Drysuit Latex Hood: Usage advice?

[DaveP]

I just bought a used drysuit that included an attached latex hood. I've never used an attached hood before and couldn't find a whole lot of advice in the archives here...

Any pointers on using these? In particular:
Anything different for ear equalizing?
Anything different while putting the drysuit on or off?
During my surface time, can I safely pull the hood down (push my head through the face hole) without tearing it, or will I get stuck?
It did come with a thinsulate hood/cap to wear under it - will that work well, or would I be better off going with a chopped neoprene hood under it as I've seen suggested a few times?
Anything else I'm not thinking of?

Thanks!
--Dave

 

[Ostsee Taucher]

I dive in Scubapro T90 suit with attached latex hood. Basically, nothing is different from other drysuit diving. However, the face opening must be properly trimmed to have good seal. Otherwise, exhaust air will get trapped in the hood and this will cause expanded head, then "head first" blow up.

 

[Sixtiesdiver]

As Ostsee Taucher says it's mostly the same.

I have a Hunter Pro-Am 1050 with latex hood.

I find the insulating inner hood/cap lighter to wear
than a neoprene hood and it works well. I understand
that you need to avoid "sealing" the ear and the
insulating hood allows air to flow and helps prevent
"reversed ear".

I did not need to trim face hole. If you do, make sure
trim is smooth - a nick could start a rip.

When putting suit on, put hands palms out through
face hole of hood and neck seal and put head through
both. (Plenty of talc!). Then put inner hood on and then
carefully, using both hands, lift and gently pull latex hood
over inner hood.

Pull the latex hood just under the chin to keep the
face seal tight. When I wore it over the chin I tended
to get some small leaks but they did not make my head
cold even in 4 deg C water.

During descent, a small amount of air can be blown
into face mask from where it will bubble into the hood.
The inner insulating hood will allow it to pressurise the
outer ears. Normal ear equalization can be done.

On ascent, this air will expand. You can vent it by looking
up and tilting head to one side - this puts the side of the
forehead as the highest point and the air should bubble
out. You can help this by pressing on the top of your
head with a hand if necessary. I believe you can fit
a valve to to the hood do this automatically.

Between dives, if I'm keeping my suit fully on, I pull the
latex hood back off my head and have it round my neck.

For removal, I first pull latex hood back off head with
both hands so it's round my neck. Then I take off inner
hood/cap. Then open suit shoulder zip, then with both
hands I stretch both face hole of latex hood and neck
seal and withdraw my head. It's not much different than
if no hood was present.

The main thing is to do things slowly and carefully and
not to apply too much force.

Hope that helps.

 

[yknot]

During descent, a small amount of air can be blown
into face mask from where it will bubble into the hood.
The inner insulating hood will allow it to pressurise the
outer ears. Normal ear equalization can be done.

With the latex hood, or any hood specifically made for dry suits, you may want to make sure that the hood face seal is on the ouside of your mask seal. Dry suit hoods generally don't have a nylon inner surface, whether they are latex or neoprene. This means they seal better against your head, to keep cold water from flowing thru. With the mask skirt seal inside of the hood seal you can add air in a manner similar to clearing your mask. Without some air the seal can be so good as to cause a reverse squeeze, which is just as painful and devastating to your diving as a regular squeeze.

 

[DaveP]

Thanks for your responses everyone... That's exactly the info I was looking for.