Pipe goggles problem

[m2b]

Since making a nice pipe goggle setup I have been testing it and other equipment over the past week or two. The nose plugs, bought or homemade just aren't cutting it. The only ones that seemed to work were bulky and you didn't want to take them off or you wouldn't get them back on in the water. I kinda forgot how water and wood don't mix, LOL!!! Lesson learnt.

This afternoon while doing some diving numerous questions came up, most I'll try to get an answer from the local scuba expert, but the pipe goggles question I'll reserve for here.

When I first tried the pipe goggles last weekend the only problem I really found was trying to keep everything out of each others way. Trying to keep the snorkel out of the way of the nose clip line out of the way of the line going to the goggles. I wanted to simplify the whole setup to keep everything from trying to get tangled up with everything else. I decided to go with the auto equalization system(AES). I'm diving just for the fun of it and don't have any desire for competition or spearfishing so AES was the smartest way to go for me.

I tried out the AES for the first time on Tuesday. The first dive went great and the second dive saw the hose pull out of the kid floatie that I was using for the AES. I hadn't glued it in since I didn't know whether Walrus had glued it in or not. It seemed like the hose was a tight fit so I didn't bother to glue it in. Strange thing...even though the hose pulled out of the AES, I didn't get water into the goggles, they didn't leak a bit. Their is no other valve on the hose. The hose goes straight from the AES to a T fitting that splits up to both goggle lenses.

After gluing the hose into the floatie I headed back out this afternoon to try it out once again. The first dive, down to 18 feet went great. I was a little surprised that I was already in 18 feet deep water. My crazy depth gauge left me with more than one surprise today. The goggles worked beautifully. The nose plugs I had already given up on. Now if I can just remember to let go of my nose as I start to head toward surface I'll be just fine, DRATS!!!

Before the second dive I moved a little further out into the lake and dropped the depth line down and watched it as it just kept spinning off the kiddie floatie that I had it wrapped around. It finally stopped and I saw I was in about 28 foot deep water. Darn I figured I would have to be much further out than that to be in water that deep. Okay, maybe my guess at what the deepest depth of the lake is might be incorrect, time shall tell.

I go for the second dive. I get down to 20, 21, 22 feet and hit the thermocline, and also notice the goggles are leaking water. I abort thanks to both the water in the goggles, not completely full but leaking quite nicely, and the thermocline. I head back to the surface.

Even though the air temperatuer was close to 90 the thermocline temperature was 62, according to the watch/thermometer I had attached to the big monster bolt that I was using as the weight for the depth line. Yeah, I need a much better wetsuit, but that's another story. I decided to take one more dive and see if I could figure out what was causing the goggles to leak. Other than the leak it seemed like the system was working beautifully. Maybe I might just have one freediving equipmental problem solved, MAYBE!

On the third dive it didn't seem like the leak was quite as bad as on the second dive, but from what I remember it still did leak and I just fought the notion until the cold and dark water set in as I got within a foot of the bottom. I couldn't see the bottom but I grabbed the depth line and when I got back to the surface it was showing that my arms reach was within one foot of the bottom.

When you don't have any leaks at 18 feet but you do have leaks at 25-30 feet, what gives??? What should I target as a possible solution to the problem? I know I want to change the hose configuration around on my second version. Hopefully that will make things more streamline and keep things out of each others way. I didn't think of that possibilty with version one so now I'm seriously considering it for version two.

Ryan

 

[Walrus]

Hi Ryan,
I just sent you a reply to the PM you sent earlier. I assume in this post you are talking about diving with pipe mask/goggles atached to a kids floaty so it self equalises ?

It sounds like you have it nearly working, I always had problems where it "burped" air out of the goggles on the duckdive and in the first 5m. After 10m it worked fine and actually worked better the deeper I went - at 40m was equalising perfect, no leaking and no pressure on my eyes. Also coming back to the surface the floaty only half inflates back to what it was so would need to inflate it to dive again. Where do you position the floaty ?
I was just holding it in my hands to try it out, it worked best when kept the same level as the mask, ie hold out right in front of my face. I tried the floaty on my weight belt but as you dive there is a pressure difference, ie 1m or so between the air source and the mask. At the time I was thinking the best place for the air bag would be on the back of the mask strap somehow.


The self equalising goggles setup definitely worked for me but was far from something reliable that you could use for either every day diving or competition style depth diving. I'm sure it's possible but may take quite a bit of trial and error to get something that really does work %100. Sounds like you are closer then I was so keep up the good work.

Quite a few things to try - different sized air bags(floaties), semi rigid air bags, and/or resistance to airflow between the two ?
I thought controlling the flow of air between the 2 to prevent the "burping" of air in the duckdive is also important but you don't seem to have that problem. Could also be related to how well the goggles seal.


Cheers,
Wal

 

[Walrus]

P.S. When playing around with this it's much better if it fails on a dive that it leaks water in rather then getting suction onto your eyes. Salt water in the eyes is a lot less painful then eye balls getting sucked out.

 

[m2b]

OH YEAH, I totally agree on not wanting to get the eyeballs sucked out, LOL!!!

It's just a little strange and disconcerting when the water starts to leak in and always about the same depth, 20-22 feet. It seems like it is only leaking in for a real short period of time. I want/need to get into the 40 foot water that is just a one minute swim away and see if the leak is, as I believe, a short leak, or if it continues to leak from that point on down. Right now it seems, in 28-29 foot deep water, like it is a short term leak that occurs for 2-3 feet, roughly, and then shuts itself off. It occurs at the same time that two other things happen and it makes it rather...annoying. It occurs when I hit a nice 10 F degree temperature drop(questionable if the temperature change may not be making the leak occur), and about that same time I also hit "lights out". Granted it is still about 2-3 foot visibility but it ain't the 10-12 foot visibilty that you have right above it. When your not used to/expecting that too happen(lights out) it throws you for a loop, but the temperature change given the bad wetsuit setup that I have makes it real difficult to tolerate, at least the first time or two until I get used to the concept of 62 F degree water. There has been several things I've been having to get used to all over again. Amazing how the brain remembers yet it wants to make you forget what you have experienced before.

I have pretty much kept the length of hose at bay by making it so that when the hose is fully extended the air bag will be at about the same level as the goggles. I figured that was the easiest way to manage the positioning of the air bag. I had tried to velcro it to a velcro strap that I was using for the nose clip(during earlier experimentation) but I came to quickly understand it wasn't going to stick to the velcro very long once you put it under the pressure of air trying to pull the bag up. In the next goggles revision I will do the standard goggle/hose setup of having the initial air come in one lenses only and then letting it pass on through to the other lense. I want to further help eliminate congestion around the nose/snorkel area that I have had so much trouble with. I think I finally figured out how to get the nose plug cord out of the way, FINALLY!!!! Now to just keep the air bag hose out of the way as well and I'll have a real winner.

I haven't had any trouble with burping of air whatsoever. Your mention of it kinda surprised me. I typically fill up the air bag right before I crawl in the water. I am swimming to the dive location vs. boating to dive location. Right before I attach the bag to the goggles I suck air in through the goggles to make sure that the goggles are seating properly to the eyes so that I don't get an unexpectly leak while swimming/finning out to deeper water. I fill the air bag and pinch the line shut and then go ahead and attach it to the hose coming out of the goggles. I will get an initial burping of air until the air between the two equalizes but I have no trouble with burping of air once I go to dive. The only burping of air I, think, I notice is from the crude wetsuit/drytop/fleece/long john setup that I'm using to keep warm, DON'T ASK, LMAO!!! The first dive always seems to be the hardest and I figure it is because I'm still compressing all the air in the clothing out. The second dive never seems to be as difficult to get down as the first one does.

On a side note and for another reason for using the kiddie floats, I'm not sure what you guys typically use for float/dive line float but I have just taken the second half of the same floatie and wrapped 100 feet of polyester clothline cord around it. I tied a nice sized piece of threaded rod, that I wasn't using for anything else, onto the other end of it as the weight for the "anchor" and have marked it out every foot to use as the depth line/dive line. I took my watch, which has a thermometer on it, and taped it to the bolt so it will end up on the bottom with the bolt. I took small pieces of duct tape and put them on the line and wrote on them how far it was from the threaded rod. Yes, it's marked backwards so you have to do the math to figure out how far down you actually have went. I have found that when I get into darker waters that the dive line makes a real difference in helping to keep track of where you are and actually as you get to the bottom it also becomes your first reference that you are about at the bottom. It will also tell you how much further you have to go until you hit the bottom. Crazy New England diving. It works nice for beginners like me that aren't diving 40-50 meters. Granted most of the lakes and ponds around here down go much below 60 feet to start with. From what I have seen online there are only maybe two locations around, both quite close by(one only available by walking a hiking trail 2-3miles to get there), that are over 100 feet deep.

Right now I just need to find another pair of better fitting goggles. I would spend the $4.99 for another pair of the same goggles, in a heartbeat, if the bridge piece on the goggles didn't dig into my nose like the nose that have right now like to do. I've been looking since I think the only equipment that needs replaced right now is the goggles and the wetsuit. The wetsuit may take a while.

Ryan