Post by nikeajax on Aug 3, 2015 8:22:28 GMT -8
As vintage divers we know how really important a good mask is: I might even say that a good mask is even more important than a good regulator, ya gotta see wha'cher doin'! When you find a really nice one, you want to keep it, but the old ones are just that, old, and old things are usually balanced precariously on the edge of useless junk and, "Yup, it's still workin' somehow!"
I have an old USD wrap-around mask that is in that same gray area. I have a much newer one, but it's hard and and sits on my face like a steel belted radial, I don't like to wear it if I don't have to. My prized mask is from the 1960's and is ssssssssssssoooooooooooooooft, like a new silicone mask: besides it has some nice typography on the skirt, whereas the newer one just says US Divers, yaaaaaaaaaawn!
I decided to try to fix the old one because the skirt is, was, splitting...
How to fix a split skirt: using masking tape, tape the back of the skirt, lining up the two edges. Next, smear wetsuit glue on area around tear. Using an old, but still pliable neoprene mushroom valve, cut off the stem then smear that with glue...
When that has cured, remove the tape then run some glue on the back side of tear, then around the edge of old valve...
So, don't throw away your old neoprene diaphragms!
Jaybird
I have an old USD wrap-around mask that is in that same gray area. I have a much newer one, but it's hard and and sits on my face like a steel belted radial, I don't like to wear it if I don't have to. My prized mask is from the 1960's and is ssssssssssssoooooooooooooooft, like a new silicone mask: besides it has some nice typography on the skirt, whereas the newer one just says US Divers, yaaaaaaaaaawn!
I decided to try to fix the old one because the skirt is, was, splitting...
How to fix a split skirt: using masking tape, tape the back of the skirt, lining up the two edges. Next, smear wetsuit glue on area around tear. Using an old, but still pliable neoprene mushroom valve, cut off the stem then smear that with glue...
When that has cured, remove the tape then run some glue on the back side of tear, then around the edge of old valve...
So, don't throw away your old neoprene diaphragms!
Jaybird
