So . . . Chlorine and Dome Port Silicone don't mix, or what?

8" dome port post traumatic experience in the pool.

Looking for some insight and suggestions for altering future procedures.

AND fyi, this is not a brand new dome port.

I've been in various pools all year long. Some saline, some chlorine, some probably over chlorinated and some fairly warm and over chlorinated. Also the ocean.

After every submersion I dunk the whole rig for a good 20 minutes in fresh water.

When I travel abroad I carry the dome port in my purse (aka cleverly disguised photo bag). It's never attached to the dome port in a situation where internally there would be pressure pushing outward like was suggested in this post

Oh, and the camera and lens are alright! I was standing in 3 1/2 feet of water when suddenly bubbles started erupting from the dome port and I pulled the thing above the water immediately, dome port down. And then proceeded to stand there staring in disbelief at about 1" of water sloshing around in the dome.

So, is it the chlorine?

Few years ago, I had exact same problem with my Nexus dome port. I am not sure what caused the problem but, It happened when I try to assemble

the dome to the housing & I thought it had to do with room temprature as I was in airconed room in tropical area.

I found my dome at that time was glued with soft Silicon (yours looks like too) & I checked with my dealer & they offered an exchange with new dome

at half the price but, instead I used Epoxy (just regular epoxy from hardware store) & glued it myself. I dove 20-30 times with it & had no problem.

Sam

I'm pretty sure that chlorine has nothing to do with this separation.

I would not recommend epoxy as a repair solution, though. Epoxy is brittle, and will crack as the dome flexes (and acrylic flexes a lot).

I hadn't really considered a DIY repair, as I don't really know how to reliably test the fix. But, when I worked at Scripps we used Dow Corning 732 sealant for one oceanographic application and it makes me think it could work on this dome port.

I've since bought a replacement 8" dome port, but this could function as a pool back-up.

So not Chlorine?

Any other ideas? If it's just time, or normal wear and tear, that doesn't really instill much confidence in my newest purchase I have to say.

I'm thinking grease or some other contaminant on the surfaces when they were originally made up.

I've spent a lot of time in the pool w/ my dome and never had problems - knock on wood.

What I don't get is where is the net force to separate the dome from the rear plate????? I don't see how it could just pop off like that.

Cheers

James

Having just replaced 48 windows on a semi-submarine I can thoroughly recommend 3M's marine sealant.

I would hazard a guess it is nothing to do with anything it was in. If a decent sealant is used then NOTHING will break it down.

I have spent a few phone calls to 3M about theirs (when I was trying to get the old windows off my semi-submarine), I wanted to know if there was a product to remove, and thinners etc that may break it down to get the old sealant off, their reply was, it's an adhesive, we designed it so that nothing would break it down, they were right .. the powertool we had to use was insane!

Just like an oring you are making a seal, except trying to make it permanent. if you get dirt in it it will fail, if you don't prep the surface it will fail etc etc. My guess is manufacturing defect if you know you did anything wrong, it normally would take a LOT of force to push it off.

48 windows on a semi-submarine! That is quite a job.

And sounds like an outstanding endorsement for the 3M product.

I think I'm going to give it a go.

Yes, exactly on the net force. There was none.

I was in the middle of a photo shoot and had just opened the rear of the housing to remove and replace a memory card. Normal operating procedure.

Pulled the system back into the pool, took ~20 shots and then started seeing bubbles.

To be fair, the dome didn't pop off as much as it appears in the photo. It was pulled away from the backing just slightly when I pulled the rig above the water. When I took this photo, however, it easily came away from the silicone and I just wanted to illustrate exactly what had failed.

AND now I'm a completely paranoid wreck! I had a big photo shoot this weekend and I used the brand new replacement dome. The whole time I was looking for bubbles. Even in the silicone there appears to be tiny tiny bubbles and an uneven surface. It really makes me wonder if this is going to happen again over time. Or maybe I'm being paranoid.

~abi