Back in early 2001 when I started playing with the idea of diving deep, I've heard of fluid goggles for the first time. The main advantage of fluid goggles is that they are filled with liquid and therefore they don't need to be equalized at any time during a dive (like a regular mask does). The key part is a very special lens that is mounted inside the goggles. This special lens corrects your vision, which would be normally blurry when your eye is submerged. It sounded like the “key to the abyss” but the price was way out of my range.

Being a true freediver (IE not having any money) I decided to find a way to get these goggles cheaper, or… make them myself. I asked for help from my friend and mentor Doug Peterson, who usually has all the answers, or at least knows where to get them. Doug contacted some German optical engineer who helped us find the right lens and laid down some rules about how the lens can or can not be mounted in the goggles to get the best effect. Originally the ONLY criteria we had for our goggles were to be able to see with them a line and a tag from a distance of one meter. After we went ahead and made the first pair with these lenses, it turned out they worked FAR better than we had hoped. We could actually SEE the tag, read a gauge, and recognize my safety divers, even deal with an entangled lanyard. As a bonus, I was able to see clearly above the water with them on, so you will have no disorientation upon surfacing. I wouldn't rely on them for spearfishing, but for deep /competitive diving it is the way to go – they do SAVE A LOT OF AIR .

HOW TO MAKE FLUID GOGGLES

There are many ways to fix these lenses inside of regular swimming goggles but you should always obey these rules:

 

1. Get goggles with flat lenses (inside and outside) and preferably with adjustable nose bridge. Make sure they are “deep” enough so the correction lenses won't touch your eye when you wear them.
2. Carefully set the interpupilary distance when gluing the lenses in and don't change it.
3. There MUST be an air gap (of any size) between the forward facing curve of the lens and the flat surface of the goggle. Just a few hundredths of mm is enough but there MUST not be contact between the lens and the goggles.
4. Avoid applying any glue (even optical adhesives) or clear plastic directly on correction lens since it will decrease the quality of vision tremendously by creating halos and prismatic effects.

 

Here is a brief description and drawings how Doug made them for me:

Since you probable can't wait to use them, take your lenses and jump in a pool. Hold them close in front of your bare eyes and see how well they work! That will give you a reference for the best vision and location. You should be able to get the same quality of vision when they are glued in your goggles if you follow the above recommendations.

GOGGLES

I used TYR goggles .

The goggles MUST be PERFECTLY FLAT on the front and back of the viewing area (NO prescription goggles or hydrodynamicaly curved cups). They should be deep enough to clear your eyelashes with the corrective lens inside. My eyelashes actually touch the back of the lens occasionally. Put the goggles on and adjust them to your eyes and face, as you will wear them when diving. Then have someone mark the front of the goggle with the exact location of the center of your pupil with a grease pencil. This is VERY important to avoid double vision so make it accurate! After this, you NEVER change the strap between the goggles!

HOW TO INSTAL YOUR LENSES

We made small brackets from pieces of acrylic tubing (slightly smaller diameter than lenses) to attach the lenses inside the goggles. We did this by cutting two small sections (about 6 mm) of this tube off and then splitting them vertically. We then cut little notches about 1 mm from the top of them to lock onto the lens edge.

Now I had two brackets to go on opposite sides of each lens.

To aid in gluing in these brackets we assembled each lens with their tube stand pair with a tiny dental/orthodontic rubber band and then glued the entire assembly into the goggle by sighting through the lens and making sure that the “crosshairs" that we had drawn on the goggles for the pupil location was exactly in the center of the lens, then putting the silicone in place above and below the tube bracket

GLUING

Make sure that you use sealant from an Aquarium store since regular hardware stuff gives off acetic acid in it while it cures and after. The aquarium stuff is harmless. Only use it on the outside of any support you use, not on the lens side. It is an easy job but it can be tedious because the parts are so small. Take your time making up each temporary assembly with the rubber band and gluing them into the goggles. Remember that it is very important is that there be a small gap between the forward facing curve of the lens and the flat surface of the goggle. There MUST not be contact. We placed a thin, narrow piece of paper lying loose between the lens and the goggle and later, after the adhesive had cured the tubes to the goggles, we slid out the paper leaving us with a gap the same thickness as the paper. *IF* you allow the lens to touch you might have distortion rings in the middle of your fiend of view. After the adhesive has cured, remove the tiny rubber band and you are ready to dive. Remember to never adjust the noseband or the vision will suffer accordingly.

FILLING

You should use them with a saline solution and not seawater to avoid irritation in you eyes. Be aware of regular contact lenses cleaning and rinsing solution, since they contain preservatives and additional chemicals that may harm your eyes after prolonged exposure. Plain isotonic solution pH-neutralized with boric acid works the best (eg. Unisol4). To fill your goggles up you can hold them in your hands and fill them with saline and lower your head to the goggles so the fluid does not spill out but this can leave air bubbles. During a dive air bubbles will create a negative pressure inside of goggles and be harmful to your eyes. Therefore always make sure that there are no air bubbles in your goggles before you dive. Alternately, you can cut a short length of small diameter aquarium hose that will fit over the tip of a contact lens saline solution bottle, push this hose over the tip, insert the tip of the hose between the goggle seal and you face and gently squeeze in the saline to fill the goggles.

Put on your new fluid goggles and enjoy your deep dives with no need to waste air filling your mask and no mask squeeze!

If you have any specific questions ask info@martinstepanek.com

Have fun,

Doug Peterson and Martin Stepanek

Shipping prices and informations for orders outside of USA contact shop@martinstepanek.com