Zen and the Art of Housing Flood Prevention.

[Anilaodiver]

Zen and the Art of Housing Flood Prevention.


Several recent leaks in my dive buddy's and my housing are the reason writing this. I have been certified since 1975, my buddy since the 1980's. One of my recent minor leaks was from a slightly misaligned O-ring in the port housing, caused by insufficient lubrication. My second almost major leak was from sand in the back cover's main O ring, sheer carelessness on my part; fortunately the housing's moisture detector started beeping and flashing red, saved my camera.


My buddy's leak was from an insufficiently screwed in bayonet port, the flooding was so fast nothing could be done. The cause: talking and wandering thoughts while preparing the housing. The result: about $3,000 in fine equipment go bye bye, plus it ruined his Raja Ampat dive trip. A few months ago I did not even know vacuum leak detectors existed. Now, looking back on these and several other leaks and floods, I realize a vacuum leak detector would have flashed red prior to jumping in, flood prevented.

A leak damaged my water detector, so I replaced it with one from Bill Libecap (UWCameraStuff.com) wired with two red LEDs for high visibility flashing. Plus, now I was scared, so I added one of Miso's Leak Sentinel V5 detectors (VividHousings.com), for early leak warning before and after jumping in.

But, you may well ask, do not these detectors bypass the diver's sense of responsibility to care for the equipment?
No, not really. I have learned the hard way that as a diver one must take full responsibility for one's equipment. To prepare the UW equipment, one must mentally focus on the 'here and now' moment, no distractions, plus implement a check list of steps. Doing this while alone helps avoid distractions. Then one needs to double check all items at risk.
A memorized check list, which all housing owners use consciously or not, includes:
lens cover removed, camera with fresh batteries and card,
the housing's back carefully cleaned, intact cleaned O rings,
latches secured,
viewfinder installed and secured,
port securely mounted and locked,
strobe battery covers securely closed, strobes connected and tested, etc.

It is really important to write the check list, item by item; I use a spreadsheet for this. Then memorize and use it before each dive, while concentrating on the housing/rig and avoiding distractions. A friend says that if one is interrupted or talked to while prepping the rig, then one should for safety start all over from the beginning. To which I may add, if you have the slightest doubt about the water worthiness of the equipment, or if you are upset, distracted by a yammering buddy or in a hurry, then do yourself a big favor and leave your camera rig in a safe dry place, go dive, and wait until later when you have the opportunity for your usual complete double and triple check routine.

But housings are so complicated that even after this is done, a leaky O ring for example, can still be there, waiting to flood. What else can one do? I added a vacuum leak detector to test for leaks before and during the dive. For me, a vacuum Leak Sentinel does the job by flashing green when the housing is sealed nice and tight, before getting wet, and during the dive.

Now you can jump in and go Zen with the fish and your camera.

 

[Alan Grant]

I would add a few more items to this good advice:
1. Always bring spare parts so you can do field repairs and learn how to fix things!
2. Always carry plenty of spare batteries, memory cards, etc. and always check to make sure your chargers are working!
3. Remember to turn power on to your camera or camcorder before entering the water, unless you can do it while underwater.
4. If you are shooting video, always check to make sure the camcorder cycles back from the record to the standby mode after shooting each clip. Nothing more boring that 10 minutes of a clip looking down at your fins while you move to the next site, and then when you push the record button you are actually stopping the recording and you miss the whole shot.
5. Turn off power between sites if you have a long swim to the next site. It will save batteries.
6. Double check your presets, like white balance, etc. before you dive.
7. Look at your port carefully from time to time. Sometimes you can see small leaks as they are starting to happen, or you can see if trapped humidity is starting to condense on the inside of the port (especially true when diving in tropics and cycling between air conditioning and humidity).
8. Be very careful opening a housing with a wet wet suit on. All it takes is one drop of salt water in the wrong place to fry critical electronics. Especially true when changing batteries or memory cards in between dives.
9. Be super careful of contaminating o-rings or mating surfaces with dust, sand, eyelashes, etc. Do a careful inspection every time. One good method: clean fastidiously with q-tips and remove the o-ring and put it in your mouth for a while. Feel with your tongue for any micro-cuts in the o-ring and then carefully dry the o-ring off after removing it from your mouth. Hopefully any sand will end up crunching on your molar instead of blocking your o-ring from sealing.
10. Service all thru-housing controls before going on a trip and have access to a pressure testing tank so you can verify that all controls have been serviced properly.
11. If possible, review the photographic efforts of each dive as soon after each dive as you can to inspect for malfunctions, especially with white balance, focus, and port fogging. If you can review while still underwater, do that from time to time, but often you can't see good enough through a mask to tell what you have got.
Alan