SMB - Sausage usage, am I correct?

[Charlie99]

Really? I didn't know that. I'll give it a try and print out your post for my LDS just in case it blows.

You should bill me, not your LDS.

Just so we are on the same page, the sausage I'm talking about is commonly sold for about $20. Yellow or orange fabric with a black cloth seam. Made in the USA tag near the top, but no manufacturer's name. A plastic sleeve for a cylume lightstick about 1/3 down from the top. A plastic strap and a plastic D-ring at the bottom. IRRC, it also had a plastic clip to hook it onto a BC, but I take that off and just stuff into a BC pocket.

I've only tried it out on a couple of tubes, perhaps 30 times total from 20' range, and only a couple times deeper, so I'd love to have some feedback from others.

Charlie

 

[Uncle Pug]

Don't try that with a closed Halcyon, Rick.

 

[Rick Inman]

Don't try that with a closed Halcyon, Rick.

Actually, if my wife had PM'd you like she was supposed to before buying it for me for Christmas, instead of listening to the LDS, I wouldn't have to worry about it! (How that for gratitude?")

 

[Uncle Pug]

 

[String]

Standard practice here is to deply the DSMB just prior to starting ascent if its shallow <30m or so) but otherwise brief maybe "bag up 10 mins before surfacing" and so on. If you leave the wreck or current picks up, SMB deployed IMMEDIATELY so the boat can follow.
Most dedicated DSMBs have auto dumps and are self sealing so issues of over inflation or them falling over at the surface arent really a problem. They are lift bags good for maybe 30kg or so therefore have a dual purpose. Between your spare and buddys spare you can lift or at worst assist some large chunks of metal on the way up.

I tend to keep my dsmb parmanently attached to my reel ready to unwind and go underwater. It just makes things so much easier at the end of the dive and if things do get nasty its a lot easier than messing with clips and so on. My main one is also a buddy crack bottle inflate one so if needed can be inflated one handed so needs even less effort.
Ive got 55m of line my reel so even allowing for current i can safely send it up from 30m or so without risking it being pulled out of my hand.

Never clip a reel/spool/whatever you use to yourself before or after deploy, you dont want to get dragged up or pulled along by a line snagged in a boat proper - it must always be ready to be released immediately if something happens.

 

[Tom Winters]

What would the max depth recomendation be for my 100' spool?

There's no depths set in stone for when to use a reel or when to use a spool. You could be diving shallow in 40' and a ripping current would strip out a 100' spool and be really tough to control.
I shot mine yesterday at 80', but the current was pretty mild.
I used to keep my DSMB attached to either the spool or the reel. Now I wedge the sausage into the Dive Rite bag holder with nothing protruding. The bag seals with velcro, but the stuff on my bag doesn't grab too well. Dive Rite might have used chintzy velcro there.
But the sausage is pretty sell-set in there.
Then when I pull the thing out, I can use either the spool or the reel. The first time I did this, I had forgotten that the DSMB was loose, so after I hauled it out, I was looking for my spool, but it was there in my thigh pocket. Itried the DSMB in the thigh pocket, but I like it better tucked under my butt in the Dive Rite bag.

 

[Diving Lore]

Deploying a DSMB/liftbag/safety sausage is tricky the first few times but its good skill development to keep and mantain boyancy at neutral and practice it. In the water whether your on a complicated Technical dive or a separated diver from the group its always wise to carry one. Left hand unfurl the lift bag/safety sausage and check its okay (not tangled) put some exhaled air from your 2nd stage exhaust valve to partially fill the bag. Try and aim to get the bag/sausage neutral.

Unclip your reel with right hand (do not leave it clipped to your bcd!) and spool it out to about arms length noting that it unreels. Now clip the reels line clip onto the bag attachment breathe into the bottom opening using full exhaled breaths. Try an aim to get a much air as possible if its a lift bag (for marking your position and hanging off for deco.). If its a safety sausage then less so as they often burst if over filled at depth due to the expansion factor. Lift bags are stronger and often have an overpressure release valve.

 

[detroit diver]

Don't try that with a closed Halcyon, Rick.

Suggestion for those that use the closed Halcyon. Remove the dump valve completely! Mine was removed/broken by accident, and it was the best thing that happened to that bag. It leaves a round plastic sleeve with a hole, and you can manually blow it up thru that hole, use your reg to blow it up thru that hole, and it acts as an OPV on the way up. It's located near the bottom of the bag, so it doesn't deflate the bag when on the surface if you have a bit of tension on it.

 

[markfm]

"Drop the reel from about 25'." What is a finger reel? Where do you find such things? I've seen reels that were designed for use with big bags, and 100 - 200' of line, but nothing which makes sense for only 25 - 30' and a sausage. Somehow, I'm picturing a small plastic spool with about 30' of small nylon cord on it...
Thanks, as always.

 

[cra2]

I'm guessing they mean finger 'spool'.
If so, here's an example;
http://www.diverssupplyusa.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=16777