My dome fell off

Last time I rinsed my camera the housing flooded and when I picked it up out of the bath the 8" dome separated from the bayonet fitting. Luckily I removed my camera earlier to download the photos. I don't know if the dome was the cause of the flooding or just fell off from the weight of the water. I am just looking for suggestions on what kind of silicone to use for the repair. I did email the manufacturer and had no response... so much for customer service at Aquatica. I am in Africa at the moment and have more dives planned later in the week so any help is appreciated. The bayonet fitting is anodized aluminum and the dome itself is acrylic or plastic.

Thanks

Paul

Hi Paul

I am not familiar with how the Aquatica bayonet fitting works can you post some pictures? Doesn't Aquatice offer a lock for there port? There is a silicone glue used for marine applications called 3M-06520 5200 FAST CURE MARINE ADHESIVE/SEALANT WHITE 10 OZ CARTRIDGE.

3M 5200 Fast Cure has almost the same tensile strength with a much more rapid cure time. 5200 Fast Cure is a faster curing version of 3M Marine 5200 Adhesive Sealant. Use where a permanent seal is needed quickly. The high performance polyurethane becomes tack free in one hour and fully cures in approximately 24 hours. The seal is extremely strong, retains its strength above or below the water line. Stays flexible and allows for structural movement. Has excellent resistance to weathering and salt water.

I hope that helps.

Ever since I flooded my aquatica housing, I bring a roll of duct tape on all trips. I apply it before each dive. low tech but effective, and comes in many colors. no floods since

I use duct tape, too. The problem is that the quality of duct tape has really declined. After trying six or seven types and finding they don't stick well, I found Gorilla Tape. Only comes in black, but it's the best I've found.

http://www.gorillaglue.com/tapes.aspx

Cheers,

Marli

Ever since I flooded my aquatica housing, I bring a roll of duct tape on all trips. I apply it before each dive. low tech but effective, and comes in many colors. no floods since

I am not familiar with how the Aquatica bayonet fitting works can you post some pictures? Doesn't Aquatice offer a lock for there port?

I use duct tape, too. The problem is that the quality of duct tape has really declined. After trying six or seven types and finding they don't stick well, I found Gorilla Tape. Only comes in black, but it's the best I've found.

http://www.gorillaglue.com/tapes.aspx

 

Cheers,

Marli

I am not familiar with how the Aquatica bayonet fitting works can you post some pictures? Doesn't Aquatice offer a lock for there port?

Its nothing to do with having a port lock or not (all currently available housing apart from the D2x which is no longer manufactured but still available, have a port lock), it has to with atmospheric pressure building up inside the housing and pushing the dome out, most common scenario are leaving the port on when flying or going over high mountain range with out letting atmospheric pressure out of the housing. housing are designed to have the pressure coming from outside not from the inside. which is why the owner manual clearly state that the port should always be removed when travelling.

About Paul, he has been contacted this morning (I received his e-mail on monday morning) I had to find a sealing product that he could likely find in Africa and that occasionned some delays while I went through various supplier to check their world wide distribution. no point telling the poor chap hey use that it great, but hey man its only available in Canada so sorry tough luck...

Our mounting system is a four point bayonet system aluminum on aluminum , a crow bar would not pry that thing apart once its engaged and the depth rating is 300ft upgradable to 425ft, that is external pressure

Its nothing to do with having a port lock or not (all currently available housing apart from the D2x which is no longer manufactured but still available, have a port lock), it has to with atmospheric pressure building up inside the housing and pushing the dome out, most common scenario are leaving the port on when flying or going over high mountain range with out letting atmospheric pressure out of the housing. housing are designed to have the pressure coming from outside not from the inside. which is why the owner manual clearly state that the port should always be removed when travelling.

 

About Paul, he has been contacted this morning (I received his e-mail on monday morning) I had to find a sealing product that he could likely find in Africa and that occasionned some delays while I went through various supplier to check their world wide distribution. no point telling the poor chap hey use that it great, but hey man its only available in Canada so sorry tough luck...

 

Our mounting system is a four point bayonet system aluminum on aluminum , a crow bar would not pry that thing apart once its engaged and the depth rating is 300ft upgradable to 425ft, that is external pressure

I understand what you are saying but I am a little at a loss as to why the users are using duct tape or Gorilla Tape? Surely they are not using this to keep the actual dome port in the dome port housing?

I also think it is great that you have found a good solution to Paul's problem.

I fail to see the use of the tape, its the first time I hear of people using tape on our domes, so I'm at a loss also as to why they would, its certainly not a frequent occurence as I would be aware of it and there is certainly nothing wrong with the design, its been around for close to a quarter of a century and is/as been used by thousands of peoples. So far as I can tell the trail always lead to internal built up of pressure.

As for Paul, I got him the prescription, hopefully he will be able to find a local supplier in this part of the world.

I was pleased when I heard that Aquatica was introducing port locks as – from my own experience – the lack of such a lock was the notable weakness in an otherwise great system.

However, I have heard from several users who felt the absence of a port lock was such a problem that they resorted to using Duct tape (or Gaffa tape if you're reading in Britain) to prevent it from shifting in the bayonet. This is obviously with the models made before the port lock was introduced.

I've had my port work itself free on two occasions. Both were long journeys on little boats, and the juddering motion somehow caused the port to move around and pop off. The last time it happened was in Colombia – it was a long, slightly rough ride back from the site and everyone saw the port pop off just as we pulled into shallow water. The dive guide apologised in advance before saying, "You lucky f****r!"

The lesson I've learned is not to use too much o-ring grease, and not to bother removing the dome unless I absolutely have to. In fact, my Aquatica housings have stood up to some pretty full-on punishment of late. Recently I was bowled over by a big wave while shore-diving in Bali. I was dragged across the seabed while holding on grimly to my Aquatica D200 rig and it took several minutes before I could extricate myself. No flood, however. Earlier in the year, I used my spare Aquatica rig on a polecam on the Shearwater and told the guys to do their absolute worst as I had an old port and didn't mind what happened to it. The lemon sharks bit the hell out of the floating rig for 45 minutes. Still no flood – they make things things well.

Well I wasn't able to get the silicone recommended by Jean Bruneau at Aquatica but I do appreciate his effort and would like to apologize for the customer service remark in my earlier post.

I have cleaned up both parts of the dome and will attempt a temporary silicone job tomorrow for testing the re compression chamber on Friday. I found a Marine sealant meant for plastics and aluminum and will give that a whirl.

Although I still don't quite understand what the duct tape is used for. I have always found the bayonet fitting to be very secure.

Thanks for the input.

Paul

Although I still don't quite understand what the duct tape is used for. I have always found the bayonet fitting to be very secure.

Under certain circumstances such as that which Simon has mentioned, the dome port occasionally has a chance to twist in the bayonet mount to the point where it might disengage from the housing. The "duct" or "gaffa" tape is used to prevent the dome port from twisting in the bayonet mount by overlapping the tape on both sides of the bayonet mount to provide an extra level of security, vis-a-vis, an accidental disengagement of the dome port from the housing.

I occasionally use a small piece of duct tape as a marker to confirm the position of any dome port extensions being used on the housing. I always orient my dome port shade in exactly the same way every time I dive with my camera (Nikon D2x with no port lock on the housing). Dome port alignment is the very first and most important thing I check on the camera housing before entering the water.

Incidentally, it should be mentioned that this problem is not confined just to the Aquatica brand of underwater housings. I have seen dome ports disengage from a number of other housing on the market by other manufacturers.

IMO, Aquatica dome ports are robust, and are engineered and assembled extremely well. I had a fifteen to twenty pound lead weight from part of a Carolina dive boat rig smash into my dome port and shade while underwater in 6 to 8 foot seas once. The shade snapped, but the dome port survived the ordeal in fine shape.

I hope this post helps to clarify exactly how duct tape is used with the Aquatica dome port.

Rereading all of this it dawned on me that right from the get go things were not clear on what happened to Paul, his Dome lens separated from the ring that mounts on the bayonet (much like a pair of eye glasses would pop a lens out) what some of the poster referred to is the actual dome port assembly rotating and coming of the housing, this is also an important issue and one as Poliwoog mentioned that is common to many brands of housing not equipped with a port lock.

When in shallow water there is very little pressure on the joints as you go down the ambient pressure increases and by the time you hit one atmosphere its pretty obvious that thing are pressure into plce for the duration of the dive. most flooding due to dome coming of will appear at the surface when exiting or entering the water, a good example would be boat personel handling the housing by the dome (a big NO, NO) as they pass it to you, this I always keep an eye out for, the rinse tank is also a likely place, zero pressure and a lot of handling in a tight and restricted place, again it's always good to keep an eye out on your dome alignment (make a mark, painted, taped or scratched on the dome shade so that it will aligns between the bulkhead connectors).

Assuming everyone knows but...duct tape and gaffe (used by gaffers) tape are 2 different things. Duct tape is for duct work and leaves that white sticky residue since it's designed to be part of permanent plumbing or duct work. Gaff tape is used in theatrics and by musicians and is designed to be removed after the show.

I fail to see the use of the tape, its the first time I hear of people using tape on our domes, so I'm at a loss also as to why they would, its certainly not a frequent occurence as I would be aware of it and there is certainly nothing wrong with the design, its been around for close to a quarter of a century and is/as been used by thousands of peoples. So far as I can tell the trail always lead to internal built up of pressure.

 

As for Paul, I got him the prescription, hopefully he will be able to find a local supplier in this part of the world.

There are clearly two problems that people are discussing. The first is the port detaching from its mount, presumably from overpressuring, and the second is the mount "accidentally" rotating on the nicely greased o-ring and then falling off. I am certain you remember my trials and tribulations (and use of duct tape) in this old thread http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16626 . The original poster's problem is the former. The more common problem is the latter. The locking system in your newer housing looks like a great start towards solving the accidental rotation problem, but it only locks the bayonette to the housing. If you have an extension ring, the outer bayonette is still unlocked. Are there any thoughts about solving the latter? I have been toying with the idea of upgrading my 5D setup to a 5D2 so I am back looking at various housing options.

Steve et al - a piece of black tape (either masking aka gaffer - or black gorilla tape) from the done to the extension ring will prevent rotation of the dome-to-ring. The port lock will prevent rotation of the ring-to-housing.

Cheers

James

Steve et al - a piece of black tape (either masking aka gaffer - or black gorilla tape) from the done to the extension ring will prevent rotation of the dome-to-ring. The port lock will prevent rotation of the ring-to-housing.

 

Cheers

James

Yeah. I did that for years. It looks a bit getto but works fine. The tape glue tends to get all over everything and it was a perpetual topic of conversation on dive boats.

When I had my flood I browbeat Blake into retrofitting my housing with an external lock. It is a piece of Delrin that slides into a blind hole and is held tight with a screw. It isn't that elegant but works fine. I was thinking more about what to do on my *next* housing :-)

I've been making my own housings for years. The best Silicone to use is made by Permatex, it's flowable and used to repair windshields. You can find it at auto repair part stores.

One other tid bit, If you make a mess out of your repair you can clean up with 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner Part N. 08984, it wont hurt your Dome.

Using painters tape on the bottom of the dome just above the area you glue before you insert the dome into the mount.

Marc

Just a follow up. Although I wasn't able to find the correct silicone I managed to find something that worked. I took my camera to Aliwal Shoal and the conditions were pretty horrendous. The 2 to 3 meter swell was going against the current which made the swells stand up a bit and break out in blue water. On returning to the boat several waves crashed over me with no issues to the housing. Unfortunately I was with someone who had a ikelite housing and their dome popped off at the surface when one of the wave crashed over us since there was no water pressure to hold it on. The operator said he had seen this before with the ikelite housings. I think I will stick with the bayonet style housing. Thanks for all the help.

Paul

Paul

If you are still looking for a better option on the silicone sealant give "Sika South Africa" a call I am sure the technical department would be able to help. They provide most of the sealants to the motor industry.

Regards

Dirk

Paul

Can you elaborate on th ikelite problem? What size and type of port was he using, 8" dome, 6" dome 4" flat or maybe Modular (there all black)? How did the dome dislodge it's self, did the port clips release, did the port clips get riped from the housing? I guess I would have to ask how old the housing was and when it was last serviced? Sorry about all the questions but just wanted to better understand the situation. Hopefully his camera wasn't damaged? Also could you pass on the name of the silicon that Aquatica recommended?

Thanks