Mask/Hood problem

[suthnbelle]

Okay, I don't know which is the problem...the mask or the hood? This has happened my last few dives and it is driving me INSANE!! While I was diving this past Saturday my mask kept filling with water. I'd wait til it got below my eyes before I'd clear it because it was filling so often. I could see and feel little bubbles under and what felt like beside my nose. I have a low volume OMS mask that fits my face perfect, and I didn't have it on tight. Before dive, it seals to my face with no problem. During the dive I noticed my hood kept filling up with air (think conehead) and I'd have to push it out. I do have homemade vent holes in the top of the hood. I think the hood was making my mask shift, thus causing the leakage. The thing is I get air in my hood and my beanie all the time. Why is it doing this and how can I get it to stop? When I look at everyone else they don't look like a conehead! Why me? So what do you all think is the problem? I would appreciate any tips/advice.....kindly given of course .

Thanks!
Mel

[spectrum]

Okay, I don't know which is the problem...the mask or the hood? This has happened my last few dives and it is driving me INSANE!! While I was diving this past Saturday my mask kept filling with water. I'd wait til it got below my eyes before I'd clear it because it was filling so often. I could see and feel little bubbles under and what felt like beside my nose. I have a low volume OMS mask that fits my face perfect, and I didn't have it on tight. Before dive, it seals to my face with no problem. During the dive I noticed my hood kept filling up with air (think conehead) and I'd have to push it out. I do have homemade vent holes in the top of the hood. I think the hood was making my mask shift, thus causing the leakage. The thing is I get air in my hood and my beanie all the time. Why is it doing this and how can I get it to stop? When I look at everyone else they don't look like a conehead! Why me? So what do you all think is the problem? I would appreciate any tips/advice.....kindly given of course .

Thanks!
Mel

Assuming the hood is a nice close ftr to begin with I'll ask if it has a trimmable face seal?

On both of mine I needed to trim the top and side seals by 1/4 - 3/8 of an inch to get a 50% overlap on the skirt. If I don't trim the top then it pushed the mask down and the hood up. The mask going down was the immediate problem but the "cone head" would be secondary.

It's also easy to get a fold in the top of the mask skirt. I pull my hood away and make sure the mask seal is laying flat. With the hood and at some point gloves it can be hard to be sure on your own. Good buddy check item.

Pete

[Kriterian]

I dove with a hood a few weeks ago and had no problems at all and my mask leaked less than normal, hardly at all. During my last dive, with the a hood again, it drove me nuts. It took me longer to get my mask adjusted in cooperation with the hood than to put on the rest of my gear.

I noticed several things that may help you:

- I thought my mask was on perfectly but my buddy pointed out a seal on top of the hood. It took him pointing it out for me to notice it and fix it, so that could be causing leakage problems. Maybe getting someone to examine you closely (besides a psychologist :11 and check your mask seal.

- I noticed my hood filled up with air every time I exhaled in a certain position underwater. I'm not experienced enough to figure out how to fix it, but it didn't really bother me. I actually used this on land to cool off by exhaling air into the hood to relieve some of the tightness.

I hope you get it worked out but I've already learned that the hood is an invention of the devil and should be shredded at every opportunity.

[H2Andy]

hmmm.... Mel, it sounds like you are diving with your mask OVER your hood

have you tried putting your mask on first, then the hood over it? (basically
put hood on half-way, put mask on, finish putting hood on)

although i seem to recall i've suggested this before, but you had a good reason
not to try it... memory... going... can't.... recall...

[diverkristi]

I HATE HOODS! I had the conehead thing goin on this weekend too. Had to purge the hood evey so often or it caused bouyancy issues! I also ALWAYS have problems with the seal from the mask.

Just another reason to dive in the tropics, NO HOODS!

[SubMariner]

1) Poke a hole in the top of your hood. If you want a nice round hole, try heating a nail & poking it through. Or you can simply use a sharp knife to put a slit in it. Make sure you purge the air out of the hood when you descend.

2) Although you put the mask on after the hood, the mask skirt should be UNDER the edge of the hood. Make sure to run your fingers all along the edge to ensure that it's properly sealed with no obstructions from either the hood or that your hair hasn't wound up under it somewhere.

Have fun,

[ScubaDadMiami]

Besides the obvious point of making sure that the mask is under the skirt, there are a couple of things related to this that could be causing this problem.

First, I would add some holes farther down the back of the hood (toward your neck). If the holes you have on there right now are at the top of your head, your head usually is actually tilted forward to some degree while you are diving. So, you are still getting some gas trapping under the hood until enough gets in there to roll up to the holes. Even when that happens, this does not get rid of all of the gas. You end out continually having to pull the hood back down to your head to squeeze that gas up to the hole, starting the process all over again.

The other thing that happens is that the trapped gas can lift the hood off of the rear of your neck. This can sometimes shift the skirt down onto your mask, shifting it on your face and opening it up enough so that water starts to come in. If you hold your hood down on your head in the right position and notice that your leaking problems stop, that's most likely the reason for the leak.

Putting the extra holes in the right spot should hopefully take care of the problem. If you add some holes that you don't need, it should not do much to reduce the effectiveness of the hood (especially if you add a flap over the holes to reduce water inflow). On the other hand, if you start trimming the seal when this is not necessary, you have just introduced water into the inside of the hood, reducing its effectiveness. I would not trim the seal until you have tried other things first.

It could also be that your hood needs to be trimmed so that the top of it does not bulge up so easily. If you add the holes but find that the hood keeps causing cone head, that is likely the issue assuming you are getting the right fit around your neck.

Hope this helps.

[Canadian_Diver]

I've got the exact opposite problem.

My mask seals TOO well with my drysuit hood on. :scubadive

Before switching to a different hood however, I experienced similar problems and was able to resolve them by adjusting the position of my mask straps. Don't know if you've tried it or if it will even work fer ya... but what the hey?

[SeanQ]

I used to have conehead problems too until I though about how the air was getting into my hood. I would occasionally breath out my nose causing air to leak out the top of the mask and into the hood. Each time air went out the top, water would come in. I suspect you have the same problem.

[suthnbelle]

Thanks for all the tips. Next dive I'm going to give some of this a try to see if I can resolve the problem. I know the mask skirt isn't the problem because that is the first thing I check, and when putting it on make sure it is sealed under the hood.

Andy, I haven't tried the mask under the hood yet, but that was my next idea. I'm going to try that and see what happens.

Thanks!