I always wind the line completely onto the spool before handing the SMB to the boat.
 
Never had that problem either, but my sample size is relatively small.

I also wind the line completely before surfacing, and give a visual inspection while rinsing just in case

Sent from my Nokia Lumia using Tapatalk
 
Based on my next comments, it will become obvious that I use a spool rather than a reel. I too wind the spool as I surface so it is wound up before I get out of the water. Now, without the OP's permission, I am going to tack onto their question.

For those divers that said they use a Spool, how many of you that dive with dry gloves find that the spool does not spin freely (thanks to friction with the glove) and requires assistance. In trying out a new spool last weekend, I found that the spool and my Viking Bayonette dry gloves gripped each other and I had to manually dispense the line for fear of the spool going up with it.

This weekend I am going to spray a bit of the silicone spray on the holes of the spool to try to help and see how that works. How did you get past it.
 
Based on my next comments, it will become obvious that I use a spool rather than a reel. I too wind the spool as I surface so it is wound up before I get out of the water. Now, without the OP's permission, I am going to tack onto their question.

For those divers that said they use a Spool, how many of you that dive with dry gloves find that the spool does not spin freely (thanks to friction with the glove) and requires assistance. In trying out a new spool last weekend, I found that the spool and my Viking Bayonette dry gloves gripped each other and I had to manually dispense the line for fear of the spool going up with it.

This weekend I am going to spray a bit of the silicone spray on the holes of the spool to try to help and see how that works. How did you get past it.

I don't grip the spool, I keep a hand slightly above the spool ready to grab it if it has a slight jam. I have only ever had the spool jam once, and was able to dislodge it when it hit my hand. I also keep a hand under the spool in case it keeps unraveling after the smb hits the surface.

The problem I find with gripping the spool isn't just the friction restricting the spool, but the wear on my gloves.
 
You eventually master the precise amount of pressure to put on the center of the spool, so that it doesn't get away from you and your fingers don't get wound up in the hole.
 
It depends on environment!!

Enviorment 1 - When I dive in Cozumel, I deploy my SMB before I start my ascent and then come on it. Cozumel has a lot of boat traffic and being a drift dive, I like to mark myself.

Enviornment 2 - For diving wrecks off of New Jersey, you want to descend and asend on the anchor line. In the event that you can't do that (broken anchor line, can't find your way back, etc..), the last thing you want to do is a free ascent. The technique that I would use, would be to attach the wreck reel to the SMB, deploy to surface, loop under a piece of the wreck and ascend on the other side of the line. Upon reaching the surface, I can then detach the reel and retrieve all of my line back. So with this technique, if you are in 100' of water, you would need a minimum of 200' of line (more if current was present), so a spool won't work. I teach this in my wreck classes and have had to use this on a handful of occasions. There was a lady a couple of years ago (locally) who did a free ascent rather then using this method and it took the boat 3 hours to find her (she was OK). Last year an anchor line broke free and the only stable line (4 bags up, only 1 made it) that was used was one of my wreck/tec students who used this technique. He had fully Halcyon Closed-Circuit SMB and used his reel, while the other divers used his line after their bags failed. Their bags failed for 2 reasons, true lift bag (open bottom) style (2 of them spilled and wouldn't stay up) and 1 diver dropped the spool after dealing with failed bag (bag made to surface the 2nd time but with no diver). In the end all 4 divers made it up and back onto the boat in rough seas due to 1 stable line. BTW, my guy retrieved all his line back and did not have to cut it. I'll take a wreck reel over a big, bulky, Jersey Upline any day of the week.
 
It depends on environment!!

Environment 2 - For diving wrecks off of New Jersey, you want to descend and ascend on the anchor line. In the event that you can't do that (broken anchor line, can't find your way back, etc..), the last thing you want to do is a free ascent. The technique that I would use, would be to attach the wreck reel to the SMB, deploy to surface, loop under a piece of the wreck and ascend on the other side of the line. Upon reaching the surface, I can then detach the reel and retrieve all of my line back. So with this technique, if you are in 100' of water, you would need a minimum of 200' of line (more if current was present), so a spool won't work. I teach this in my wreck classes and have had to use this on a handful of occasions. There was a lady a couple of years ago (locally) who did a free ascent rather then using this method and it took the boat 3 hours to find her (she was OK). Last year an anchor line broke free and the only stable line (4 bags up, only 1 made it) that was used was one of my wreck/tec students who used this technique. He had fully Halcyon Closed-Circuit SMB and used his reel, while the other divers used his line after their bags failed. Their bags failed for 2 reasons, true lift bag (open bottom) style (2 of them spilled and wouldn't stay up) and 1 diver dropped the spool after dealing with failed bag (bag made to surface the 2nd time but with no diver). In the end all 4 divers made it up and back onto the boat in rough seas due to 1 stable line. BTW, my guy retrieved all his line back and did not have to cut it. I'll take a wreck reel over a big, bulky, Jersey Upline any day of the week.

Wayne, I like this idea. Think I'll try that out on a dive sometime soon!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I note all the responses. I prefer a reel, but as the terms reel and spool are used here, I think some people mean the same thing. I have a reel with a ratchet catch and winding handle that fits in a pocket or lips on my bcd, and I like it. Is it a spool or a reel? It's what I use. I call it a reel.
DivemasterDennis
 
I note all the responses. I prefer a reel, but as the terms reel and spool are used here, I think some people mean the same thing. I have a reel with a ratchet catch and winding handle that fits in a pocket or lips on my bcd, and I like it. Is it a spool or a reel? It's what I use. I call it a reel.

Me too :D

FTR, this is a spool as described in my post:

hollis.finger.spool.png
 
A spool is just that - a spool. Anything more is not a spool. A spool was what was used in the video linked as well for that matter..

EDIT: NVM the link, that was another thread :p
 

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