Hello all

I shore dive 3 to 4 times a week with my "compact" rig, and I'm currently upgrading to a full-frame rig. It's had me thinking about maintenance routines, especially for those of us who dive quite frequently.

My current rig routine is fairly simple: I make sure to keep the glass wet after the dive, give everything a quick rinse at the car before loading. When I get home, I soak the housing, lights and dive computer / electronics in fresh water for at least an hour (overnight if it's a late night dive) while pressing all the buttons and working all the knobs and levers.

I try to loosen my arm clamps regularly, but I don't completely disassemble them every time. I used to, but with a heavy dive schedule it's just too labour-intensive. These days I simply loosen them while rinsing. If one starts to stiffen up, I'll take it apart, give it a white vinegar rinse to remove any salt build-up, then finish by a wipe using a WD-40 coated towel on the screw thread.

I try to give the rig a quick run under the shower after soaking (freeflowing water). When soaking is finished and the rig is drying, I blow on all the glass surfaces (port and diopters), then finish drying them with two microfibre cloths, to avoid water drying on them.
I've had some etching on my current port despite being careful. It could have been from the time I was living in East Bali, where the rinse water wasn't great, but because of that, I'm even considering a final rinse with purified water on the glass for the new rig. Not a great fan of the idea, but would really like to avoid this.

For the housing O-ring, my current housing is a Nauticam clamshell (NA-LX10) with a small main O-ring. Before each diving day I remove it, clean it, and clean the grooves, and re-lubricate the o-ring while checking it running it through my fingers to check for sand, hair or anything unusual (I'm more of a feeler for this).

My new housing (NA-A1) has a larger main O-ring and isn't a clamshell design, which I understand is a little more forgiving.
I'm wondering whether it's worth continuing to remove, inspect and relubricate it before every diving day, or whether a careful visual inspection is sufficient if everything looks clean and there was no major sand exposure, with full removal at regular intervals instead.

I'm also curious about port maintenance. I'll primarily be using the 100mm port on the new set up. If I'm using the same port for several days, removing and reinstalling it every day doesn't seem particularly practical, or even desirable. For those of you who dive multiple times a week, what's your routine for keeping the port O-ring healthy?

One thing I'm also curious about is flip holders. I currently have an AOI double flip on my compact rig, but the full-frame rig will have a Nauticam triple flip that will stay on the 100mm port. I haven't removed the AOI flip since I installed it, but I'm not sure what to do with the new rig. Do people here remove flip holders regularly, or just leave them on?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from those of you who dive frequently. Four dives a week, every week is a bit different from a 10-day liveaboard or diving trip, where you can simply do the best you can on site and then give everything a thorough service once you're home. It's also a little different from weekend diving where the rig will sit for 5 days before the next session.

Look forward to your thoughts and insights!

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by bghazzal

I would say you are doing all the right things, except the o-rings. You are doing too much. Wipe them with a microfiber towel in place and only remove if actually gritty. Only slipping orings get lubricant and it should be PTFE not silicone. I wipe and lube strobe orings with every battery change, but rarely remove them.

My other suggestion is to have at least three sets of camera and strobe batteries. Rotate them after each dive day to keep them healthy longer when you are diving so frequently. And have a spare strobe or two available.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by Dave_Hicks

Sounds like a very thorough job!

A bit like Dave's approach, I only remove and clean the port o-ring if I change the lens/port. If the seal is good and I'm not changing lens, I leave it in place until diving is done for a while.

If I'm diving in a sandy environment (I'm thinking sandy shore entries), I'd probably check, remove and clean the housing o-ring IF I had to open the back. But if, say, liveaboard diving in reasonably clear water, I'd check the o-ring visually if I open the back. But, like, Dave, would likely leave it in place unless I could see debris on it.

Slackening off the arm clamps during rinsing is important, I think. My partner didn't release a clamp over several months and it was the devil's own job to loosen it.

Watermarks on ports are a pain. A comment @Chris Ross made some time ago had me wiping ports down after rinsing them - good tip I thought. I have tried using denaturalised water after rinsing but came to the conclusion it made no difference and that water isn't cheap.

1 hour ago, Dave_Hicks said:

I would say you are doing all the right things, except the o-rings. You are doing too much. Wipe them with a microfiber towel in place and only remove if actually gritty. Only slipping orings get lubricant and it should be PTFE not silicone. I wipe and lube strobe orings with every battery change, but rarely remove them.

My other suggestion is to have at least three sets of camera and strobe batteries. Rotate them after each dive day to keep them healthy longer when you are diving so frequently. And have a spare strobe or two available.

Thanks. On the Nauticam clamshell, with a thin o-ring, I just prefer cleaning it after a diving day.

I had an unexplained flood (lost vacuum 45 minutes into a shallow dive, despite having pulled the vacuum 2 hours earlier) on the third dive after getting the housing in 2020, which made me a little paranoid about o-ring maintenance with the clamshell system. The o-ring side of things has been good since, so almost 6 years. The only time I don't remove and check it is when changing batteries between dives, which is a risk I try to avoid.

But now, with a non-clamshell housing and a bigger o-ring, I plan on loosening up on this routine. I've been using the white Nauticam lube for the grey o-rings, as I haven't found a clear confirmation about non-branded substitutes. I guess it's PTFE-based like grease for reg parts, but when in doubt... I use very little anyway, so those little Nauticam tubes go a long way.

So you don't really remove ports? Reading Nauticam documentation, they recommends port removal and o-ring maintenance after each diving day, but I can't say I've ever met someone who does this if they're diving the same port...

Interesting that you lube strobe o-rings more often than I do. I don't have strobes but video lights, and these don't get as much attention. I re-lube them with silicone when things get a little grippy, and clean and re-lube them maybe once a month (standard silicone grease). Same goes for my dive lights, with no issues.

When I do work on them, if the o-rings can be removed easily (Kraken video lights, Backscatter...), I remove them for cleaning and lubrication, but the tighter ones (dive lights) just get lightly wiped and lubed in place.

I do have four battery packs for the lights, but one gets much more use than the others now. I have two new Sony batteries for the new rig, but I'll also be using an Anker power bank to power the camera (I have two of those, which I plan on rotating).

Any opinion on flip holders? Can they get badly stuck on a port if not removed regularly or does soaking generally avoid that?

1 hour ago, TimG said:

Sounds like a very thorough job!

A bit like Dave's approach, I only remove and clean the port o-ring if I change the lens/port. If the seal is good and I'm not changing lens, I leave it in place until diving is done for a while.

If I'm diving in a sandy environment (I'm thinking sandy shore entries), I'd probably check, remove and clean the housing o-ring IF I had to open the back. But if, say, liveaboard diving in reasonably clear water, I'd check the o-ring visually if I open the back. But, like, Dave, would likely leave it in place unless I could see debris on it.

Slackening off the arm clamps during rinsing is important, I think. My partner didn't release a clamp over several months and it was the devil's own job to loosen it.

Watermarks on ports are a pain. A comment @Chris Ross made some time ago had me wiping ports down after rinsing them - good tip I thought. I have tried using denaturalised water after rinsing but came to the conclusion it made no difference and that water isn't cheap.

Thanks. I really don't plan on messing with the port o-ring unless I'm changing ports. I'll probably just check and clean it once a month or so.

Good to know about the main o-ring. The NA-A1 housing o-ring is roughly four times the size of the NA-LX10 clamshell o-ring, which makes it much easier to inspect visually.

Yes, port watermarks are annoying. On my LX10 they just won't come off, even with a light rub using a cerium oxide paste. But they're not visible in the footage when the port is wet, so I just try not to think about them.

I'd like to avoid them on the new port, though, so I'll keep making sure no water is left to dry on it (even if it doesn't seemed to have fully avoided their appearance in my case). But yes, rinsing with demineralised water is really a hassle that I'd prefer to avoid if possible!

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by bghazzal

Yeah, on the watermarks there have been loads of posts over the years both here and on Wetpixel (RIP) offering solutions from white vinegar to Coke to a windscreen cleaner to Brasso. I think I’ve tried most of them. I don’t think any of them really worked (including cerium oxide). I’m left with the Chris Ross method. Rinse and wipe.

17 minutes ago, bghazzal said:

Any opinion on flip holders? Can they get badly stuck on a port if not removed regularly or does soaking generally avoid that?

I’d suggest a periodic rinsing and cleaning of any parts that needs screwing together. Galvanic action, salt accumulation etc can all have a gluing effect. I’d probably do that maybe once a week if diving really frequently

36 minutes ago, bghazzal said:

Thanks. On the Nauticam clamshell, with a thin o-ring, I just prefer cleaning it after a diving day.

I had an unexplained flood (lost vacuum 45 minutes into a shallow dive, despite having pulled the vacuum 2 hours earlier) on the third dive after getting the housing in 2020, which made me a little paranoid about o-ring maintenance with the clamshell system. The o-ring side of things has been good since, so almost 6 years. The only time I don't remove and check it is when changing batteries between dives, which is a risk I try to avoid.

But now, with a non-clamshell housing and a bigger o-ring, I plan on loosening up on this routine. I've been using the white Nauticam lube for the grey o-rings, as I haven't found a clear confirmation about non-branded substitutes. I guess it's PTFE-based like grease for reg parts, but when in doubt... I use very little anyway, so those little Nauticam tubes go a long way.

So you don't really remove ports? Reading Nauticam documentation, they recommends port removal and o-ring maintenance after each diving day, but I can't say I've ever met someone who does this if they're diving the same port...

Interesting that you lube strobe o-rings more often than I do. I don't have strobes but video lights, and these don't get as much attention. I re-lube them with silicone when things get a little grippy, and clean and re-lube them maybe once a month (standard silicone grease). Same goes for my dive lights, with no issues.

When I do work on them, if the o-rings can be removed easily (Kraken video lights, Backscatter...), I remove them for cleaning and lubrication, but the tighter ones (dive lights) just get lightly wiped and lubed in place.

I do have four battery packs for the lights, but one gets much more use than the others now. I have two new Sony batteries for the new rig, but I'll also be using an Anker power bank to power the camera (I have two of those, which I plan on rotating).

Any opinion on flip holders? Can they get badly stuck on a port if not removed regularly or does soaking generally avoid that?

I agree with regular cleaning of clamshell o-rings, they need lubricating and things stick to them. You can get away with not lubricating surface o-rings. If you look at them when you open the housing you see small droplets of water clinging and that can transfer inside if you close up again. I would suggest you look at not lubricating your surface o-rings on the new housing and examine it critically each time you open it, checking for water droplets, maybe pull it to see if you are getting grit sticking to it.

As for ports, I dive maybe once a week and tend to leave them in place unless I'm changing ports. I run the blower around close to the seam to blow out any water I can. I've been doing it this way for quite a few years and things remain in good shape.

As for any threads screwed into m67 ports, I would suggest removing it and blowing it dry. I do that with my Nauticam bayonet adapter regularly Fine threads like that are a classic for seizing up.

The need for demin water rinsing is probably debatable. I expect in hard water areas it may be worth doing, but not if the water is soft. Sydney luckily has quite soft water. For post glass keeping it wet till you can soak is my main objective.