What is the proper use of a Diver Marker "Sausage"

[JessH]

I know that some people recommend using a finger spool instead of a reel due to the possibility of jamming.

I just got my SMB from Scubatoys. This is the large version with the OPV. I didn't realize just how big this guy is, it is HUGE! Luckily it rolls up small enough to fit in my x-shorts pocket. This guy will definitely be seen when I need it, but I am still eyeing one of those nifty little 3ft ones Tobin makes for occasions where being seen won't be as big of a problem. Unfortunately his cost twice as much and are under half the size...

Anyone know where I can get some SOLAS tape for cheap to add to the top of this guy?

~Jess

 

[CompuDude]

I know that some people recommend using a finger spool instead of a reel due to the possibility of jamming.

I just got my SMB from Scubatoys. This is the large version with the OPV. I didn't realize just how big this guy is, it is HUGE! Luckily it rolls up small enough to fit in my x-shorts pocket. This guy will definitely be seen when I need it, but I am still eyeing one of those nifty little 3ft ones Tobin makes for occasions where being seen won't be as big of a problem. Unfortunately his cost twice as much and are under half the size...

Anyone know where I can get some SOLAS tape for cheap to add to the top of this guy?

~Jess

I'm curious about the solas tape, too.

Dive Rite makes a "See Me" Sausage that is orally inflated for use at the surface. I think that may be the sort of thing you're referring to. They're not really meant to be sent up from depth (although some DMs do it from what I hear). I've seen them made by off brand companies, too, and I believe you if you say Tobin makes them, tho I haven't layed eyes on one of his. Around $25, very small, orally inflated, can clip to a D ring and let it dangle. Not nearly as visible when things get bad, however, and again, not something you can shoot from depth and hang off on a deco/safety stop. Handy, though, and I often bring mine when boat diving in good conditions, simply because they're very much hassle-free tools to use. Good loaner, too, since I always have my full SMB attached to my plate.

http://www.diveriteexpress.com/tools/liftbags.shtml#seeme

The ScubaToys SMB is a full size SMB, and has the same bulk as the other full-size SMBs that were discussed here, Halcyon, Carters, etc. Definitely meant to go into a full size pocket, or rolled up and bungied to your backplate, or you can go the route I chose and pick up a Dive-Rite QuickDraw Sleeve and attach that to your backplate (or BC, if you can figure out how).

http://www.diveriteexpress.com/tools/liftbags.shtml#liftsleeve

 

[JessH]

Here is Tobins:
http://www.deepseasupply.com/page27.html

Looks like a very nice small SMB which has an OPV so it can be shot from depth. Would be nice for lake dives and times when for one reason or another I don't feel the need for the full size one. Of course I will probably be better off just atatching the full sized one to my backplate and always having it with me. You can never be too visable in an emergency, and even at the lake it would be nice for coming up where there might be boat traffic.

I just need to decide how I want to attach my SMB to my BP. Any advice on sleeve vs bungee?

~Jess

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I read the whole darn thread and nobody does it like me? I use no spool and no reel. I simply wrap 25 feet of thin cord around the marker and hold it bundeled together with some elastic straps. I have a barrel clip tied at the terminal end of the line away from the float. To deploy from a depth of 25 feet, I unwind the cord from around the marker and allow the barrel clip to sink neatly below meon the cord.

I actualy start unwrapping it at a depth of around 50 feet, which gives me something to do for the one-minute that I spend there on a non deco dive. When I'm at the appropriate depth, and the string is pulled directly below me by the barrel clip I add some air. Let the cord slide through my hand, when the marker is on the surface I then then slowly ascend on the line. I leave the clip hangng below me. I re-wrap it on the boat. I leave the cord hanging below me until I am on the boat.

I don't see the need for a spool if deploying from a shallow depth. For deco, drift dives I also carry a lift bag and reel and can deploy at a depth of say 80 feet. If I can avoid taking a reel, I will do so.

 

[beautybelow]

I read the whole darn thread and nobody does it like me? I use no spool and no reel. I simply wrap 25 feet of thin cord around the marker and hold it bundeled together with some elastic straps. I have a barrel clip tied at the terminal end of the line away from the float. To deploy from a depth of 25 feet, I unwind the cord from around the marker and allow the barrel clip to sink neatly below meon the cord.

I actualy start unwrapping it at a depth of around 50 feet, which gives me something to do for the one-minute that I spend there on a non deco dive. When I'm at the appropriate depth, and the string is pulled directly below me by the barrel clip I add some air. Let the cord slide through my hand, when the marker is on the surface I then then slowly ascend on the line. I leave the clip hangng below me. I re-wrap it on the boat. I leave the cord hanging below me until I am on the boat.

I don't see the need for a spool if deploying from a shallow depth. For deco, drift dives I also carry a lift bag and reel and can deploy at a depth of say 80 feet. If I can avoid taking a reel, I will do so.

That's ok as long as you arent on top of a reef in 15' of water.

 

[Charlie99]

I read the whole darn thread and nobody does it like me? I use no spool and no reel. I simply wrap 25 feet of thin cord around the marker and hold it bundeled together with some elastic straps.

I also use that system. A Trident 4"x44" sausage with 25-30' of 2mm hibrite cord wrapped around it, and a boltsnap as a weight.

http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=409286&postcount=19

I first saw this technique used by some DMs in Cozumel. Noting that it didn't have an overpressure relief valve, I queried the DM if he had to put in jsut the right amount of air at 15' so it was fully inflated but didn't blow up when it ascended. He told me "no problem man", and we sent one up fully inflated from 100' on the next dive. The excess air just fizzes out through the fabric.

Charlie Allen

The world's biggest sausage is of no value if it stays on the boat.

 

[Lucy's Diver]

I got my wife (my usual dive buddy) a 4 foot closed safety sausage without any line. Its meant for surface use only. She really doesn't have the skill (or want to learn) how to handle lines in the water. This is fine with me, at least she's being realistic. I'm a public safety diver so I handle various types of lines underwater regularly and know how tricky it can be.

I carry a semi closed 6 foot one with an overpressure relief valve that came in its own nylon envelope with 15 feet of nylon twine. I braided it up into that quick unwind "knot" (forget the name of it) and wrapped it up in the envelope and carry it in a BC pocket. I just don't feel I need a reel for 15 feet of line. The sausage and the twine have cheap plastic clips on each end, so I have no qualms about clipping it to my BC when deployed (since the clips will break if yanked hard).

 

[Charlie99]

I braided it up into that quick unwind "knot" (forget the name of it) and wrapped it up in the envelope and carry it in a BC pocket.

"Crochet" perhaps? I don't know what the knot name is, but you are probably doing the same knot your grandma does when she crochets.

She really doesn't have the skill (or want to learn) how to handle lines in the water.

The technique dumpsterdiver described is pretty foolproof. Just unspool (or unspool and unbraid in your case) the line and let a small weight ((I use a boltsnap) pull the line down below you. Then and only then do you inflate the sausage. Just loosely encircle the line with an "OK" sign and let the line shoot up behind the sausage as it pops to the surface. Very easy. Easier to do than to type the description.

Another subtlety of using a small 4" x 44" inch orally inflated sausage is that you don't change buoyancy as you orally inflate with one large breath --- the air is just moving from your lungs to the sausage with no net change in buoyancy.

Charlie Allen