Helmet!

J

johnmaneely

Guest
Any idea where I can get an old canoe helmet, without any foam in it, suitable for cave diving. Or any other suggestions?

Found these Princeton tech LED torches for £30 too, can pay £40 for them in a lot of places.

http://shop.packyourbags.com/acatalog/Princeton_Impact_XL.html

Ta
J
 
D

darkplaces

Guest
Dunno about the helmet but for an extra £6 (ebay) - £10 some diving shop you can buy a eLED Plus with a luxeon which runs at 2watts, its highly focused and is between high and low setting on Nova 3 so 2watt claim is right. Apparently runs for 4-5hrs at 2watt then of course goes dimmer and dimmer with time.  Nice kit used it in swildons and GB this weekend.
 
J

johnmaneely

Guest
http://shop.scuba.co.uk/ProductDetails/mcs/productID/364

Is this what your talking about? Or somehting else?
Cheers
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
The Ace canoe helmet (favoured by many cave divers) is getting more difficult to find.  I think they aren't made any more as the safety nazis decided they weren't good enough.  So best bet might be to exercise any contacts you have with outdoor centres, who might still have some old ones kicking around.

Haven't fired up that link you mentioned re the 2 watt eLED torches - but if these are the Underwater Kinetics Mini Q40 eLED torches, these are very good.  Beware the luminous bezel; it's also translucent and can dazzle you if you've got it mounted on your helmet in such a way as to be directly visible.  I've made neoprene tubes to fit over mine.

The other thing I'd just throw in is that although these lamps have excellent light output - this is of course at the expense of duration.  If part of the function of a small LED torch is a long duration backup light in case you get delayed in a cave, the quoted 5 - 6 hours of the eLED may well not be adequate.  Just a thought.
 
Stupot

Stupot

Active member
Ace helmets are still available, but............................... you need to get them from Austrailia.

http://www.mainpeak.com.au/product.aspx?productID=8360

Below is the original Email I recieved from them.

Hi Stuart,

We do ship to the UK and can ship one easily.

The postage on an ace helmet would be Aus $22.50 by air mail (australia post) or $12.50 by sea mail.
(this is for 750grams so we would wrap with bubble wrap and pad it out etc. to prevent breakage). Sea mail could take months to get to you.

for international purchases we require a direct deposit to an account as we do not take international credit card orders

Money should be deposited to
swift # bkwaau6p
bsb 306089
account# 1134826
with a reference of your name.

Please also let us know by email if you wish to go ahead with this purchase so we can keep an eye out for the payment and dispatch your goods as soon as possible (also do you have a colour preference?)

Thanks
Indi



Stu.
 
J

johnmaneely

Guest
Hi Stuart,
Thanks for the link, must have taken some finding that one.. (y) I'll ask around, there is a outdoor activity place near me, if not I could go for this option.

Think the Princeton tech impact xl's are said to be 50hrs duration on there site, if its a bit less than that its still pretty good. Got a couple of mini q40's too (not led though) like them as well.

John
 
D

darkplaces

Guest
johnmaneely said:
http://shop.scuba.co.uk/ProductDetails/mcs/productID/364
Is this what your talking about? Or somehting else?
Cheers
Click to expand...
Yes, maybe I was told you cant get the blue 2watt one and yes the see-though glowing bezel is annoying, so for now I wrapped some duct tape around them, plan to pop some heatshrink over but I suspect as long as the duct take stays I wont, I am not a cave diver so it will last. They are ideal combination to say a nova 3 or 5 to give the long distance throw. I stuck a tikka on the other side of the helmet for when it all goes bad and to balance the helmet otherwise I tilt and walk in circles.
 
J

johnmaneely

Guest
Got a pretty old mini Q40 and haven't done anything with the bezel, yes its annoying but I'm just bloody lazy sometimes and still haven't done 'owt about it.
 
J

johnmaneely

Guest
Managed to blag a couple of Ace helmets, so I'm all sorted now. Chin straps are knackered, just whack some bungy on it, drills some holes for some more bungee and we're good to go... (y)
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
For cave diving, rather than use bungy, try 5 mm perlon (braided climbing rope) and a cord grip.  That way you can adjust the tension to accomodate hood on / off, woolly hat underneath, etc.  The rope chinstrap needs to be long enough to pull over a masked face easily but not long enough so the dangly bit can hit you in the eye when not protected by a mask 
(though you can tie a series of temporary knots in the excess to shorten it). If you get the right sort of cord grip you can store a spare cylinder O ring on the push button.

You'll find this a lot more secure than a piece of bungy.  Perhaps not too good for standard caving - only a Y shaped strap is properly able to stop helmets coming off (but this is less convenient for underwater use).

Hope this helps.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Bit more advice - if you do have a supply, get several NOW and stick the spares in the loft.  The lugs on the nape strap which locate in the holes to adjust the cradle size will break off eventually if you're constantly having to alter the size (e.g. on caving diving trips).  These excellent helmets will only become more difficult to source in future.
 
M

MSD

Guest
On each side of my cave diving helmet (also an ancient canoeing helmet) I have tied a loop of cord to two holes (in roughly the places where the old Y chin strap was attached). The loops are each threaded through a snoopy loop, which sits under my chin. I find this works extremely well once the lengths of the loops are adjusted right. The snoopy loop is very comfortable, there is enough stretch to adjust for different hood thicknesses (or no hood at all) and it is easy to take the helmet on and off with gloves on, yet once it is on it sits very well and has never fallen off.

You can even make one/both of the cords adjustable using cord grips, although I find this is unnecessary.

Mark
 
J

johnmaneely

Guest
Cheers for the advice, I've got one with one y strap pulled off the other with both on. Probably use the one with both straps on, got some pukka 5 mm cord and a stopper too.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Just following up Mark's comment a couple of posts above; having a fixed elastic chinstrap is OK but one which allows the tension to be adjusted is better.  Fixed one's are OK for short dives but if your cave dives last for several hours it's much more comfortable to be able to adjust the strap - and it might start to cause you headaches if you can't.  As with all diving equipment, it's often only on very long dives where you really find out what's good and what's less good.
 
M

MSD

Guest
Well, I've never done a cave dive lasting more than 5 hours, so maybe I'm out of touch....
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Gents - I make the point merely to illustrate that what might do for a relatively short dip may become annoying on a longer dive.  If a piece of equipment is aggravating you for several hours you tend to think about improving it before the next dive.  But in the end, how you set up your gear is personal choice.  (Thinks - it's a good job no-one has started a thread on how to build the best cave diving harness!)
 
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