Training the Belgian way - Underwater Contractor Magazine

Intended for use with air or nitrox down to 50m, the Deepsea Lightweight helmet boasts a wide range of features. The Copolymer glass front offers a wide angle of view.

Lightweight helmet is big on diver comfort
The Deepsea Lightweight is a new diving helmet designed with a built-in feel-good factor. UCI Editor John Bevan puts the prototype through its paces

Designed and developed in close cooperation with the diving school of the Dutch Royal Engineers and three major Dutch salvage/diving companies, the Deepsea Lightweight helmet is intended for use with air or nitrox at depths down to 50 metres.
The high-precision construction and the special ergonomic shape of the neutrally-buoyant helmet has made it possible to reduce its weight to less than 10kg. This is aimed at achieving a considerable reduction in the number of neck complaints that often occur when heavier helmets are used.
Made of glassfibre laminate, the helmet shell provides integral protection to the head of the diver. The design is based on a modular principle: any type of commercial demand-regulator and/or communication system can be mounted to achieve the optimal uniformity within the user's organisation.

Umbilical

With three connections - one with a non-return valve for the umbilical, one for the reserve gas supply, and a third for an inflator-hose - the sideblock provides a steady flow of breathing gas from the main or reserve gas supply to the demand valve and, via the defogging device, to the inside of the visor.
The latter system prevents a build-up of carbon dioxide in the helmet, and acts as a security-provision should the regulator malfunction. The handles of the valves are flexible and shock-absorbing.
The demand valve is connected to an oral-nasal mask with a non-return valve towards the interior of the helmet. Exhaled gas leaves through the exhaust valve. The oral-nasal mask contains a nose-clearing device that can be activated by a knob at the outside of the visor.
Superfluous gas and any water from the interior of the helmet can be purged via an overpressure valve.
The sideblock with its valves, the hose connection to the demand valve, and the demand valve itself, are all protected by fibreglass covers. Exhaled and superfluous gas are guided by these covers to the back of the helmet, so that the view of the diver is not disturbed by gas bubbles in front of the visor.
For polluted-water dives, the exhaust and overpressure valve can be doubled up.
The screen of Copolymer glass offers an optimal and extended view. The top of the helmet is provided with a handle on which a camera and/or lamp can be mounted. Lead counterweights are situated at various places on the helmet to compensate for buoyancy and to increase wearer comfort. To ensure a good fit of the helmet, a selection of liners is available.

Each helmet is provided with a watertight gland for the telephone cable. There is provision for two loudspeakers, and a single microphone can be incorporated.
The helmet can be used with a neoprene neckdam or can be connected to the collar of any commonly-used constant-volume suit.
The neckdam or collar of the suit is pulled over the rim of the helmet and clamped with a stainless steel reinforced fibreglass clamp ring, provided with a security locking device and a chin strap.
As far as possible, standardised parts are used to achieve a reasonable price level and to avoid unnecessarily high maintenance and repair costs. Attention has been paid to create optimal maintenance friendliness.

Versions
The Deepsea Lightweight helmet is being produced in two versions: Type A with integrated front and side visors, and Type B with a flat visor. Both are sprayed in a safety colour, or, on the request of the client, in company colours.
The Institute National de Plongée Professionnelle (INPP) in Marseille, France, has granted CE-approval for the helmet fitted out with a Scubapro Balanced Adjustable or a D.S.I. demand valve according Euronorm EN 250 for air/nitrox to depths down to 50 metres.
In the coming months it is expected that the helmet will also be approved at INPP for use with other commercial demand valves.

Details - NAUTIEK, PO Box 454, 2240 AL Wassenaar, The Netherlands, E-mail: nautiek@wxs.nl, Web: www.nautiekdiving.nl

Above: the Deepsea Lightweight helmet in action. Made of glassfibre laminate, the outer shell gives good all-round head protection. Below: Nautiek's Jan de Groot helps with the fitting.