Dry suit with a full face mask

[Kidder]

It would seem that a dry suit with a full face mask would be the ultimate in enviroment (cold) protection. Does anyone dive with both?

[skdvr]

The instructor for my dry suit class does. I will ask him tomorrow about it. He said he mainly uses it for ice diivng, but I will see what he thinks.

Phil

[hydro]

Many PSDs dive with both.

[tc_rain]

Reading this thread got me to thinking about the full-face mask. I am not interested in diving one but I am curious about the procedure for OOA. How is this done? What are the other problems associated with diving these?

[paintsnow]

im curious about the OOA procedures too
everyone just says that there are different procedures with a FFM but no one ever says what they are. it would help to know so that i can decide if i actually want to get one or not.

[Kidder]

Originally Posted by paintsnow

im curious about the OOA procedures too
everyone just says that there are different procedures with a FFM but no one ever says what they are. it would help to know so that i can decide if i actually want to get one or not.

Me too actually I tried to get a new thread going to get into it. but haven't gotten any hits yet.
Full face masks

[hydro]

There are a few ways to handle OOA on FFMs. Two that I'm aware of are:

(1) using a regular backup mask and receiving secondary donated from another diver. Obviously this can augment stress in already bad situation when you're having to blindly take a donated reg while switching to a backup mask and clearing.

(2) employing the use of a gas block. Think of a coax splitter, with a switch. You can plumb a two separate gas sources, one being your primary tank(s), the other being backup (eg: pony bottle), into the gas block, which then goes to one LP hose into the FFM. You flip the switch to whichever gas source you want. This is also how tech divers switch between mixes while on a FFM.

FFM training, especially with regard to PSD or commercial diving, is far more detailed, of course. There are numerous drills they teach you to perform under different scenarios.

[Kidder]

Originally Posted by hydro

There are a few ways to handle OOA on FFMs. Two that I'm aware of are:

(1) using a regular backup mask and receiving secondary donated from another diver. Obviously this can augment stress in already bad situation when you're having to blindly take a donated reg while switching to a backup mask and clearing.

(2) employing the use of a gas block. Think of a coax splitter, with a switch. You can plumb a two separate gas sources, one being your primary tank(s), the other being backup (eg: pony bottle), into the gas block, which then goes to one LP hose into the FFM. You flip the switch to whichever gas source you want. This is also how tech divers switch between mixes while on a FFM.

FFM training, especially with regard to PSD or commercial diving, is far more detailed, of course. There are numerous drills they teach you to perform under different scenarios.

thanks hydro this sounds complicated. Wouldn't it be a good idea to have a back up mask. You can breath from either your or your friend's octo first and then put the back up on. This would have to be practiced though.

[tc_rain]

Does sound like a major pain. Do FFM actually burn through more air too? I believe I heard this somewhere.

[Kidder]

Originally Posted by tc_rain

Does sound like a major pain. Do FFM actually burn through more air too? I believe I heard this somewhere.

I wouldn't see why they would though. unless you have a leaky seal. I would make damn sure it didn't fog up though.