Home Remedy

[spectrum]

Lets's be clear that cleaning a mask and applying defogger are two different things. If a mask needs to be cleaned before each use the user may be contaminating it with something like a greasy sunscreen product.

Hazing (outgassing) is another issue and probably only results in minor opacity. If you are diving regularly the frequent rinsing and defogging should make this a non issue.

As for my preferred defog, I rinse the inside first (a splash of bottled water works) then apply a drop of J&J baby shampoo per lens and smear it. With the lens already wet it levels nicely and will set up before the dive.

There are a lot of solutions out there and what works will vary with a lot of factors.
* Temperature and perspiration of the diver
* Water temperature
* Flooding of the masks. Some defoggings can be rendered ineffective after 1 mask clear drill while others will go the distance after a drill ot 2 or if you are dealing with a slight leak issue

More here

Pete

 

[captain]

It will work. Do it before every dive. Never fails.



My wasting of breath & bandwidth is now over.

Y'all may resume the touting of $9 a bottle Mask Defog made from Sweat scarped gently from the Inner Thighs of Virgin Swedish Dive Mistresses.

Repeat after me: Toothpaste.

Where do you apply for the scraping job.

 

[Zieg]

There appear to be medical reasons to avoid using spit. Nevertheless, a lot of divers do it that way.
Richard

Ah man, is that why I'm going blind? I thought it was the other reason.

But seriously, I've mostly use spit. The bottled stuff is great but always on the other side of the boat whenever I think about it and I'm ready to hit the water. Also, I just spit, rub it around and put the mask on. I do a quick clear on the way down, only takes a sec and I don't have to deal with the bucket.

 

[Diver0001]

Rub it with a kelp leaf.

I am SO going to try this....

This is one for the list of "you know you're a real diver when...."

Y'all may resume the touting of $9 a bottle Mask Defog made from Sweat scarped gently from the Inner Thighs of Virgin Swedish Dive Mistresses.

If I had known this before I would have paid more than $9....

And given the choices of the smell I'd want in my mask at depth:
- halitosis
- the dentist
- a baby's patoosh
- or no smell at all

I think I'll pay the couple of bucks for no smell at all. Give me Sea Drops. There are uses for spit but I'll be honest. If I met myself on the street I wouldn't get in line for a kiss.... I'll only spit in my mask if I have to.

What's really gross are the rental masks at the diveschool.... On Monday night some heavily bearded pot-bellied saskwatch of a guy with all the dental hygene of hyena will be picking the food out from between his teeth and spitting in it while joking "THE GREENER THE BETTER", and on Tuesday night you'd give that same mask to someone else....

Pass, thanks. I take drops to the pool with me too and give them to my students to use... Blech!

R..

 

[Doc]

And given the choices of the smell I'd want in my mask at depth:
- halitosis
- the dentist
- a baby's patoosh
- or no smell at all

I think I'll pay the couple of bucks for no smell at all.

Ummm.... there is no human sense of smell when the mask is on. At depth or on the surface.

Plain fact.

Enjoy your Sea Drops.

 

[Diver0001]

You first have to calm your mind, young grasshopper.

R..

 

[vam302]

After cleaning the mask with the toothpaste, I use whatever me or my dive buddies has in the gear bag at the time. I've used Sea Drops, 500 PSI, and baby shampoo. I've also used a slightly dilute solution of fabric softener (Downy). If none of those is around, then it's time to tap the salivary glands. Honestly, I think I like either 500 PSI or baby shampoo the best - but I don't like the price of the commercial stuff.

 

[merxlin]

...>>>Hazing (outgassing) is another issue and probably only results in minor opacity. If you are diving regularly the frequent rinsing and defogging should make this a non issue.
Pete

I agree the hazing is a non-issue in and of itself. However, I see more and more people having fogging issues. The reason a very clean mask doesn't fog is that the moisture does not adhere to the iner surface. My theory (and it is just that) is that the plastisizers are hazing the inside of the mask glass and creating a good surface for the fogging, not that the haze itself is causing the fogging.

BTW, I used kelp way back when in the 70's when I first learned to dive. Seems to work well. It needs to be live kelp though, no beach leaves! Also, I used spit for a long time but now it just doesn't seem to work for me.

 

[Dr Neil]

I've found that all the various defogging products (from spit to commercially sold products) don't work if you don't start with a clean lens.

For a new mask it's clean it thoroughly with soft scrub or toothpaste. Rinse and repeat. An old tooth brush works well.

Then clean the mask before every dive trip. On multiple day trips, clean it each evening.

 

[Twistedarts]

+1 for the spit. I was told recently that a potato works very well. i will be trying it my next time out. stay tuned...