bubble diverter?

[SparticleBrane]

Look in front of you instead of directly down?

 

[phunk]

How loose is your hood? You have your mask strap under your hood holding the edge open or something?

 

[Garrobo]

Hmmm. You must have some fantastic ears.

 

[kirwoodd]

My ears are FANTASTIC!!


Yeah, someone else said that my hood might be loose, I guess it could be. Its my first hood, how do I know if its too loose? I mean other than the bubble trouble.....

 

[fishb0y]

Instead of the new Mistral (which in my opinion is a piece of junk) you may be interested in the new Phoenix Royal Aquamaster. Essentially it is a rebuilt vintage double hose regulator. The Aqualung Mistral is a poor attempt at what has already been perfected.

While it looks like he is sold out now, it looks like Brian will have more in October.

 

[dschulte]

Sure. Other than going Historical Diver and using a double hose reg... they exhaust out the back at the first stage, there are some things to do.

I needed a rearward exhaust system because I wanted to get closer to critters that were spooked by the sight of all of those startling bubbles.

Take your second stage to the local hardware store and head for the plumbing department. Take a look at the selection of plastic hose, I like the clear PVC kind that is usable for drinking water, but whatever you find will do- size is the key. Look at the 1.5"+ range of diameters.

Find a diameter of tubing that will slip over the exhaust "snoods" of your first stage. A lot of them nowadays have very short, almost nonexistent exhaust vents, but many do have at least 1" sticking out and some longer. Find a piece of hose that fits over the snood easily or even if you have to push a bit with some lubrication.

Once you get the hose on the exhaust snood, (Now, here's the horrifying part!) drill an 1/8" hole through both the hose and the snood. Slip a cable tie thru and your all set. It doesn't have to be air tight, not even close. Exercise some caution not to drill through and of the mechanicals of the regulator~ I don't know how you could do this, but for the totally inept or horribly unlucky, it is worth mentioning.

The hoses have to be "tuned", I had a pair that were about 12" and curved around the back of my head. Great idea in theory, but the excessive length caused enough back pressure that the reg free flowed. Yet another use for a dive knife- I hacked them back to a length that didn't free flow.

I have built some others in which I couple "pumice" like stone, much as an aquarium filter, that diffused the bubbles to make them less detachable.

I did this to divert bubbles to get close to critters. I'm not sure if I can get the bubbles in the ears thing, but at least there's a solution that might work for you.

Now that is an incredibly cool DIY idea, I am going to have to try out the pumice idea!
:monkeydan

 

[JGBrown]

I just bought an old style sherwood reg, huge facepiece, large exhaust tee and no more bubbles in front my my mask like I had with the newer rental ones.