Nifty dsmb

[Foggy]

It is a sound idea, it is basically the same system as used for deploying parachute lines.

I can see some pros and cons -

if it isn't free enough then the DSMB may be "snatched" out of reach.

On a wreck, it avoids the possiblity of a drop line becoming snagged.

If you listen to Woz's fine idea and combine say 6m of this with a reel, you get a clear indication of stop depth and it slows your ascent winding it in - which is no bad thing.

Cheers, Paul

Oh and BTW being tape it will be hard to tangle when winding up.

[nickb]

I love this from the FAQs:

Originally Posted by Purveyor of Useless Tat

What happens if I am on the surface and do not have enough air in the tank to inflate the buoy?

You can fully inflate your BDC orally and the use the Correlated Hose on the BCD to insert into the opening of the buoy and dump air from the BDC into the buoy.

[Gareth Burrows]

haha thats fantastic. So you're out of gas and it suggests you dump the remaining gas from the bcd to inflate the SMB. What could possibly go wrong.

[Prometheus]

Well you could always hang on to the boat while you do it.

[Gareth Burrows]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

Well you could always hang on to the boat while you do it.

be safer to pss the SMB up to someone on the boat, get them to fill it with gas for you and then pass it back. Then you can easily signal the boa..

[Pigpen]

"You can fully inflate your BDC orally and the use the Correlated Hose on the BCD to insert into the opening of the buoy and dump air from the BDC into the buoy."

Oh dear.

[Prometheus]

As always Garf your logic and safety towards dive problems come to the fore.

[wacky]

Originally Posted by Garf

be safer to pss the SMB up to someone on the boat, get them to fill it with gas for you and then pass it back. Then you can easily signal the boa..

.... this is why you should always carry 2 SMB, you could then pass both of them to the boat, fill them both with gas, use one to mark your position, then breathe off the other one................

I don't think I've thought this through, I get back to you..............

[Richard Mason]

Despite the slating on here and bad English (which is still way better than my Cantonese) and hyperbole of the sales dept, I still think it's a sound idea for the situation shown. Agreed you couldn't use it from depth but the sort of diving shown there and the sort we do is rarely an ascent in the murk like you blokes do in the Channel.

Less hassle than a reel, nothing to jam and less likely to tangle than a drop line. Just because it's not a solution you'd use in UK waters doesn't discount the whole concept. And it's nothing to get angry about either.

[Gareth Burrows]

Originally Posted by Richard Mason

Less hassle than a reel, nothing to jam and less likely to tangle than a drop line. Just because it's not a solution you'd use in UK waters doesn't discount the whole concept. And it's nothing to get angry about either.

the people who think it's a stupid idea are just as entitled to their opinion as your positive one.

Personally, I think it has nothing to offer.

1. If you mess up the depth you deploy from it's unforgiving - you'd get dragged up; you can't quickly add more webbing like you can with a reel or spool
2. Restowing the thing in the water would be a nigh-on impossibility. The diver doing it in the video makes it look like a mess.
3. One piece of bungy holding all the webbing together is a tangle and undo waiting to happen
4. It takes up a lot more room than 10M of line on a spool or reel
5. It has extremely limited depth unless you connect it to a reel or spool - in which case why not just use a reel or spool in the first place
6. I have a personal hatred of Red AND yellow SMBs. Does that mean I'm in "a little bit" of trouble, but nothing serious?