Drysuit dryer

Here's an idea I've been thinking about for a while.
My drysuit doesn't leak often but when it does it's always through the ankle valves.
All our shore dives are quite sandy and it doesn't take many grains of sand to prevent the seal working properly, usually on the next dive.

This rig suspends the drysuit upside down and blows warm air into the boots.

Constructed using 3m of 50mm polypipe, 2 elbow joints, 2 T-junctions and an $18 blow heater. All up cost under $50.
The heater hood is made from old poly tarp material.

Also means I can give it a good wash inside and out and have it dry for the next weeks diving.

More photos here

Drysuit leak

Amazing how a few grains of sand can ruin a dive.
The second I stepped into the water there was the dreaded cold dribble down my ankle.

The photo shows how little it takes to turn a drysuit into a not so drysuit.
I persevered with the dive and ended up with a very wet foot, leg and groin...yuk!

These ankle valves are not a great idea.

Mares Puck dive computer

My Aladin Sport went "ERR" last week meaning a new battery is required. S'posed to last 10 years but ours have not gone much more than 5 years each. Problem is you have to send it away and pay more than $200 for the replacement. So, it was it time to upgrade.

I looked at scubastore.com, based in Spain, and found this Mares Puck for 158 Euro delivered. That converts to $289!! Locally you would pay $690.

This computer does Nitrox, Bottom timer and displays water temp. All features the Aladin didn't have.

Ordered it Saturday and it arrived today, 4 days, via Germany, London, Melbourne, Geelong.

Amazing.

Here's a short video of it's first dive.

Drysuit has returned

All fixed now hopefully. Seatec were very apologetic, paid for postage and re-glued the wrist seal very quickly.

Now to test it out in the coldest water this year. 10c in my semidry was not fun last Thursday. Brrrr!



This is Jan measuring her beloved hydroids at Popes Eye.

Drysuit repairs

I'm really not happy about this.

The drysuit has just returned from Seatec in Sydney for replacement of neck and wrist seals and general checkup. It took 6 weeks to come back to me and this happened on the second dive.

The seam has just peeled open. No torn neoprene, just glue letting go.

I'm waiting for Seatec's reply.

Oceanic Shadow frameless mask

I've been keen to find the best mask for looking through the viewfinder and settled on the Oceanic Shadow after asking here.

This comparison shows the problem, you can't see the whole frame when composing the shot. Even without a mask this is about as much as you see. So you need a mask that does not make it worse by placing your eye too far from the eyepiece.

My Mares X Vision is a very comfortable wide view mask but the glass slopes forward at the top (to give better down view when diving) which puts your eye to far away.
My old Oceanic mask was better but has a deepish frame in front of the glass which clashes with the knobs and protrusions on the back of the housing.
The Oceanic frameless has a lower profile silicon rubber lip in front of the glass and one big wide glass lens. This means the you can put the glass right on to the eyepiece and even move around a bit to take in the whole frame. The black silicon blocks out light from the sides also. Mask photos here.

60mm macro at St Leonards

Vis still crappy at 2m with some wind chop. Northern pacific seastars are persisting but when you're desperate anywhere will do. Some photos here

Still awkward looking through the viewfinder and realized today that it was my reg clashing with the sync cord socket preventing getting close enough but will look for a lower profile mask also.