Nice shots Steve. It's good to be able to dive close to home.
I'm curious about your unfortunate flooding incident.
What happened, and how would duct tape keep it from happening again?
Thanks Herb. Here is the sad story. Since you have an Aquatica housing you probably know most of this, but I will spell it out for those who are not familiar with the Aquatica system.
The day I received my housing a year and half ago, I noticed what I believe is a terrible design flaw. The port connects to the housing using a bayonette mount similar to the system that holds the lens to the camera. However, the camera system works perfectly because it has a simple spring pin to keep it from inadvertently rotating. The Aquatica housing has no such lock. In fact, it has a greased o-ring which turns with VERY little torque. Also the port is large enough that when you sit the camera down on a surface it rests on the edge of the port, which tends to pull it off if it has rotated out of place. This is a recipe for disaster. After using the system for only a couple of months I had a "near" accident in which I was cleaning the system and the macro port fell off. I caught it and no harm was done, but it was clear that I couldn't "just live with it." The solution is to put a nice thick layer of duct tape over the port and extension rings to prevent them from turning accidentally. It looks ugly, but works fine.
A couple of weeks ago, I was on a 2 day trip to the islands and on the second day, I had to remove the duct tape to get into the housing. I forgot to bring an extra roll and dove without reapplying the tape. Sure enough the port fell off in the rinse tank. This reminds me of an old Farside comic which shows a passenger fumbling with his seat controls. Next to the light switch is a button labeled "wings fall off". The Aquatica system essentially has a "port fall off" design. Of course it is my fault for not checking more diligently, but in my opinion, the design is fatally flawed. This is especially frustrating since a simple spring pin that slides into a hole would be cheap and effective.
When I first got the housing, I was very concerned about the lack of a port lock. I called the people at Aquatica and explained my concerns. I spoke with Norma at the Long Beach Scuba show in 2006 and she said that they had designed a port lock and that they would retrofit my housing. I'm still waiting.
I have spoke with other people who have Aquatica housings (and Subal which I believe has a similar problem). Some have similar concerns. Some don't think it is a problem. I think it is probably because the current system relys on the friction of a greased oring to keep the port from rotating out of position. This depends critically on the tolerance stackup of the parts. Some are probably tight enough that they don't tend to accidentally unlock. Others, like mine, turn REAL smoothly, especially with the large moment arm that the dome port provides.
Anyway, the camera was a complete loss. The 17-40mm lens was repaired by Canon for $200. Net cost for this incident is around $3100. Fortunately my home owner's insurance will foot the bill with 0 deductible, but there is a gottcha. I haven't had a claim against my insurance in over 5 years, which means they give me a %15 discount on my policies. This discount will evaporate as soon as my policy renews. It will disappear for the next 5 years. If you add up the lost discount it ends up being like a deductible of $750.
I have been thinking of ways of retrofitting the housing myself to add a spring pin/hole system. This is one of those things that would be trivial to design in, but hard to add after the fact. For now I will be diligent in applying duct tape.
It brings up the question of why such a design issue has persisted so long. Aquatica has made housings for a long time. If you search the boards, you will find that I am not the only one who has been bitten by the lack of a port lock.
