Leaking Omer Alien mask - mystery solved (& other leaks)

Leaking Omer Alien mask - mystery solved & leak fixed

My trusty Omer Alien mask starting leaking annoyingly near the bottom of the left eye at the end of last season. Very frustrating but I could usually get it to stop. This season it has been worse and on an otherwise lovely dive this weekend it became difficult to stop -- pretty annoying in a strong, choppy current. I'd checked the mask several times but could find nothing wrong. I'd starting taking a great deal of care to get a really, really close, smooth shave for months and I began to wonder if an injury I had received near my eye earlier this year might have affected the seal somehow.

Anyway, I was ready to switch to my back-up mask (Seacsub X-lite combat:martial) but decided to have one final examination of the Alien. I expected to find a crack/hole/roughness on the inner flange but yet again none was to be found. As I pulled the mask's flange for a final exterior check the rubber pulled out of the lens frame ...at the bottom of the left eye - the source of the leak! I push it back in and it seems to have settled back into place (if it comes out again, I'll superglue it). Mystery solved. The rubber would pull out but then settled back into place - but not fully - good enough to hide the leak & sometimes stop it but not to fix it completely. It took a couple of attempts to get it back in so that it would stay in. Seems good now though

Alas, not such a good fix. Although the leak was not as bad this weekend, it was certainly every present - the skirt has pullled from the lens frame . Will be switching to my Seacsub mask for the next trip. Was a bad weekend gearwise for me this weekend (see wishbone thread for more on that ).

New mask: Seacsub X-Lite Combat

Well, I decide to dust off my spare mask - a Seacsub Combat X-lite, I'm looking forward to using it. It's v. similar to the Alien but has some additional design features that I like and/or look forward to trying. It came with a quality mask box & instructions for a start. Also, for example it has a camo frame but black flange & strap, which should work better with my current black wetsuit. The hard, hinged, camo side extensions for the strap look odd but work well on a dry-land fitting ("Strap adjustment: patented Pulsar Quick Release System").

Seac-Sub : Online Dive Store, Online Dive Store <-- Good price here too but I got mine from a friend how sells Seacsub SCUBA gear

The lens shape is more like the tried & trusted classic Cressi Superocchio / Samurai / Omer Bandit /etc. than the Alien, so it will be interesting to see how that compares to the Alien.

Bad news then good news

While fiddling around trying to fix the Alien, I pulled the entire silicone lens skirt out of the left lens frame in frustration/desperation - "kill or cure". Unsurprisingly, that turned out to be even harder to sort out . Which is the reason I dusted off my spare mask [see above post].


Any hoo, I half convince myself that I had read somewhere that opticians can fit prescription lenses in Omer Alien masks (or perhaps it was only by special order from the Omer factory? ). So I tried to figure out how they would do it. The only things that occurred to me were: find hidden clips to remove the black frame linings from the front of the mask or heat of the frame & hope it expands quicker than the lens (like the old school science experiment with the metal ball too large to fit through the metal ring). The former didn't work, levering the black frame seemed like it would likely break any clips present. The second technique was more productive:

I heated the mask up in a bowl with very hot tap water and pushed hard against the glass lens with my thumbs (don't try this at home kids). To my surprise, eventually the lens popped out (it certainly would not when cold) the back of the frame. Chalk one up to school science, brute force & heat! Turns out that was the easy bit . Getting the slightly stretched silicone flange back in place took a little fiddling but eventually it went back - warm water helped it slip into place.


I wasn't sure how to push the tempered glass lens back into the hard plastic lens-frame without disturbing or damaging the soft silicone mask flange. Pushing the lens in from the back of the mask (the way it came out) was more difficult with the silicone skirt back in the frame, so I opted to concentrate on pushing it in from the front. I used a lot of piping hot tap water supplemented by 2 kettles of boiling hot water. Initially no progress could be made but eventually I got the shortest, top side and 2 top corners into place using the magic combination of heat, thumbs and brute force again. A major break through, however, I was not optimistic about completing the task -- a lot of lens was still sticking out at quite an angle. Extreme heat, my thumbs and then a wooden chopping board made minimal progress as a little on each side seemed to click in. I needed a tool of some sort to exert significantly more pressure. Decided to try the wooden-sided vice on my work bench, after giving the mask a good, hot soak. Didn't work but the lens was temporarily in the frame, level with the outside of the frame. So I cut a small square of wood that would fit on the glass inside the frame and allow the glass to be pushed beyond flush with the frame. I tried it after re-heating the mask. It worked - sort of, but the black frame liner distorted as the lens went it - darn, I thought I'd broken the frame. But no, everything was still warm and slightly pliable, so I gently moved everything back into place. It was in!

The mask appears to be be completely fixed now. I can hardly believe it. Rather than risk wasting more precious spearing time though, I plan to switch to the Seacsub mask in future. I'll take the Omer Alien to the swimming pool to put it through its paces before taking it spearing again.

BTW The instructions for the Seasub mask say not to use detergent on the mask (something I did occasionally on the Omer Alien, which came with no instructions). Leaving my snorkel clipped to the mask strap might have contributed to the initial problem.

That could be. Makes sense. I had visions of them using some massive high pressure press to push the lenses in (actually I think that is the moulding machine featured on their website). I tried to avoid using lube/detergent during re-assembly as I feared it might make it easier for the mask's skirt/flange to pull out again. Although I did try a little glycerine soap (they take the glycerine out of much modern soap & sell it elsewhere) for the last part of assembly - figuring that would be more likely to dry and/or wash away. Most seemed to wash away before I could getting any benefit from it though.

With my endeavors, the lens had become pretty grotty and I had trouble cleaning them. Then I noticed a can of "Mr. Sheen Citrus Shine multi-surface polish with long lasting fragrance - cleans, shines, protects" (my favoured guitar cleaner - despite owning fancier products from Martin & Gibson) which says "Mr Sheen for a superior, smear free shine" - which is just what I was looking for. And as we all know: "Mr. Sheen cleans umpteen things clean", so I gave the glass a spray and buffed it off with a soft duster. It worked very well.

*Just read some the extensive fine print: Shake thoroughly before use (oh well). Unique dustguard and stainguard properties. By Appointment to HRH QE II. Solvent Abuse can kill instantly.

Tried the Seasub Combat X-lite mask at the weekend -- a very good experience, I'm impressed. Very smooth & easy to adjust, no fuss, excellent field of view (at least as good as the Alien - I guess that's why the Superocchio shape became the defacto standard design), excellent seal. I like the fact that the skirt is black, helping my face blend in with my wetsuit, while obscuring the lens frame & sides with a little camo. The included plastic mask box is also a very nice touch. Excellent product.