Homemade Diving Apparatus

Step 2 Helmet container

This is the main component of the apparatus. Any watertight container large enough to fit over your head should work; I found Sparklett's water bottles of the variety used in office water coolers to be particularly suitable. For those unfamiliar with these containers, they are large, clear plastic bottles about a foot and a half in diameter, and having a flat base, a mostly cylindrical shape, and a conical top terminating in a neck six inches high and two inches in diameter. I sawed the bottom off of one of these bottles to make my helmet. It is just large enough to fit over the diver's head, is transparent, negating the need to cut a window or porthole, and its neck provides a convenient attachment point for an air hose. A large plastic cement bucket would probably work too, but its lack of transparency would require the cutting of a viewing port, which would reduce the container's tolerance for pressure. You should pad the edges of the helmet to protect the diver's shoulders. I used two pieces of rubber hosing slit lengthwise and taped in place as pads.