Dive Helmets
Helmets are hot right now. Cave, wreck, and technical diving are all over social media, creating a whole new following of interested enthusiasts. So what is one to do to look cool after buying a $900 canister light - why purchase a dive helmet of course. But unlike your canister light, a dive helmet is immensely more useful if the right intention is applied. Intention is must as dive helmets are the single must underserved piece of dive equipment in the industry. There are very few purpose-built helmets for diving, even fewer accessories, and very divergent information sources for getting answers to your questions; few of which are your local dive center staff. Fortunately, the democratization of information on the internet and accessibility of SMEs through social media alleviates this industry blindspot. Much like the light from a well designed dive helmet, I recommend you ask yourself three questions when building your helmet to prevent yourself from falling down a deep black hole.
What purpose does it serve?
Your helmet needs to serve a purpose. If you’re not sure what that purpose is, you don’t need a helmet. If you’re diving a u-boat in the middle of the Potomac River, in zero-vis, with current, and wish you had a free hand to hold on to the wreck and navigate, then its time to build a helmet. “Going hands free” with a light is the most common purpose of a dive helmet. You need a comfortable, firm, reliable, ergonomic platform for mounting lights so you can free your hands to do navigate or interact with equipment. Protecting your head is a fortunate byproduct of using a helmet but the added bulk could help or hurt you in a given situation. In my example, I wanted a ridge light mounting platform that could keep a light in place among hard knocks and bumps of river diving and provide some protection from a life threatening boat strike - God forbid.
What route will you pick in the absence of an SME?
I am not an expert on dive helmets, nor will I give advice pretending to be one. I can only share my experience and logic and hope you can gleam some utility from it. With this in mind, I researched the internet for guidance with little success and landed on the conclusion that one must pick a “route” in which to build their helmet; caving, rescue, or military. Why pick a route? Because this will inform the product ecosystem you will utilize in building your helmet.
Caving is the most obvious route but has the least developed ecosystem for mounting solutions. Light Monkey is the only brand I know of and lays nearly exclusive control over this route. Caving helmets are low-bulk, affordable, optimized for diving, and support lights, but these mounting solutions are dubious in nature. With absolutely no hands on experience, I deemed caving helmet mounting solutions not durable enough for my purposes and their design less sufficient for head protection.
Rescue seemed like the next logic jump considering their head protection ratings and slightly more matured mounting solutions. However, rescue helmets are not optimized for scuba masks and carry a considerable price tag. I was disappointed I had to let my dream of having a lid that could pull triple duty as a skiing, kayaking, and diving helmet.
I ultimately choose the military route because the products have the most mature accessory ecosystem, are designed to take accessories, have secure mounting solutions, and provide padded head protection. The military route is expensive but offers the most options and is the most accessible product range. SMEs are prevalent and responsive to questions. I found Ed Rasmussen of Scubapro to be incredibly helpful.
Which ecosystem will you choose?
You’ve established a purpose, you’ve picked a route, now you need to choose an ecosystem. Why choose an ecosystem of products and accessories, because the alternative is DIY’ing a lid into a light platform. While we always test our equipment in a controlled environment before using it in the field, I would rather not leave something as vital as losing light in a zero-vis scenario up to my ingenuity.
Regardless of what route you pick, each will have its own products with an ecosystem of pads, hardware, and accessories. Some of these ecosystems are common and standard, others are proprietary to the product. Choose what makes the most sense to you.
Here is my example, of which I affectionately refer to as the DEP Mk 1. Its not perfect, but its worked well for me so far.
Here is a parts list with some considerations to keep in mind:
Team Wendy Exfil bump helmet
Team Wendy Exfil Maritime Liner System pads
Replaces the soft pads inside the helmet.
Pads can be removed altogether if not needed. I use maritime pads to increase head protection. They do need to be adjust in conjunction with your dive hood. Different hood thickness (3mm, 5mm, 7mm) require removal or addition of pads along with adjustment of the chin strap.
Team Wendy SAR SOLAS Reflective Kit (trim to fit)
If everything you wear is black, have something that will reflect light that doesn’t require a light to be shined in your face.
Team Wendy Shroud Action Camera Adapter
This isn’t just for GoPros, but also a whole ecosystem of headlamps that use the GoPro mounting system.
30mm scope rings, with 1 inch diameter light body, wrapped in inner-tube
Until a purpose-built product hits the market, this is the most secure way to attach lights. I suspect a such a product will be on the market in the next 2 to 3 years.
Make sure your scope ring mounting pattern matches your helmet mounting system. In my case, its was 1913 pic rail.
Rings rust, be prepared to replace them every 6 to 8 years. Don’t use lock-tight. Use white lithium grease on the screws to give them a bit of protection. Don’t use oil. We don’t want oil anywhere near our light o-rings or inner-tube.
The inner-tube trick is real
Furiously pull, stretch and course a small piece of inner tube over you 1 inch light body. This protects the aluminum light body while in the scope rings, evenly distributes the forces holding the light in place, and pads out the space between the light body and the scope rings to make the perfect fit.
Gentle with the screws
The scope screws don’t need to go the whole way in, there will likely be a bit of a gap. This is fine.
Light: Kraken Sports NR-1000, 1 inch diameter light body
Lumens are great but run time is your friend.
Your light body dictates your mounting solution.
Make sure your can easily replace your battery without removing the light from the mounting solution.
Mount your light with the battery installed so you can properly time the on-button in an accessible position. The light head will screw further down on the light body without a battery in it changing the orientation of the on-button.
A secondary attachment point to secure your light like a bolt snap isn’t necessary if using a method as secure as scope rings. I’m lazy and left my bolt snap on.
Helmet Mohawk
Mounting a mohawk to the velcro on top of the helmet serves two purposes. One, it offers an attachment point for more reflective tape or a strobe. Two, it offers a pocket at the rear for an additional dive weight. In the military realm, this rear mounted weight helps counter balance NVGs. In the scuba realm, the rear mounted weight stabilizes the helmet in shallow water with current like rivers; preventing it from taking on a “floaty” property.
Helmet strobe
Helmet mounted strobes for diving need a lot of improvement. S&S Precision is the only company innovating in this space. At this point, I’ve only found two “diveable” products that can serve this role; the expensive S&S Manta, and the more affordable S&S V-Lite.
The purpose of a helmet strobe is less about being seen from afar underwater, and more for ID’ing groups on the surface during night dives, and ID’ing an individual dive guide up close, underwater, in low-vis conditions.
