what's your UW housing gear-up routine?

[victor]

I second larry's points here, in particular I have closed the housing in a very warm hotel room. Once it cooled down, resulting in the presure dropping, I had the devils own job to open it :cussing:. I had to leave it in the sun to warm up before the preasure equalised enough for it to open.

My second recomendation would be open the housing as few times as possible, do everything you need to do in one shot.
Get prepared in the hotel room, spare battery, memory card, lub, towel, cloth, etc. Open housing, remove camera, close but don't latch housing, move away with camera, swap battery, empty or swap the memory card, prepare the camera ready to replace in the housing, examine the o-ring in place, if it looks dry or there is contamination, remove and clean, else replace the camera in the housing, one last quick check under a good light, then close up ready for the next dive.

If only we could charge the battery and unload the memory card without opening the housing we could seal it up for the whole vacation. Now that would be a worry off my mind. Bluetooth transfer and magnetic field charger, technically possible, maybe I should patent this idea now.

I use make-up Q-tips to clean the O-ring grooves. You can get foam ones that won't leave any cotton behind. I know everyone says take the o-ring out. I've had the same body O-ring in my P & S housing for 3 years. I replaced it once after it stretched from too much removal and lubricating. I take it out and lube it when it looks dry or if I see any salt specks, sand or other contaminants in the groove or near it. I wipe the o-ring and mating surface with my finger and look at it under bright light to check for hairs, fibers, sand, salt etc. before closing.
Do remove the o-ring before flying or traveling. I had a devil of a time opening my housing in the cooler air at home when I got lazy before leaving the heat of Utila. Do close the housing in a cool air conditioned room before taking it on the boat. Don't let the crew lay your housing in the hot sun while you put your other gear away, get it in the tank and then put it in a shaded location.