Colour coded SMB's

[serge]

I'll second what Chan said. The Halcyon SMB's are made really really well.

For open water diving I'd suggest getting Orange and Yellow (But Orange to start is just fine to).

Take a look at this blog for an explanation http://www.diverite.com/blog/2008/04/23/a-yellow-smb-difference-between-a-bad-dive-and-serious-trouble/

Serge.

[Rob Smith]

I'll second what Chan said. The Halcyon SMB's are made really really well.

For open water diving I'd suggest getting Orange and Yellow (But Orange to start is just fine to).

Take a look at this blog for an explanation http://www.diverite.com/blog/2008/04/23/a-yellow-smb-difference-between-a-bad-dive-and-serious-trouble/

Serge.

Thanks, something I would not have thought about. Ok I plan to carry a primary reel (rear D-ring) so should each SMB have a dedicated reel of it's own or just a primary and then a finger reel?

[serge]

My primary SMB (Orange) has the spool attached always and is in my left pocket and only has about 100' of line on it.

Right now my Yellow SMB in my right pocket has no spool but I carry an extra spool in my right pocket with 150' of line.

The reason I do that comes from my cave training really. In cave you always have 2 backup reels/spools of at least 150' for emergency's.

That carries over a bit for me into open water where I like to have the safety reels as well.

The primary SMB I consider self contained so that's why spool/smb are attached.

The other spool then doubles as a safety spool or a spool to use on orange SMB. I don't want to be carrying more spools/reels then I have to.

Not that it applies here but when I cave dive the SMB's stay home. They are of no use in the cave :)

Finally Jay is correct the Yellow SMB is not standard in North America. It was mid 2008 that I read about it and it made a lot of sense to me. If you plan to go that route though it is important to breif the captian and let other divers know. Since it's non-standard here at this point most people would not give a Yellow SMB another thought. To further that there are a lot of people that use a Yellow DiveRite 50lbs life bag as their standard and only SMB (I use to be one of them and will sell it to you cheap :P).

Serge.

Thanks, something I would not have thought about. Ok I plan to carry a primary reel (rear D-ring) so should each SMB have a dedicated reel of it's own or just a primary and then a finger reel?

[Chantelle]

From what I understand, a yellow SMB means an emergency, in ocean diving, over the pond (read England). I think it was Leigh that learned that while he was over there this past fall.

[serge]

Ya it's not common here at all. Though it seems to be very sound advice and I'm sure it will become more standard. Having a method to alert the boat to an issue when you are stuck on a deco obligation seems like a very good thing to me.

For fundies though not important at all since you are never in deco so you can always go to the surface.

Serge.

[Chantelle]

Ya it's not common here at all. Though it seems to be very sound advice and I'm sure it will become more standard. Having a method to alert the boat to an issue when you are stuck on a deco obligation seems like a very good thing to me.

For fundies though not important at all since you are never in deco so you can always go to the surface.

Serge.

Yessir, I'd have to agree that it would make sense to alert the boat to a more serious emergency.

For fundies, you are never in deco, but the 20' and 10' stops are simulated deco stops. That way, it's really easy to just build on during the next course (eg. Tech 1). You aren't changing anything, just adding to it.

[Matthew Mandziuk]

Actually, if you go back to Trimix Naui version, we discussed 2 smb's and colour coded it that way.

In Naui it was Yellow for every day, Orange close to red for emergency.

I prefer orange for every day, yellow for emergency, but that is something that needs to be standardized accross the board.