FFM and hoodie

[Ross19966]

So back in my commercial days I had a CF200 with latex neck seal. I used a latex hoodie that was cut so it fit inside the FFM. The FFM sealed to the latex hoodie. Then I had a collection of neo hoodies in varying thicknesses depending on water temp. The neo hoodies were cut so they fit around the FFM.

How are you all dealing with the hoodie with an FFM? Seal to your face and cut the hoodie around the FFM? Let the FFM seal to the hoodie?

Seaskin has an option to attach a latex hoodie to the suit and we had a couple of suits like that on the boat. I found the standard Neck seal with a separate latex hoodie to be a more flexible option and produced the same results.

My concern with sealing the FFM to the hoodie is that on a 5 or 7 mil hoodie, the mask may not seal very well.

What are your experiences with this?

Thanks

 

[tbone1004]

the latex hoods for the FFM's were to keep any contaminated water off of your skin, that was it. If you're diving a FFM recreationally you are probably not worried about any contaminated water so you wouldn't use a latex hood. With the FFM you just run a normal hood and pull the seal back around the mask skirt so the mask seals to your face just like a half-mask. The hood may overlap the FFM seal but it's not providing any sealing surfaces.

 

[Bigbella]

That choice of hood would really depend upon whether the FFM was a standard "on-demand" model; or whether it was one of positive pressure.

I have used a standard model with the FFM against my face, with either a hood trimmed to fit, or even under it. Both worked just as well.

The positive pressure masks cannot be covered by a hood and have to seal against either a face or a "raw" neoprene skin, to avoid any odd buoyancy issues.

I have a couple that I regularly use -- one by Seaskin, sadly, no longer in production, and another by Poseidon -- both of which are cold water hoods, along with raw neoprene borders around the face.

The masks all seat well against either -- and I haven't had any leakage issues . . .

 

[Ross19966]

The FFM is a Neptune Space G, so on demand. Maybe a thicker hoodie with a 3 mil ring around the face. That way the mask isn’t trying to seal against 7mil neo. I’ve seen hoodies like that.

The latex hoodie did t really seal out toxins reliably. When diving in those conditions we had suits designed for use with a helmet. The latex hoodie/Neo hoodie combo was more of a semi dry solution. It was great in the winter in northern Maine.

 

[Ross19966]

I got the H1 5/10 and it seals pretty good to the FFM. I got the XXL which is the biggest size they appear to offer and it feels a little snug on my big melon, but it's usable. It will probably loosen up over time.

 

[JFS]

I trimmed my 6mm neoprene hoodie a bit so that it didnt overlap onto my AGA mask. I also put some vent holes on the top of the hood to vent trapped air bubbles.

 

[DeepBlueDog]

How much of an overlap to you get betwee the mask skirt and the hood. I have a Posiedon Black Line Hood 5 mm and a Ocean Reef Neptune III and around the temples there is about 1/4"-1/8" overlap. I think there should be a greater overlap at least 1/2" but I can't get it with Posiedon. Thre are two other alternatives I'm comsidering the Waterproof H2 5/10 sandwich and the Northen Diver 6.5mm Supervent Dive Hood (Skin Face Seal). The Northen Diver seems to, at least on the picture, to come over the temples. Anyone has experinace with this issue?