Less internal volume, non-irritating silicone ?

[geogiann]

Hi all,
well, I'd like to know if anyone has find a non-irritating silicone, to reduce the internal mask volume, in some places like the nose (for the ones with little noses :crutch).

geo,
chania-athens, greece

 

[sanso]

Silicone should™ be non-irritating for You if You're not having trouble with Your Mask already. Most masks' skirts and straps are made of silicone, anyway

That is a good idea, filling up the unneeded space!

 

[shoutatthesky]

What you need can be bought at any hardware store. Silicone sealant. The sought of silicone that is used for glueing fish tanks or kitchen benches or used for filling and sealing openings in buildings. You can just fill in the gaps with the rough amount needed and then shape wearing a rubber glove using warm soapy on the glove so it doesn't stick to the silicone.
Just make sure you let the silicone dry for 24 hours at least.

 

[jome]

I completely disagree with the "low-volume is everything in a mask" school.

Low volume can only hurt, if the mask has a rigid frame. Then again, if the frame is flexible, the bigger the volume, the better. If you had, say, a 1L mask that could compress to 1dl, you could dive to 90m without equalizing the mask, plus you would have one liter extra air reserve on the way up.

So if you want to reduce the volume of a mask, do it on the hard part (frame and lenses), but leave the "soft part", ie the nose and skirt as big as possible.

This is the very reason the sphera is so far the best freediving mask available. It has a flexible frame and lenses. But it's far from ideal, the ideal mask would be all silicone, with just tiny peepingholes of glass/plastic, with lots and lots of extra airspaces

 

[ADR]

Not all silicons are non irritating due to curing process/chemicals. The best to go for are the silicons you buy for fish tanks rather than hardware store silicons.

 

[trux]

I have to second Jome - it is quite counterproductive filling the compressible space with silicone. The ultimately ideal freediving mask would have additional compressible air containers integrated or connected through a tube, so that the mask can auto-compensate itself even in the deepest No Limits dives. I was already thinking about constructing such mask myself - first I was thinking about attaching rubber containers to goggles - like for example shown in this thread, but it would be much easier with a mask. First I prefer much more diving with a mask than with goggles (better visibility, more comfortable), and then such mask can be done perfectly streamlined - much better then classical masks we use today. I designed it on this photo for better illustration:

Also the mask skirt inside the frame should be much more elastic or have some elastic pockets that will allow better inner compression in depth.

I wonder when the manufacturers will finally realize that it is not the minimal volume, but the compressibility what we freedivers really need. Well, it is still better to keep the total volume low even with this principle (to avoid too much buoyancy), but in the same time it allows to make freediving and spearing masks with much better field of vision.

 

[geogiann]

troux, hi
have you tried this mask? TECHNISUB - MASKS - MARINA

 

[trux]

troux, hi
have you tried this mask? TECHNISUB - MASKS - MARINA

No, but you'll find another thread in DB about Marina - I believe Jon has it. Although it is undoubtedly a very good mask, it still goes the wrong direction - only reducing inner volume instead of working on the compressibility as Jome mentioned above, and I tried to illustrate in the previous post.

 

[Fondueset]

I agree - I wrote Technisub about the Marina - Below is the reply I just received.

The soft silicone in the omer Alien helps make it very compressible - though the nose is too small for me (I still use one) My fav mask is a Cressi Matrix - but again - if the silicone were softer and if it were designed with compressible spaces as trux has mentioned. (I particularly like it in winter because it covers quite a bit of my forehead) I believe Omer mentions this idea with their Aeris mask.

We thank you for your kind e.mail herebelow. The Marina mask has been
> substituted by a mask model having same features, called "MICRO MASK" not
> yet in production.
> At the moment we're not able to state the presentation date actually
> foreseen during the current year 2007 anyway.
> Certainly this mask will be available through our Distributor for USA: