I've seen tons of rigs/suits/etc being filled with some form of air. But I wanna know if helium tanks and/or water could be used as alternative methods. And if so, what types of rigs/suits would fit?
-Helium: Enough to make you feel even the tiniest bit lighter (maybe even float). Theorized to best work with full-body suit.
-Water: Gives realistic weight to inflation. Theorized to work best with custom rig.
I'd also like to know if it can be possible to make a full-body spherical-style rig that's water-compatible.
Any and all answers are appreciated here.
Suit Inflation with helium or water?
Yeah, assuming you're in the neighborhood of 175lbs we're talking a "will not fit in a single story house" amount of helium.
The ability to fill a suit with helium and float up would be a sweet idea though! As I live close to the Rocky Mountains, it would be cool to have a helium filled suit that's tethered to a line so you can go sightseeing similiar to a gondola.
Filling a suit with water would work, but you'd have to be careful as the weight of the water will put a lot of stress on the seams and probably rip it open. Air would be better as it doesn't have the weight behind it.
Also, if the suit rips open, air doesn't make a mess. Water does, unless you do it outside.
So it would have to be made of more durable materials. Any recommendations?
Neither one will perform like you probably want them to.
Water will always lose to gravity.
Helium...well it's just pointless. It would take 1400 cubic feet of helium to lift 100 pounds.
This. Water also weighs roughly 8 lbs a gallon and latex is not all that rigid if that's what you're using
I don't necessarily mean latex. Apparently the suit material needs to be durable.
"Durable" is an understatement. May I suggest lumber or steel? Putting things in perspective, 75 gallons of water, (which isnt a lot of volume relatively speaking) weighs 600 lbs. The weight of the water would tear the suit apart. Basically, you're fighting an uphill battle in the mud.
OK, then what about liquid inflation on select parts (boobs, belly, etc)?
Best thing I could think of would be partially (proportional to the size) filling beachballs with water and then topping them off with air. It should provide a bit of weight, sloshiness. Just remember, 8lbs a gallon, so whatever you stuff them in is going to be under the strain of the pressure of the air as well as the weight of the water.
Given that this forum has been around for somewhere near 15-20 years, I suspect if what you are looking for could be done, someone would have done it. If it hasn't in the last 15-20 or so years, it's probably not because dozens of pervy people haven't lent their attention to it, but because dozens of pervy people HAVE lent their attention to it and discovered that it can't be done.
That being said, hey prove me wrong :)
Closest thing I've ever seen using water was a guy on YouTube that filled up a wetsuit (maybe drysuit? I dunno) while sitting in a tub. Though, even something as stout as that managed to burst after maybe 6-7 gallons
You're not going to get very far with water unfortunately; I wanted to break an old weather balloon one time so I hooked it up to the bath tap, put it under a morph suit, laid on top of it in a bath tub and let the water flow (my logic being the weight would make it give out much sooner than air would, and I don't like balloons air-popping). I never got to breaking point, though; I'd gotten to a point where there was enough water to suspend me probably an inch (or two, not much) above the base of bath, but the weight was so much I basically couldn't move and had to awkwardly lie there for 20 minutes slowly draining it enough to move. I knew water was heavy but never really appreciated how heavy a large volume of it would be XD
Probably the best thing you could have done. Trying to stand vertically would have not worked out so well, for your suit or the balloon.
You would have to have a very big suit and so much helium if you what to float.
As for water I’m not 100% sure on that. I’ve seen videos on YouTube of someone inflating with water