Rebreather World - View Single Post - So, I sez to Howard, "Where'd it go?". And Howard sez back...

robinfante · 5th December 2007, 15:03

Nice write-up. I agree with your assessment of things to do next time, as I was reading about swimming a lift bag up 100' I was thinking "that takes some brass...". Doable sure, and I nearly had to do the same thing this summer from 100' deeper, but definitely not ideal.

I'll share a situation I had once too. I had found a porthole, and gone down with a bag of tools to free it. Sadly it was steel, so I decided to raise up a weight belt I had found just for practice. I was using an smb, as the previous year I had had a hell of a time with a lift bag dumping in current. First it spilled from 200 feet, then from 130', so finally at 100' I pulled out an smb and gave up on liftbags for good. I swam the tools and weight belt over to the line, then began my ascent. Partway up the line I dumped some gas from the smb, oops a little too much so I went to add a touch more with my bailout reg. Nothing doing, it was pretty much impossible, as the weight of the stuff was pulling the lips of the bag tightly closed. After struggling with it I finally decided to just haul it up a bit, so that what gas was in there could expand and take over. I wound up lugging that pig all the way to 20', and still it was negative. I finally ditched the belt, saved the tools (good thing as they were the captains), but not before giving myself a hell of a CO2 headache.

So, a simple lesson learned the hard way: smbs for signalling, lift bags for lifting.

5th December 2007, 15:03	#4 (permalink)
robinfante I have a smoking gun Current Rebreather/s: Megalodon Prism Topaz MK 15.X Other Rebreather/s: Sport Kiss Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: mountain lakes nj Posts: 154	Re: So, I sez to Howard, "Where'd it go?". And Howard sez back... Nice write-up. I agree with your assessment of things to do next time, as I was reading about swimming a lift bag up 100' I was thinking "that takes some brass...". Doable sure, and I nearly had to do the same thing this summer from 100' deeper, but definitely not ideal. I'll share a situation I had once too. I had found a porthole, and gone down with a bag of tools to free it. Sadly it was steel, so I decided to raise up a weight belt I had found just for practice. I was using an smb, as the previous year I had had a hell of a time with a lift bag dumping in current. First it spilled from 200 feet, then from 130', so finally at 100' I pulled out an smb and gave up on liftbags for good. I swam the tools and weight belt over to the line, then began my ascent. Partway up the line I dumped some gas from the smb, oops a little too much so I went to add a touch more with my bailout reg. Nothing doing, it was pretty much impossible, as the weight of the stuff was pulling the lips of the bag tightly closed. After struggling with it I finally decided to just haul it up a bit, so that what gas was in there could expand and take over. I wound up lugging that pig all the way to 20', and still it was negative. I finally ditched the belt, saved the tools (good thing as they were the captains), but not before giving myself a hell of a CO2 headache. So, a simple lesson learned the hard way: smbs for signalling, lift bags for lifting. __________________ Homer to Bart: “When a woman says nothing’s wrong, everything is wrong. And when a woman says everything’s wrong, EVERYTHING is wrong. And when a woman says something’s not funny, you better not laugh your ass off!” Check out www.robinfante.blogspot.com for trip reports and pics.
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