Saw a dive crew using a lift bag on a 55-gallon drum in Galveston Bay and it changed my whole approach

Last month I was watching these guys bring up a 55-gallon drum on a job, and they used a single lift bag with a dump valve setup instead of trying to balance two bags. I had always doubled up for anything over 30 gallons, but seeing how stable that one bag was with the right trim made me rethink my whole gear list. Has anyone else switched to a single bag approach for bigger lifts?

2 comments

2 Comments

wendy_clark23h ago

You mentioned the single bag being "stable with the right trim" and that really clicked for me. I had the same fear about tipping when I first tried it on a 40-gallon barrel, but I found that if you attach the bag close to the center of gravity and use a short hose on the dump valve, you can control the angle just by adjusting air. The key for me was running a line from the bottom of the drum up to a separate clip on the bag so it rode level instead of tilting forward. I still keep a spare bag in my kit just in case the load shifts, but for most jobs I'm down to one bag now.

matthewbarnes22h ago

Wait, did they have the dump valve on a short lanyard or a longer pull cord? I tried something similar with a small compressor tank once and ended up spinning it like a ferris wheel because I clipped the bag too far off center. Couldn't stop laughing but also couldn't get the tank back to the surface without re-rigging the whole thing.