Is flooding inevitable?

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BlueDolphin:
Thanks guys...

I was thinking removing the orings each dive and lubing might stretch them out and distort them, possibly causing more problems than solving?
I've never removed the back plate o-ring. I even store it in the groove. The smaller o-rings on the port get lubed more often since they're removed during transit. When I think about it, it's probably more like every 2-3 days(8-10 dives) that I lube them. Probably don't need to do it that often even. I seal everything in ziplock bags between dive trips.
 
My advice (22 years of UW photography / video with no floods (touch wood)) is to be very careful with those o-rings. Never take them out to clean / lube unless you are in an ideal location (clean, dry, well-lit, plenty of work-space, preferably air-conditioned cool, dry air). Never open the housing in any other place. With today's batteries and a 60 minute DV tape, you should be able to get through a whole day's diving without opening the housing.

Give the housing a good soaking (1 hour) in fresh water before opening it.

Before opening the housing, dry it, using an old towel (one that is not dropping lint anymore). Clean the workbench with a damp old towel to remove dust, hair, etc. Clean your hands. Keep your finger tips clean throughout the process. Once fingers get sticky with o-ring grease, they can pick up hair, lint etc and transfer it to the o-ring so keep that old lint-free towel on your lap for regular wiping of the fingers. Inspect your fingers before you touch a cleaned o-ring.

When you do open the housing, be anal about o-ring and surface cleanliness. In a clear light, inspect everything, especially in the critical few seconds before you start closing things. Even if an o-ring was just cleaned and has been lying on the clean surface for just a few seconds, inspect it again before closing that door.

I clean the flat sealing surfaces with very large lint-free tissues. Kleenex make a good one. For the o-ring grooves, I use baby-sized cotton buds (q-tips). Find a brand that are well-spun. I only use one once and throw it, long before it starts to fall apart. Then I use a large blower pump with a narrow nozzle to blow any debris or lint out of the groove. And then I inspect, looking from all angles, particularly up against a strong back-light to help spot anything lying in the grooves.

For o-rings around ports / lenses that are rarely opened, as long as the housing had a good long fresh-water soaking, don't mess with them too often. Once every 5 to 10 dive days should be enough.

For any o-rings that you can not get to regularly, make sure the housing gets a good soaking in fresh water to avoid salt crystals forming as salty water dries next to the inaccessible o-rings.

Close hosing ports very slowly, watching the o-ring to make sure that it is gliding into place and not getting pinched out somewhere.

Get yourself a good o-ring remover. Maybe you can buy one but I have always made mine. I found that the tops of some ball point pens (e.g. Bic) make excellent o-ring removers. Pen-tops made out of soft plastic can be carved into a good wedge shape for slipping under the o-ring and lifting it out by sliding the pen-top sideways while twisting up and out. Make sure it has no sharp edges.

On the boat, dunk the housing in the fresh water bucket before the dive, Watch for abnormal bubbles. If you get a continuos stream from someplace you don't normally see bubbles (e.g. I always get some bubbles from the air leaking out of the light arms but it stops after a few seconds), don't take the housing underwater until you have fixed the problem.

Unfortunately all of the above make you into a slave of the housing. You'll see people like me out on live-aboard dive boat trips who schedule their whole day around when the housing needs soaking, cleaning, charging, etc...

I have often wondered if I am "going over the top" with all these cleaning routines. Maybe I could get by with a lot less care. But, at least I can say that, after years of this approach, it has worked for me.

Someone mentioned not jumping in with your camera. This is good advice that I nearly always follow. but occasionally that will not be possible (e.g. strong current, no one available to hand the camera to you). In that case, I jump in with the camera housing held above my head. I figure that it'll follow my body into the hole in the water and avoid the sudden smack of hitting hard water. Make sure the housing is tied to your wrist before you jump just in case you lose balance and let go of it.

I hope these help.

Regards
Peter
 
Great advice here. One thing I would heartily NOT recommend is leaving your rig in the rinse bucket on the boat if it isn't your own personal one. And even then I don't like mine sloshing around where it might get a weird, one in a million bump.

Rinse it and store it in a hard box away from potential damage. I currently use an old plastic milk crate - tough as nails, perfect fit for the gear, stores right under the seat well out of harms way and is tall enough that the fit is such that nothing can accidentally fall into it. I have a big towel - damp after the first dive, that I wrap it all in. This keeps the temp even-ish.

If you can find one of those collapsible coolers to fit, even better.
 
I do put mine in the rinse bucket and watch for bubbles. Keeps it from being banged around on the deck, though I'm very careful about what other cameras are going in there.

I flooded my camera after the fourth dive due to the o ring being twisted, or that's the explanation given for why that housing (PT-020) pops out the left lower corner o-ring, which apparently has happened to a number of people.

Did have insurance; thank goodness.

Flooding may not be inevitable, but I would still get insurance, because there's a high probability that it's a matter of when.

Since the great flood, I changed my housing and am meticulous about the o-rings. I do lube between diving days, though I'm wondering if I should. I will generally let the camera sit out with the housing open, in a similar temperature (hopefully not humid) environment to prevent fogging. I scan the o rign with a magnifying glass that has the little light attached. You can get them at Wal-Mart. I also examine the o-ring on the port that covers the attachment for the sync cord, and after I get the sync cord, I'll regularly change and lube that.

To clean the o-ring, I use a microfiber towel you can get at camera shops. Since getting the new housing, NO floods.
 
what boats are you guys diving on? dang... most of the boats i go on have a simple 5 gallon pickle-bucket or something not much better. if i were to try and sink my CANON XL1 in a Gates housing in there, well, the "10# of poop in a 5# bag" joke comes to mind.

it's only on the LIVEABOARDS that i've ever really seen a rinse bucket big enough to hold most cameras.... and then you get into the 'most cameras'. i certainly don't want MY camera sloshing and clanking around with about a 1/2 dozen other cameras in there. i guess i'm just reiterating what ALCINA is saying, rinse it (with a freshwater hose or a dunk in the rinse bucket) and store it safely - under the damp towel not only keeps it "temp even-ish" it also slows the nefaerious dry salt issue.
 
This is good stuff.

I like the milk crate idea. I have a few of those..... One is tall and narrow... I will have to see how the housing fits in that one. Now to hope that I always get on a boat that has plenty of room under its seats! :)

Generally we are allowed only a small area under our bc to store gear, unless we want to keep the gear up in front of the boat on deck. Any other input on where you keep your camera gear AND your dive gear on the boat?

Also where do you go for spare/replacement orings? Only from the manufacturer?
 
alcina:
One thing I would heartily NOT recommend is leaving your rig in the rinse bucket on the boat if it isn't your own personal one. And even then I don't like mine sloshing around where it might get a weird, one in a million bump.

Good point. On the dive boat I use regularly I am the only one with any kind of camera and the rinse bucket is a plastic 44 gallon drum. So I feel that my video housing is quite safe in there by itself.

But, if there were other cameras, I would definitely not leave it in with them, at least not while the boat is moving.

Regards
Peter
 
:11: :11: Anxiously writing down notes :read:

Ok stupid newbie question of the day, I promise just one :D!
Surely there has to be a better way to protect and seal our cameras, camcorders et cetera from the water.

It just seems weird that the only thing protecting our valuables from the deep blue is a piece of rubber!
In this day and age surely there is a better solution, are there any new ways of sealing the housing in the pipeline??
 
Lots of talk here about flood insurance.

I want to get a Fantasea CP6 housing from my new Nikon 5600. I've seen other threads about pro's and con's of this housing, but was wondering about the insurance.

There's a year's worth of flood insurance that apparently comes with the housing. First, what does the insurance cover and not cover?

Second, how much is it to renew after the first year?

Third, anyone have experience in putting in a claim?

--Marek
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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