Looking for a basic transparent UW container

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I'm wanting to test some DIY gear underwater to validate my ideas before building them up more significantly. That is, proof of concept.

I had been planning on putting stuff into clear PVC and taking it into the water with me, but at the size I need (6"), clear PVC is cost-prohibitive (~$40/ft, 10ft min purchase, i.e. $400).

I dug through my memory and google searching skills to remind myself of the "otterbox". At minimum I'm looking at probably needing 4.5"x6"x2", but it doesn't look like any of the waterproof otterboxes fit that requirement.

I don't necessarily need to go to 100ft, just get what I'm fiddling with submerged maybe 10 ft for testing. And it needs to be at least partially transparent so I can see what's going on inside.

Does anyone have any suggestions along these lines? I already looked at Pelican, and all their clear cases say "not for swimming or submerging" on the web pages.

207 UltraBox » Underwater Kinetics
 
If I take your requirements as needing to hold a rectangular solid 4.5"x6"x2" this doesn't work, but maybe your gear is irregularly shaped, like a PCB with some stuff on it, or an axle that sticks out.

Anyway, just take another look at the biggest otterbox, the 3500.
OtterBox 3000 Waterproof Case // OtterBox.com
Inside dimensions are 7.549" x 3.606" x 3.326".
A PC board or axle tilted up would just fit; the hypotenuse of the short dimensions is 4.905; if your 4.5" dimension is something thin, it might squeeze in.
Just trying to think outside the box. :cool2:

Or another idea: Get two of them, cut a hole out of the bottoms of both, and cement them together.
 
I was in Home Depot yesterday and as I walked down the water filter aisle I saw some whole house filters with clear housings. This thread instantly came to mind, which shows you where my mind is these days. :D

I suspect if you plugged the ports on one of those things they would make a pretty good watertight container down to 30 feet or so; the one I have has handled city water pressure for years with no problems. The available sizes may or may not work for what you have in mind.
 
The UK box is a decent suggestion, esp considering I have one around here somewhere.. from the SuperQ (before it was returned a couple of times as the reflector repeatedly delaminated). It's probably too small, but I'll have to find the box to be sure.

I don't know if twisting the package will allow it to fit in the otterbox. It's a hard drive, 3.5", which actually measures 4" across. 4.5" is just to give a bit of extra room, but I think it's unlikely it'd fit in 3.5".

The water filter is worth looking into as well. I also asked around at the office, specifically about jars, like the pickle jar suggested earlier. It seems I can probably get something like that cheap and already empty (let's face it, it'd take me far longer to down a jar of pickles than I'm willing to wait :) at the container store and maybe a few other such shops.

...edit: I found my UK ultrabox 406, which is just slightly too small to fit a 3.5" HD, though a 2.5" HD would fit just fine.
 
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Picked up an acrylic (or maybe polycarbonate) jar from the Container Store. They also had glass, but the mouths were too small. The aluminum ones weren't particularly well built - the gasket wouldn't stay on. This one at least seemed to have a good seal on the lid. $15. Not the cheapest but after a certain point it becomes counter-productive to continue shopping :D
 

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Picked up an acrylic (or maybe polycarbonate) jar from the Container Store. They also had glass, but the mouths were too small. The aluminum ones weren't particularly well built - the gasket wouldn't stay on. This one at least seemed to have a good seal on the lid. $15. Not the cheapest but after a certain point it becomes counter-productive to continue shopping :D

This was going to be my suggestion. Or possibly mason/canning jars with the clamp style lids like this one has. $15 for a "waterproof" housing isn't too bad, all things considered.
 
just use clear acrylic glass if your only goin about 10 to 50 ft use a 1/4" thick of acrylic glass
 

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