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I used to try to fully inflate the DSMB each time, until Andy Kerslake asked me "why?" on Fundamentals
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| Originally Posted by Dominic Because most dSMBs rely on internal pressure to seal the end..? |
I'd fully inflated them for "visibility"/"beacuse I always had".
I hadn't noticed any that how full it was affected how it deflated. Those that deflated tended to deflate at least part-way, no matter how full they were (presumably until the open end hung underwater a bit), the others seemed OK with partial inflation.
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| Originally Posted by Dominic Ah! Great! I was really, really tempted by one of these at the last dive show I went to, but the sods sold out by the time I went back 
So - you've answered my "lack of visibility" concern already.. but does the small size make for any awkwardness with reeling back in or anything? ie it's not so small you might wind up sinking it on ascent? |
You shouldn't be able to wind it back up if its inflated - you'll need to be 3 Kg -ve and winding in fairly hard. Although clearly, if any DSMB is deployed with neglible volume it would be possible to wind it back in.
I can't really think of any real disadvantage of the small size for normal diving. It's a smaller area to display if you're truly lost and trying to signal a searching boat/helicopter, but IMO the ease of use more than outweighs this. A fully inlflated 3ft Halcyon DSMB is certainly more visible than a 1/3 inflated Buddy DSMB. It's harder to thread the line from your spool/reel through the 30mm D-ring, than it is through a large tape loop on the buddy DSMB, but after a few practices it's easy enough.
I wish they'd put SOLAS tape on them, like they did on the 6ft version - I may add some myself. I originally bought one as a backup red - but liked it so much that I used it as my main DSMB, and then bought another as backup....
David