Inspiration DSV on AGA FFM

Inspiration DSV on AGA FFM
By Gabriele Paparo


Well guys, here's a bit of a story!

I started diving RBs what seems like a long time ago now, and have really learned to enjoy them!


Since I dive fairly often as a solo diver, I feel more comfortable using a FFM because, if something happens and you lose consciousness, you are not going to drown so quickly. It gives a surface team a chance to recover your body and try to rescue you.

Of course, many times I cannot count on an instant OC bailout because the mask does not have a BOV. It is somewhat more difficult to switch to a normal OC because you are wearing a FFM.

So I started to like full face masks, and the reason I mentioned above was for me the main reason. Not to mention the temperature comfort in very cold water, in particular during long dives. Also the face muscles are going to be less tired because you are not going to bite hard on a mouthpiece.


During recreational and technical diving on SCR/ CCR you MUST have an OC bailout available. At least, this is what I do! I always have bailout gas with me.

With no easy way of switching, a FFM in this case could be less valuable because you cannot switch from it to a normal OC very quickly or easily.

That’s why I decided to ask Tracy Robinette (from Divematics USA in California) to build a BOV for my AGA Divator FFM in order to fit it on my Inspiration (I didn’t feel the need during the time I was diving my Dolphin).


Diving the mask

Breathing from the CC (Inspiration)
The mask works really good! I decided to remove the rubber oro-nasal cup inside it because I’ve got a mouthpiece to bite during the dive. (It is very important to have either a mouthpiece, or a small oro-nasal cup inside the FFM).

Breathing resistance is just a little heavier than standard mouthpiece. It is comfortable anyway because I usually keep a little more gas inside the counterlungs. This fact, associated with the bigger volume of the mask and the longer mouthpiece hoses (the ones I use on normal mouthpiece are about 1inch shorter) force me to use about 1kg/ 2lbs more on weight belt (from 3kg/ 6lbs to 4kg/ 8lbs in salt water using crushed neoprene dry suit, not so bad).


Breathing from OC (Bailout Situation)
At first, when I got my first “version” something was not working properly!The second stage (at that time a balanced 2nd stage from Oceanic, the standard Tracy used to put on his DSV) was not working properly when switched to OC.

Breathing resistance was good on both modes (OC/CC) but the flow on OC was too high; too much free flow. Nothing could be done to get it fixed; even though the Oceanic technician tried to adjust it.

The 2nd stage was working pretty badly. I talked to Tracy and he changed my 2nd stage immediately with another model, still pretty small with the adjustable breathing resistance on the side (Tracy is really a serious person, and very good at customer service.) Much better than the first one!

Oceanic is a very good reg but probably, due to a completely different design in the LP chamber where the balanced valve is going to operate, it wasn’t working well on the mask (The volume of the chamber now is bigger because it is inside the BOV).

I dove the mask up to 30mt/100ft for a couple of testing dives. At that time I was using the APD quick connection LP hoses (the one that is on every Inspiration to feed the Autoair second stage). I bought the complete kit from APD as accessories.

Very bad news; the breathing resistance on OC was so hard (even at 30mt/100ft) to be really difficult to breath. I bet in a real panic-bailout situation you could get killed!

It was my mistake, on the website there is a warning on that! The LP hose are CE approved to breath up to 30mt/100ft (not deeper). Well a lot of money thrown away!

My friend lent me his quick connection LP hoses (made in Italy, close to my home!) and I tried them; much better now. The breathing resistance is pretty good, it works well up to 60mt/ 200ft on normal air. I tried it up to 80mt/260ft on Trimix. It works extremely well.


The switch from CC to OC is really easy, precise and quick. It is the same if your dive buddy wants to do the switch for you (important feature). No water inside the mouthpiece at any time, even after several switches.

To be more comfortable in clearing the mask I decided to put a very small dump valve on the right side of the FFM rubber. It works perfectly, easy to dump water and it does not allow overpressure problems in the mask (during ascent, excess gas exits from the dump valve).

The mask is very comfortable on my face, no water, no leaking, very warm inside. You feel really “safe” in it (of course it was after several dives when you start to believe it works!).

Scootering with the mask is amazing! No problems at any speed, you can turn your head without feeling water coming in at all.

A negative aspect of this mask is that the very close vision is not so ample. You need to unclip the handsets from the counterlungs’ D-rings in order to be really visible.

Vision downward and lateral is a bit limited in respect to a normal mask (it is normal, it is a FFM!). The big BOV and reg limit your ability a bit to look down (the head is stopped when the reg touches the sternum) usually keeping the standard neutral buoyancy/ horizontal trim position is enough to avoid this problem.



That's it guys, I want to say 'sorry' for my English grammar and spelling mistakes…

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks

Gabriele

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