Aquatica housing stands test of time

I first want to say that I do not work for Aquatica or any of their dealers. I am simply a very happy customer with a story.

I live on Kwajalein Atoll where all of our diving is done from small boats so I lower my camera on a line down to 15 feet before making my entry and I re-attach it to the line at the safety stop before surfacing, hauling it up once I'm back on board and have taken my gear off. Back on Feb. 3, I became distracted and started driving away with my Canon 20D in its Aquatica A20 housing hanging 15 feet beneath the boat. I had traveled almost 1000 feet at over 20 mph before I realized I hadn't pulled the camera up. When I started to pull the line in I knew immediately the camera was gone. The snap hook holding the camera to the line managed to release itself.

Due to the size and depth (90-140 feet) of the search area, it took 8 weeks to find the camera but when I picked it up after it had spent 2 months at 125 feet after being dragged behind a speeding boat, the camera was safe and dry inside the housing. Aside from having a little marine growth, the housing was completely intact. After a good cleaning, it now looks as good as it did the day it was lost.

I would like to thank Blake and everyone at Aquatica for building a quality product, and while I'm sure I will never put it through this kind of test again, knowing it can survive is a good feeling.

Thanks,

Rob Clayton

I think that, regardless of the type of housing, the most impressive part of this story is that you spent two months going over such a large search area - and actually found what you were looking for!

I sense a lack of insurance in this story!

Thats a great story, I bet we will see this featured on Aquatica's website!

Wow and I tought we were brutal with our testing procedures now I feel like a boy scout two months searching , mmmm, I agree with Scuba_SI

Worst I did was forget my housing on top of my car, well I got to test the adherence of thoses rubber pads, they have proper holding caracteristics up to 60 mph then the housing will fly off, most likely denting your trunk before imflicting damage on the pavement, bent the edge of the macro port, that's it. Please don't try this at home

Great story, salutes for your persistence ×¥

Jean, did you consider to take Rob as your quality insurance tester?

hehehe nice one!

Jean, did you consider to take Rob as your quality insurance tester?

Arnon, are you kidding, the guy should go work for Volvo trashing test dummy in car for a living and cite this little hmm, event in his practical work experience they'd hire him on the spot.

That is one pressure test my man, guess Rob should be credited for his pre dive maintenance, way to go Captain.

Do the guys at Aquatica recommend a rebuild of the smaller seals after all that time?

I corrosion as started yes, but I would leave it to Bob to inspect carefully is controls for any signs, I would replace the anodes if they are chewed up in any case and the housing should get a serious fresh water rinse (which I presume has already been done). Its a pretty rugged piece of equipment and pretty low maintenance so it should be OK.

Housing update:

Once I got it back to shore, it got a fresh water soak for about 12 hours with the water getting changed several times. Then I took a toothbrush to it to remove the "marine growth" that had accumulated. That has pretty much made it look as good as it did the day it was lost. The anodes are even looking decent. The only problem was the sync cords were stuck in the bulkheads. I got one out fine but couldn't get the other one without breaking both the plug on the cord and the pins in the bulkhead. I took the camera in the water yesterday with a single strobe and everything is fine. I am going to replace all the seals anyway since the housing has seen a year and a half of heavy use.

In the meantime, I bought a 5D right after the 20 got lost so I'm looking forward to getting that in the water as well. Wonder what housing I'll use??

Rob