I saw a post that mentioned how negatively buoyant the HF-1 strobes are in the water, and how tight clamps need to be to secure them. While this is something that hasn’t bugged me too much, it did make me wonder if there is some way to wrap the body of the HF-1s with rigid float material to make it more neutral? I think I saw something from Marelux or Mares that used floats and a strap for dome ports or strobes, but I can’t find it now. Has anyone tried something like this? Is it a dumb idea (I know the heat sinks need to be exposed, but it seems like there’s still space to strap on ~ 0.5 lb of positive float material)?

Thanks,

Evan

Edited yesterday at 03:17 PM1 day by ACHiPo

I saw someone with something like this, maybe on a Kraken strobe? A molded HD foam attachment for the strobe. But I think you can do just as well with some Jumbo Stix floats on the outer arms.

When I put on the Retra Maxi strobes to replace my HF-1s, the rig was out of balance and too buoyant. I removed two Jumbo Stix blocks and everything was back in balance. While the HF-1s are more negative for sure, it's not that big a difference or difficult to balance out.

Dave,

Thanks. The balance on my whole rig is fine, but I would like to leave my clamps a little looser to more easily reposition them and have them stay. My thought is that if I could make the strobes a little more neutral I could could reduce the clamping force.

I looked at the HF-1s today and am rethinking--instead of foam all the way around which might make positioning the strobe close to the port, maybe a block of foam bolted to the HF-1 using the mounting screws for the ball mount? I need to do some calculations, but I'm thinking 3/4" thick by 3" x 6" should be close to a 1/2 pound positive.

Evan

Edited 20 hours ago20 hr by ACHiPo

why not using float arms? either dedicated float arms or the stix styled options

The HF-1 strobes are 8 ounces negative in saltwater if I recall. The Retra Maxi are neutral to slightly buoyant. A half pound hanging off the arms is quite a lot IMO. Yes, my ball ends/O-rings are worn out but still, with the Maxi I do not need to clamp them down, with the HF-1 set I tried I did, otherwise soon they were dragging in the sand. Of course, if I am swimming hard into a current, the S220 strobes, which are slightly negative but so small they produce little drag do not swing back or down. I expect the Retras/HF-1 and other similar full size strobes to be noticeable in such condition and will need me to pull the arms inward and tighten the clamps when in transit from A critter to B critter. The Atoms AF-1 is nearly six ounces negative, that is still quite a bit negative. Adding floats to compensate bulks the rig up so the question to me becomes large neutral strobes or very negative nearly as large strobes with bulked up floats on the arms, pick the poison. My NA-6400 was about 4 ounces, maybe 6 ounces negative with the S220 strobes or slightly less and now with the Retras it is neutral in the same configuration. With the HF-1 strobes it was a brick and would plummet to the bottom.

For many years, I've used various floatings of different sizes and shapes on different strobes and strobe arms from a German manufacturer who started the production at my request.

I find it very inconvenient to compensate the entire downforce using only floating arms, as I want to be able to quickly and easily reposition the strobes with minimal friction on the last clamp, without them tipping downwards due to gravity.

Incidentally, the floatings have no negative impact on the heat sinks.