backup mask

[AfterDark]

I use a yellow mask I found on a dive. I carry it in a mesh pocket bolted to my B/P. Never needed one, haven't used this one yet, except to check for fit and function, just seems like a good idea. The mask was free and the mesh bag was cheap. I "see" it as safety equipment so like my other safety items it is integrated into my rig, positioned so as to be handy but not in the way; as one poster put it, one tends to forget it's there.

The type of diving is irrelevant, diving is fun, I came to dive, but diving without a mask isn't much fun.
I just aborted a dive last week because of an equipment failure pre-dive that I couldn't dive without and didn't have a spare at the dive site; hate when that happens.

 

[Mustard Dave]

I carry a spare mask on every dive. For techie stuff, it is an essential bit of kit, but it is less so for an easy bimble. I still carry it on these dives though because whilst it isn't as likely to put you in serious danger, I would rather be able to carry out the remainder of the dive in comfort than cut it short and have to make a no-mask ascent.

Here's a scenario; you are diving a wreck in 25m of water from a boat and the skipper wants you to ascend on the shot, which he has dropped on the bow. You have swam to the stern and for some reason your mask fails or falls off. Without a spare, you could now be in a very tricky situation.

At the end of the day, it is up to the individual to assess the risk and decide whether a spare mask is essential, but the facts are that a spare mask is not only beneficial to the technical diver, and carrying one is never the wrong choice.

 

[TrimixToo]

I think it's essential for technical diving. I have carried a spare ever since I saw someone else's kicked off at a deco stop. This was reinforced when it happened to another diver while his buddy was trying to manage an emergency (long story). Fortunately, the first diver was almost clear of deco at his last stop with other divers around to read his computer. The second knew what stops he had left and he had the presence of mind to start counting. Then, he counted fists up the rope (two per foot) to get to his remaining stops and counted his remaining two stops out before surfacing safely, 15 minutes later.

Both these lessons stayed with me. Carry a mask, and know your total obligation time and how to distribute it between where you are and the surface. (Steve Lewis helped the latter immeasurably in a BTS presentation some time ago.)

Recreationally speaking, a spare is not absolutely necessary, but if you can locate it and put it on, it can beat the snot out of not having one.

All that said, running the strap under your hood is reasonable insurance against loss, though it will not make your ascent any easier to be holding the mask on with one hand and managing everything else with the other. I don't bother, since I carry a spare and have yet to lose a mask, but I dive with others that think this is important to them. Maybe it's because they don't carry a spare.

 

[COMPASS DIVERS]

Yes, I carry an older typhoon mask that works well still but got put in my BCD when I wanted to upgrade masks. It one of those just incase things!

 

[_Ralph]

Spare mask for sure.

On all my dives I have pockets, so it goes in there.

It also is the same as my main mask.

I've never needed it under the water (except during courses), but I have needed it once after a dive when I lost my main in a large set of waves (knocked it off of my face! - not forehead fyi) for the second dive.

_R

 

[James R]

Lesson from my first tec class:
It really sucks when you need (read: instructor takes primary mask away from you) your backup mask and you haven't bothered to clean it or prep it in a few weeks or more. It fogged like crazy, and I spent the whole dive flooding and clearing it so I could see.

My backup mask and primary mask are the same mask: Atomic subframe.

 

[BazzaB]

Same here.
Primary and backup mask are the same, and I use them in turns.

 

[nuts4corals]

@CuzzA I got the tilos today and i cant thank you enough for the rec. this thing is sweet. folds into two. a perfect backup mask and fits into my bc pocket and I maintain profile.

Not sure how you guys are storing your secondary mask but if my secondary was the same as my primary it would not fit into the bc pocket. my BC is a wing style zeagle stilleto with small pockets.

 

[CuzzA]

@CuzzA I got the tilos today and i cant thank you enough for the rec. this thing is sweet. folds into two. a perfect backup mask and fits into my bc pocket and I maintain profile.

Not sure how you guys are storing your secondary mask but if my secondary was the same as my primary it would not fit into the bc pocket.

You're welcome. That's what the board is all about. Glad to here it will work out for you. The fact it folds was the biggest selling point for me and it's a nice soft silicone so fit should work for most.

 

[nuts4corals]

@CuzzA fit is amazing... probably a little bit better than my new primary beacuse its a frameless it actually conforms to the curve of my forehead making for a super fit. .

I see alot of people debating of weather a duplicate mask is necessary or not. Most tech divers feel it is essential as I see here. Here is what I am thinking, if you have a place to carry it than why not? I already have a writing instrument, an emergency signaling device and a cutting tool... then an empty pocket. Intentionally left empty for a few years until I was sure what I wanted to put in there. from my first dive I thought a duplicate mask might be a good idea. Now that I have the tilos I now know it is. and it wont get dirty sitting inside a bc pocket.

as I mentioned before. I don't want to rely on any "recreational diver" to bring me to the surface. no thanks. some of these people should not be diving IMHO. I have seen a few forget to release air on the way up then realize they are ascending too fast. where is thier hand? not on the BC purge.