Deploying dSMB from a spool

[Bob Cooper]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]I watched and I can't quite believe it, how do you do that from 50+M?

You don't!  Do it from your first gas switch (21m for a "normal" dive)

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]how would the skipper of the boat know where your going to pop up?

Yours would pop up in the same place as all the other bags deployed from the wreck (think about it).  All divers are drifting in the same direction, in the same current and at the same speed.  Even in a 2kt current, deploying from the first gas switch won't put you far away from the wreck.  And if you are diving in a 2kt current, somebody has f***ed up!

Having said that, we do tend to deploy from the wreck, because that's what the skippers seem to prefer.  In that case, I would always prefer to use a reel in preference to a spool.  Once at around 9m, other team members then deploy their DSMB's (using spools) resulting in the usual underwater knitting competition at the 6m stop.

A word about deploying DSMB's......Since we dive as a team, deploying a DSMB is a "team event" too.  When time is up, we leave the wreck and start our ascent.  One team member assembles DSMB to reel/spool, offers DSMB to buddy and he inflates the bag with a little purge of the primary reg (switch to backup for this).  This is the way I prefer to deploy.  Then, reel changes hands between team members, depending on who's doing what (e.g. during gas switches etc.)

Exact procedure depends on the skipper.  Some like one per team, some like one per diver. Some like to deploy from the bottom, some from the gas switch  The DSMB is primarily there to mark your position for the skipper, so he/she has the final word on this.

Bob

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Bob Cooper @ Feb. 16 2004,19:39)]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Even in a 2kt current, deploying from the first gas switch won't put you far away from the wreck.  And if you are diving in a 2kt current, somebody has f***ed up!

Come on Bob, that's your average deco dive off of Dover on springs. 60mins on the bottom and comming up in a +2knot tide. Just another Dover dive.

This is not a piss take its a serious question.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]A word about deploying DSMB's......Since we dive as a team, deploying a DSMB is a "team event" too.  When time is up, we leave the wreck and start our ascent.  One team member assembles DSMB to reel/spool, offers DSMB to buddy and he inflates the bag with a little purge of the primary reg (switch to backup for this).  This is the way I prefer to deploy.  Then, reel changes hands between team members, depending on who's doing what (e.g. during gas switches etc.)

Since it is a fairly streight forward task for one diver to send up an SMB, shouldent all divers do it on their own even if the dive plan calls for one SMB per buddy pair. That way if the unthinkable should hapen and a diver loses his buddy, he will not be atempting somthing out of the ordenary in his already stressed (at loosing buddy and piss take from rest of DIR teem) diver.

Just a thaught.

On the subject of spools. Nothing wrong with deploying with a spool from 21m or less but winding in 20m of line using a bolt snap and a small open spool is a pain in the bum. I have never understood the diferance between a spool on your finger tips and a reel on a spindle in terms of which is more likley to jam.

I do a fair amount of diving and regularly deploy at depths up to 60m and I have had a total of two jammed reels and a total of 0 jamed back up reels ever. If main SMB fails just go to back up and hopfulley collect main unit on the surface. Sureley this is a small price to pay for the conveniance and comfort of using a reel.    

ATB

Mark Chase

[Andy Phillips]

Hi Bob,

Glad you had a dive on the Duke, best ashtrays in the world on that wreck.

I have to be honest even as I typed it I had a vauge memory of being told that in the past. But, most times Mark and I have a longer bottom time than most pairs  on the boat, as you know yourself it can run fairly hard in the channel either side of slack. The various "teams" can end up quite far from each other, considering we are often diving close to the shipping lanes I would consider late deployment to be unsafe.

Part of what troubled me was I saw the clip after I had done a dive in virtual zero vis, I had to send up the SMB by touch, I mean this literally. It was hard enough with a CD reel and a crack bottle SMB leaning on the wreck, I can't imagine how you would manage it on a hang. I guess if the process is so familiar you don't need to look it is possible but still complex.

I think it is just one of those DIR things I don't belive translates to UK diving conditions, I know you belive this also, hence the reason why you modify your technique to suit the dive.

This brings me to another thought. On that last dive, Mark and I must have been within 2M of each other, it might of well have been 20M since we could not see each other. All this does is highlight to me the need for self sufficiency. In these conditions you simple can not rely on your buddy, how on earth would you find him.

Take care,

Andrew

[tas]

Nope...Sorry...Very thick 'n all that, but I still haven't got it.

Is there a hole down the centre of the spool? If so, do you hold the spool lightly and let it spin "over" your fingers? Or is there a rod in the centre which you hold and the spool spins round that?

And I still don't get this bolt-snap locking off bit either. If the line passes through the eye of the bolt snap, and the bolt snap is latched on to the spool, you've still got the line able to pass through the eye haven't you?

??

tas

[And]

<font color='#000080'>Hi

Yes, you hold the spool lightly with your fingers. If the line overspills the spool you can easily clear it by moving the offending finger.

If the line is through the snap and the snap clipped to the spool then the line is trapped, as the line cannot peel off the spool. Clear?

Andy

[Paul Beal]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]If the line is through the snap and the snap clipped to the spool then the line is trapped, as the line cannot peel off the spool. Clear

BINGO!! I can see how that works too now (thanks Jamie for trying to send me the photos, much appreciated)!

You might notice from the front page that today is the passing of another year for me. My mother sent me a cheque this morning so I might have to get the DIR fundamentals book and perhaps have a play with a spool - as well as an expensive bottle of wine (contradiction I know ).

Paul

[Crisspy Fiver]

Happy Birthday.

Fundermentals book, mmmmm its ok, personally there is not much in there that you wont find on the net though.

Jamie

[tas]

YES! I SEE THE LIGHT!!

thanks for the patience...

tas

[Paul Beal]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]mmmmm its ok, personally there is not much in there that you wont find on the net though.

That's good (and light on the pocket) to know, I will reconsider!

Paul

[Dominic]

That's true - just flick through a Halcyon catalogue, it amounts to the same thing