Hi everyone,

I’m heading out on my first liveaboard this August—the Nautilus Under Sea in the Sea of Cortez. While I know they have dedicated communal camera rinse tanks, I’m debating if I should still bring my own personal container.

I bought a 36-can AO padded cooler to use as a dedicated rinse/protection station, but I’m hesitating because of the weight and bulk.

For those with liveaboard experience:

• Is a personal rinse bag/cooler worth the luggage space, or are communal tanks generally safe enough for a mirrorless rig (OM-1 in an AOI housing)?

• Is there enough deck space for everyone to have their own "tank," or will I just be in the way?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on whether to pack the AO cooler or switch to a lighter, more collapsible setup.

Thanks!

A padded cooler will not be very useful on a liveaboard. And the boat rinse tank is fine to use. Just remember the tank is for rinsing, not dumping your camera and leaving it in there unattended.

Hmmmm... I'm always super wary of rinse tanks.

Dave is dead right of course - they are for rinsing not leaving gear unattended.

That said, I would not mind a 1p for every time I've seen masks/computers/GoPros lobbed into the Cameras Only rinse tank; big systems dumped in without a second thought, cables tangled blah blah.... And the good few times I've been distracted whillst rinsing my camera system and had to leave it for a few minutes to come back and find gear dumped on top of it.

I now travel with some of my camera gear packed in a CineBags Grouper bag. One we get to the liveaboard, I unpack it and it's then my own personal rinse tank. I can usually find some discrete corner where it sits out of the way and holds my camera - wet or dry.

"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter the Dreaded Rinse Tank". I think Danté said that.

30 minutes ago, TimG said:

Hmmmm... I'm always super wary of rinse tanks.

Dave is dead right of course - they are for rinsing not leaving gear unattended.

That said, I would not mind a 1p for every time I've seen masks/computers/GoPros lobbed into the Cameras Only rinse tank; big systems dumped in without a second thought, cables tangled blah blah.... And the good few times I've been distracted whillst rinsing my camera system and had to leave it for a few minutes to come back and find gear dumped on top of it.

I now travel with some of my camera gear packed in a CineBags Grouper bag. One we get to the liveaboard, I unpack it and it's then my own personal rinse tank. I can usually find some discrete corner where it sits out of the way and holds my camera - wet or dry.

"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter the Dreaded Rinse Tank". I think Danté said that.

Although I do understand Dave's point of view, I lean more in your direction. It's too easy for me to get distracted and leave my gear in a big rinse tank. I've done it at dive shops before. I'm probably better off keeping it as close to me as possible.

I looked at the CineBags, but it's not available anymore, is it? The Kraken Rinse Bag looks similar. I went with the AO because it's significantly cheaper and I don't think I need all the pockets, etc. Now, I just need to decide on the logistics, keeping in mind I need to take care of my back while traveling. I might just stuff it full of clothes and then stuff the bag in a suitcase. I already have a spinner carry-on camera bag for the most critical camera gear.

I didn't know the Grouper was no longer available from CineBags. But, yeah, the Kraken seems pretty much the same thing. Filling a soft rinse tank with clothes sounds a good idea.

I don't know AO coolers. The only thing I think to watch out for is the quality of the zips. They need to resist salt and not jam with salt build-up. And not leak of course! The CineBag was good for that although the internal pocket zips need work to prevent them jamming.

Maybe it could be useful for you, I use an Yellow sub Mega tote bag from S&S for local dives. This bag can also be used as a rinsing bucket.

S&S bag

1 hour ago, TimG said:

I didn't know the Grouper was no longer available from CineBags. But, yeah, the Kraken seems pretty much the same thing. Filling a soft rinse tank with clothes sounds a good idea.

I don't know AO coolers. The only thing I think to watch out for is the quality of the zips. They need to resist salt and not jam with salt build-up. And not leak of course! The CineBag was good for that although the internal pocket zips need work to prevent them jamming.

The zippers are an excellent point. I had not thought about that. I think I am going to return the AO Cooler bag and get the Kraken Rinse Bag just for that reason.

5 minutes ago, canislupus said:

Maybe it could be useful for you, I use an Yellow sub Mega tote bag from S&S for local dives. This bag can also be used as a rinsing bucket.

S&S bag

I appreciate that. However, from what I read, that bag will not hold water, and I want it to serve as a rinse tank.

16 minutes ago, Adrian Gresores said:

The zippers are an excellent point. I had not thought about that. I think I am going to return the AO Cooler bag and get the Kraken Rinse Bag just for that reason.

I appreciate that. However, from what I read, that bag will not hold water, and I want it to serve as a rinse tank.

This bag can hold water; in fact, there's a picture of it with water inside on their website.

7 minutes ago, canislupus said:

This bag can hold water; in fact, there's a picture of it with water inside on their website.

Oh, I see that now. I will consider it. Thank you.

If you want a padded cooler, get a super cheap one like the one below from Amazon @ $26. I've used a pair of similar bags for many years for all my local shore diving and car transport. I've taken them on trips, filling them with scuba gear in my suitcase, but I don't find them so useful on a boat. You don't need to move your camera around much and they get in the way on a zodiac/panga and the crew won't like/allow it. If you want a personal rinse, sure that's a useful function. But realistically, you just need to dip your camera after each dive for a few seconds. Do a better, longer, button pressing rinse at the end of the trip or end of the day at most.

I now take a padded cooler bag which is collapsible on my trips, just how feasible it will be really depends on the boat I think and how much space it has, I just bought a cheap one from a K-Mart and it seems to work fine, collapsed down it's the top layer in my dive gear bag.

I used it two ways depending on the trip, when we were on the tender going out to sites I carried the rig in it, no water in it and it provided protection on the tender where there wasn't anywhere good to store it, used an old towel to cover the rig after I got out out from the dive. Coming back to the main boat I used the rinse tank there briefly and transferred to the cooler bag. After the last dive I filled the cooler with water and left the rig to soak and got my gear and myself sorted before coming back to deal with changing batteries etc. You won't be able to carry the cooler bag full of water I don't think and it's unlikely there will be a water supply on any dive tender to fill it.

On another land based trip we went out daily on mid sized boats. There were less rigs so I used the rinse tank there and transferred it to my cooler bag on a shelf again covering the rig with a towel. Used the cooler bag to soak at the end of the day. The one I have is a cheapy so picking it up and moving it full of water is not feasible plus it would weight 30-40kg when full.

Always watch your rig like a hawk and cover the dome with your dome cover to protect it and stop it drying out till you can properly rinse it. I use a damp towel to stop everything drying out completely.

So take the bag with you and sort out how you can get it to fit into the routine on the boats on site.