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dittohead

Contributor
Messages
74
Reaction score
0
Location
Riverside, CA
# of dives
50 - 99
I have given away several video housings to people on this board, and I have one more to give away. I need somebody who can take it to a serious depth, and get some video of that depth. I will supply the video camera, and the tester gets to keep the housing. I keep the video camera. Thanks again to my several testers, socalmike, scubamilo, Gary, etc. for al the help testing. Now comes the true depth test. I was going to send it down on a rig, but I thought it would be much more interesting to send it down with a real person. I have little interest in being trained in tech/deep diving, time does not allow for that. I would prefer someone in the local southern California area.

Check out the videos and units at www.shellicam.com
 
What constitutes serious depth? 200 ft? 300 ft? 1,500 FT (call Dr. Sylvia Earle).
 
Well, to me serious depth is 142 feet. http://www.shellicam.com/shellicam_004.htm I have tested these on several occassions to over 500 feet on a fishing pole. I want some video at depth with a human at a safe diving level for all involved. Now that all the production bugs have been worked out, we are ready for a real release of this product. The more interesting the video, the better. I am sending a unit out skydiving in a few weeks, and we will be strapping a unit under my Jeep for some serious abuse soon. I was going to send one down on a rig with a dive computer and a flashlight to show it at 500 feet, but then I realised my computer only registers to 290 feet. I would want to send it down with my own video camera in case a failure does occur, but that has not happened yet. Even our large housing has handled 500'. Our 4" housing has a much smaller lens, which should be the weak point would be my preferred unit to send. I like editing off the built in hard drive rather than transferring the tape drive into my computer. Any local Southern California takers. Otherwise, I will have to send it out of state, and I hate to be without my camcorder. We have been using the housing weekly.
 
I have a few offers of dives to 130 plus feet. I am hoping to find someone who will take it to beyond 200'. I am only interested in somebody who is highly qualified to do this deep of a dive. I am collecting videos for the website, but will have no part in someone who is not qualified to go this deep. I am really hoping to find someone local (So Cal) but will send one out of the area if necessary. Anybody up for a local dive this weekend? Allan

www.shellicam.com
 
PM sent
 
Wow,the response has been great, but... Any Socal divers going deeper than 200' anytime soon? I am also looking to video some sharks in the near future. During on of our test drops to 500', we hooked into a 6' Blue shark off of Huntington Beach. Unfortunately I was not ready for video taping so I didnt get any footage. We removed the hook and released the shark of course, but does anybody have any suggestions of where to get some good footage in the So Cal area? I was told that Catalina has a bay with some large sharks that like to hang out and are relatively friendly. Also the giant sea bass would make some great video. Thanks again for all the responses. Allan

www.shellicam.com
 
You could come down here and I'll take it and you into the "el' Cantil". It's the trench between Cozumel and the mainland of Mexico. There are Bull sharks here in the summer months at depths of 200 plus feet. I have been down to 250+ feet with twins and it gets dark and the sharks get bigger. :D Everything gets bigger. I once saw a Loggerhead the size of a small round dining table. If your game, I'll lead you down into the abyss of the Caribbean with you housing, just come on down! ;)
 
I know you want to do a thorough job of product testing before you market your housing. However, if you aren't having troubles with leaking at rec limits, I think you can rest assured that you won't have any problems at "normal" diving depth limits, even within the tec range.
Your design, if I'm seeing it correctly, depends upon a compressed o-ring. As you descend with your housing, that o-ring should be squeezed more tightly against the faceplace and seat. Therefore, as you go deeper the seal should, if anything, become more secure instead of less. At least, that's the case with my housing (which I built, and much in the same style as yours--see photos in gallery). Of course, there is a point at which the seal should theoretically fail, but that shouldn't be anywhere close to even the deepest allowable dives.
My housing has failed one time (and that was a very slow seep), but the failure occurred at the surface (or in the first three feet, actually) where the pressure was not great enough to compress the seal significantly. (I also had a small imperfection in the form of a tiny fiber lodged between the seal and the plate...wups, pilot error!)
Anyway, I applaud you for wanting to be thorough. Can't help you with the deep dives, but I'm sure you'll be able to find a hearty soul here on SB who can assist. Hope all goes well!
 
I love travelling to Cancun and the surrounding areas, and the bull shark dive.. sounds way fun. But I have blown my travel budget for the year with 2 weeks in Hawaii, a week in San Francisco, a week in San Diego, and several trips to Catalina. Maybe in a few months. I personally would not go to depths greater than a little over 120. I am just not comfortable without having a far greater understanding of the affects, and a lot more training. I may pursue that in the next few months, but for now, working upwards of 16 hours a day I don't know where I can find the time. The housing actually relies on a flat seal. We started with o-rings, and they were great. Very inexpensive, and reliable. But seapage was an issue when even the smallest item, be it sand, etc, would get in the o-ring seating area. I have 20 years in the water treatment/plumbing r&d field. O-rings are the best choice for a lot of reasons, cost, ease of use, reliability, except for in locations where the seating surface can become flawed. We found ourselves constantly worrying about the seal during beach dives. Sand gets into everything, and o-rings are better used with lube, sand and lube just wasnt our prefeered choice. We recently changed the design to a flat rubber seal. Our cost went up 20X for the seal, but the cost was still minimal. We have tested the unit to well below 500 feet, and we are hoping to do a 1000 foot drop in two weeks. I am just interested in getting video way beyond recreational limits. According to all my calcs, the 5" housing should withstand approximately 1500' prior to the lens failing. This is only on paper, but I still want to see one catastrophically fail just to know what the real limits are. The 4" housing should withstand over 2000'. I am trying to put together some interesting videos for the website. This housing is really meant for the diver who wants to video, doesnt want to risk losing their vid cam, and is on a very tight budget. This is not intended for the Discovery Channel, although we are in the process of designing an 8" housing that will look almost identical to the 4 and 5" housing to accomodate the larger HD sony units. They should maintain the 500' depth capapbilities, and be priced well under $400.00 We are still working on pricing from our vendors so don't quote me on the price yet. Thanks again for al the responses. And I am also looking for interesting, unique dive opportunities in the So Cal area. Again, my travel budget is shot, so the wife has limited me to So Cal.
 

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