hooded vests

Good Morning All!

My husband and I are recently certified and have purchased all our equipment. I have a question about the hooded vests though. The vests fit well except for the face opening seems to be too small. Maybe this is the way they are supposed to fit? Does the opening need to be trimmed? If so, what would the proper method be? They are mares trilastic hooded vests. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

although the idea of a hood is obviously to expose as little skin as possible to the water some hoods are made to be trimmed. i am not familiar with this particular model. however, i have never trimmed any of mine. in most cases one should be able to tuck the silicone skirt of the mask under the edge of the hood.

How small is small? The hoods are designed to fit more like an open faced balaclava/ski mask exposing as little skin as possible. Practically for those who may not dress regularly for temperatures in the great white north this means over the chin, a finger or two above the eyebrows and three fingers or so from the ears over the cheeks. This should leave enough space for the regulator and for your mask with the skirt edges tucked under the hood. If it doesn't have enough space for mask or regulator then it is too small. Whether you can trim it or not I'm not sure.

Mel

Mine has an area around the opening that is designed to be trimmed- I'm going to have to trim it, too, since it interferes with the far edges of my mask.

Before you trim, make sure the area around the opening is separate from the rest of the hood- I don't know how to explain that. It means there is the material around the opening, then a seam and then the rest of the hood. So that when you trim around the opening, you don't risk destroying the whole hood (fraying, I suppose?). Best to take it to your LDS and ask them. They should be able to tell you if you can trim it or not.

If it seems that small it probably is trimable. The tag or manufacturers website will describe it as trimable. As far as I know all Bare hooded vests feature trimable seals. A trimable seal will not have edge binding and may be bare "skin" neoprene on the inside. It will be a separate rim from the main hood.

Edit... After rereading your post, going to the Mares website, saving the picture and digitally enhancing it I can see that what you have is very most likely a trimable seal.
End of edit

The trimable seal may be one piece and seamless like my Harvey's dry suit hood or it may have a seam at the forehead. If you have a seam at the forehead (or chin) there may be some heavy cross stitches. When trimming you want to retain at least one of these for strength. Once again this should be on the tag if it's a Bare.

I like to trim my seals so the hood is up on the mask skirt for about 1/4 inch. This will prevent the direct hit of cold water on your skin. If you leave the opening to small the seal edge will tend to force the mask out of position and make you miserable.

Here is a post I made about how I trim my seals.

Pete