Test diving a new housing

[lemon]

is there a significant difference in the way a gates HC7 housing will handle underwater without the housing? is it overly buoyant? or still easy to handle. i just bought one and was planning a test dive as recommended but hope not to be flailing around with it!

 

[Charlie99]

If your question is how buoyant a housing will be without a camera in it, the answer is that it will be more buoyant by how ever many pounds the camera weighs.

The housing will displace the same amount of water whether or not the camera is in it, so if you remove weight from inside the housing it will be more buoyant.

My recommendation is to put some soft weights in the housing of roughly the same weight as the camera. Putting them inside a sock will keep them from scratching up the housing.

 

[H2O Photo Pros]

What port do you have for your HC7 housing? As Charlie said, it will of course be slightly more positive, however the HC7 camera is not that big.

My recommendation would be to either (a) deal with the small difference in buoyancy and do not put weights in the housing, or (b) use a 2lb clip weight and attach it to the handle & tray on the housing. I would not recommend putting loose weights in the housing. Even with a sock over them, they will shift around and can hit the filter, or any of the internal controls, as well as the port.

When I test dive a housing, I usually stuff paper towels inside to see if there is a small amount of moisture, and if so, where it is coming from. I do not usually use any weights unless, as with larger Gates systems, they have an integrated weight system.

Just my 2 cents good luck with the new housing.

 

[diversteve]

The camera w/tape/battery loaded weighs 1.6lbs. I'd go with a) above...

 

[lemon]

thanks for the tips. can't wait to get it in the water!