DIY PLB Dive Canister Critique

[CuzzA]

I thought I'd do a final update. I bought the Custom Divers PLB canister. As far as I can tell the double o-ring delrin manufacturing quality is top notch. George Caves, the US distributor personally delivered it to me. About a 20 minute drive for him. I'd say that's pretty damn good customer service. I'll point out one thing about the process of doing business with George. He's a one man business that simply distributes Custom Divers UK products to the US. So if he's blowing bubbles in a cave or at a trade show or out of product waiting for it to be delivered from the UK, well you're just going to have to have some patience. This wasn't the case for me, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Anyway, I feel pretty confident now that I can take my PLB truly anywhere whether above or below the surface and hopefully I'll never have to use it.

 

[archer1960]

I feel like you could take a napkin drawing to a machine shop and have it made out of delrin for less.

Maybe, if you know something about the tolerances needed for o-ring and seals good down to 100m or so. I don't...

 

[Peter69_56]

I do know the first canister I got from them had no tolerance and leaked like a sieve at 10 metres. The replacement was fine to date

 

[spoolin01]

depends upon the style. we have a few ikelite rcd-8 monsters sitting around, but they feature a central locking spine. they will swallow anything d cell in size, but not much larger. so they are poor candidates.

any suggestions on specific brands that have no internal obstructions?

From looking at my FastFind, I'd bet the UK C8 style would easily fit one. Haven't dug mine out to check, but I recall the internals come right out including the reflector. That would still represent an overly large and bouyant solution.

It looks from the pics like the FastFinds may vary in size. The Ranger would fit in a 2.25" ID x 4.0" tube, so a simple DIY tube that's not overly bouyant should be a possibility.

Ah - another ready off-the-shelf (really, in-the-mail) solution just bubbled through: an old P&S or digicam housing. These would also be needlessly bulky and bouyant, and have all those possible leak points, but at least a readily available and cheap option.

 

[scagrotto]

a simple DIY tube that's not overly bouyant should be a possibility.

2 1/2 inch galvanized pipe has an ID that's very close to 2 1/2", so a 4" nipple with a cap on each end would meet several of the criteria. It's not outrageously bulky, it should be about 1.5 lbs negative, and it should easily work to a few hundred fsw if the caps are tight enough.

Of course that last one is also a serious negative unless you want to dive with a pair of bfw's. You might get by with a short length of rod welded to the pipe and one cap, but that means it wouldn't fit in a pocket and I'm not sure how tight the caps would have to be for recreational depths. Maybe if I feel ambitious tomorrow I'll throw something together and see how much pressure I can hold with minimal leverage for tightening.

 

[Peter69_56]

I do know the first canister I got from them had no tolerance and leaked like a sieve at 10 metres. The replacement was fine to date

Ok update on my replacement Custom Divers PLB canister.

The original constantly leaked after a few months and drowned my PLB. I replaced O rings and checked for cracks, damaged sealing surfaces etc but nothing. Sent it back to the NZ distributor. They checked at and stated nothing wrong, but said they would not charge me for it given they had it for months before dealing with it. Got it back and it immediately leaked at about 15m, and then at 6m. Checked the tolerances for the mating surfaces and the O ring and there was no squeeze on the O rings, so how could it seal under pressure?. Sent it back and after some wrangling with Custom Divers, they replaced it.

Ok well I used the replacement for about 2 years, but on putting the PLB into the canister for the first time, I never opened it again until about 1 month ago to check the PLB, then immediately closed it again. Guess what, using it 2 days ago to 20m it leaked. Luckily it didnt kill the PLB. I checked the canister and found the outer case is out of round. You can feel it as you screw it closed and measure it.

I noticed on other dive forums, very mixed results with more than a few failures of this particular canister, and similar responses to their complaints to the company in that "Nothing wrong with it" approach from the from the company. I find that attitude disappointing. Clearly there is an issue with the container. A redesign would fix it. I believe it needs thicker material and third O ring on the cap face if they chose to use the same material.

Clearly the material they use is either not suitable at that thickness, as it distorts or is not thick enough on the sealing faces themselves. In any event, after 2 failures with no fault due to operation by me (as I am very anal about sealing faces, sand and contamination, minimal grease etc), I will not buy another.

Next stop is the Mcmurdo aluminium case as I see it has 3 O rings, 2 seal on their side and one on its face. Some however complain that they are hard to open, I guess I will see.

A mate of mine bought one too, guess what, it leaked as well and I think drowned his PLB whilst new, which was replaced.

I would be interested in knowing how others have gone with theirs if they have one.

My feeling is to stay clear of them, as a PLB is far too expensive to drown, never mind that the canister sells for about $290-360 AUD