what's your UW housing gear-up routine?

[s.s.seafan]

this may be a silly question -

I see lint-free paper often mentioned to be used to clean things like the O-ring. Just wondering, the napkin, paper towel, Klennex tissue, or bathroom tissue, are they lint-free or not?

 

[HerraduraDivers]

No, it's not a silly question,
There are various "lint-free" some more some less... Google will bring up thousands of pages and products.
Usual paper towels, Kleenex, bathroom tissues are not enough "lint-free"
You may try various types and will see what works best for you,
geneally speaking, paper for cleaning windows may work, but the best "lint-free" paper is optical paper for cleaning lenses.
I personally use those small microfibre towels, the one you get with sun/eyeglasses and when they are dirty i wash and reuse them.

I rarely clean the o-ring with a towel/paper, i control well for lint/hairs/grains and once i am sure that eveything is clean i close the housing.
Too much cleaning may produce the opposite effect like bringing "dirt" on the o-ring.

Chris

 

[Dannybot]

I only have pocket cameras. In the morning before dives, I get my housing ready, then put the camera in my pocket as i go to breakfast. This warms it and seems to help with fogging.

 

[Larry C]

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.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Every underwater camera &/or camera/housing I have ever owned has sat in the front seat of my kayak for hours in the noon-ish Maui sun, and then dived, and then sat in the sun for hours again; can't say that any of my floodings have ever been because of sitting in the sun; there has only been one problem I can attribute to sun/heat. With my Nikonus V I used to use too much o-ring grease, and the sun/heat allowed it to run into the shutter mechanism; so I switched to "nose grease" and never had the problem again (hard to use too much "nose grease" )

I used to clean and lube my 5050 o-rings before every dive, until I had an old o-ring push "out" on ascent, flooding my camera at the safety stop. I was looking at the badly exposed whale shark pictures from that dive trying to figure out the problem and evidently heated up the interior so the interior air content was large enough to compromise the old stretched o-ring.

Now it has been months since my o-rings have even been touched and I camera dive regularly. There are sand particles on my outside o-ring, but the Oly double o-ring is stupid-proof, unless you stupidly let you screen shade piece come of and shut the leash in the door. My camera/housing also plane travels between Islands sealed with o-rings in place, often going diving with a plane ride between the camera check and the dive; after the dive it always opens no problem.

I am an Underwater Photography Specialty Instructor, and I follow the syllabus of my Specialty Instructor Manual for that course, but I have had less equipment issues since I quit doing even monthly o-ring maintenance. As usual, I am not recommending anyone dive like I do, but that's what works for me

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

this may be a silly thread bump -

Perhaps I get away with not o-ring cleaning/lubing because of long fresh water soakings, often seriously agitated (large cooler half full of fresh water / 45 min boat ride home).

 

[jcclink]

Kimwipes are a delicate lint-free wipe/towelette that works great for cleaning optics, o-ring grooves, or wherever lint residue is a problem. Local camera store should have them.

 

[diver 85]

I have shot the A570 with Canon UW housing for 3 years now......I ALWAYS leave the Oring out(while the housing is in storage) till the nite before we leave on a trip(anywhere from 5 to 10 days) .Then, I put the Oring in & leave it in the housing ready to go 24/7 while on trip....Usually grease up the Oring about every other day while on trip---has worked AOK for close to a couple hundred dives .,

As far as #4 goes, that I never worry about---just hand carry housing onto boat with camera ready to shoot & drop it in a camera water barrel on boat or store it carefully under my seat in my mesh dive bag

 

[SeaSoulSelf]

Oring stored in plastic bag when housing is not in use. We load the housings the night before a trip. Soak in tub to make sure there are no issues.

On the boat, we carry a microfiber towel to wipe off water marks and protect housing. Use padded lunchbags for boat transport.

We only open the housing on a trip when changing out cards or batteries. We use the flat plastic toothpicks sliding (or special super secret tool) under housing to remove O-ring. Clean grooves with triangle makeup sponges. I also bring a pair of reading glasses and extra magnifying glass to really inspect the groove before reinstalling the o-ring.

Rinse/soak after dive day's end and extended soak when we get home.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

We use the flat plastic toothpicks sliding (or special super secret tool) under housing to remove O-ring.

I like guitar pick's