How many pennies I should duct tape to my swim snorkel to counter the buoyancy created by the air in the snorkel’s tube?
I was experimenting with using the snorkel today and found the upward pressure it placed on my forehead (where the snorkel strap meets my head) unpleasant. I wondered if somehow weighting the snorkel would help, and came up with the plan of taping pennies to it.
But how many? I have noticed that there are a number of physics-savvy people on the forums, and wondered if someone could figure this out.
It’s a Finis Freestyle snorkel. The volume of the tube varies—there’s about 22cm of tubing that is round, with a diameter of about 2cm, and an additional 32cm of tubing that is a rounded rectangular shape (around 3 x 1 cm). About 3 cm of the latter section is above the water when I swim.
So can anyone help me with this? My purple plaid duct tape is at the ready.
(And if anyone has any better ideas for fixes, involving either snorkel or swimming technique modifications, I’d love to hear them!)
You can easily modify the shape with a hair dryer and a little bending. Then you may no longer need the counter weight (keep the tape on though). I had to reshape the tube this way because the tip would point forward and submerse with a neutral head position
Hey, the hair dryer thing really worked! Now the strap fits my head better. It still needs better padding, but it's not unbearable as is. Thanks.
I still haven't figured out the flipturn thing. I can flip just fine, but then I rotate over to my stomach the snorkel gets pushed off-center. But still, it's a big improvement. I used the snorkel for 800 yards this morning (with open turns). I'm looking forward to using it when the pool is set up LCM.
You can easily modify the shape with a hair dryer and a little bending. Then you may no longer need the counter weight (keep the tape on though). I had to reshape the tube this way because the tip would point forward and submerse with a neutral head position
Hey, the hair dryer thing really worked! Now the strap fits my head better. It still needs better padding, but it's not unbearable as is. Thanks.
I still haven't figured out the flipturn thing. I can flip just fine, but then I rotate over to my stomach the snorkel gets pushed off-center. But still, it's a big improvement. I used the snorkel for 800 yards this morning (with open turns). I'm looking forward to using it when the pool is set up LCM.
