On my Nauticam D7000 rig, I have a glass Zen Mini Dome for the 10-17mm Wide Zoom.
The problem is simply this: There is no suitable cover for this dome port.
The port cover that comes with the Zen Dome sucks out loud. As lame as it is on land, its worse in the water. And the way I dive - I need to keep this thing covered up when I'm traveling between sites.
I need the cam attached to me, but I need it to sling back and read behind me when I'm scootering. My solution was to add a length of 1" webbing. Works perfect. Been using this sling method now for 6 years on three different housings.
The issues come when I add a deco bottle or two - they're on the left side with the cam and the glass port will rub against the Aluminum of the bottles... not pretty.
I need a cover that will stay put. I need a cover that won't blow off when I scoot. I need a cover I can put on and take off underwater easily.
My previous solutions were adding bungee and grommets to commercially available covers. The problem there is the grommets pull out eventually as the neo stretches around the grommet.
The bungee mod was a workable, but not an elegant solution I've been using for years now.
I was just in Monterey - and at the end of a day's diving I went over to see Cricket at Otter Bay (www.otterbaysuits.com) - she makes custom suits, boots, vests and probably the finest cold water hood on the planet (the mighty OB 12mm Helmet we all wear!)
I took in my housing and my dome port. The design I wanted called for nylon webbing to run down the sides of the port cover, and across the front - sort of like the handles on a canvas boat bag. I figure you can carry bricks in a boat bag with that webbing-wrap handle design - if I used the nylon webbing as the anchor point for the port and not the neoprene, this thing will be tough, hold its shape and will last.
Cricket at OB quickly did some measurements, sketched it out, re-measured, made some more notes and sent me on my way - stating she'll call if she has any questions.
I received one call to confirm a few things, and a week or so later, I get another call saying its ready to ship... and the final price came in BELOW the original estimate (how often does that happen?!?!?)
The port came in yesterday. I could not be more fired up, I'm taking pics with my phone, and sending them out to everyone I know who would care... 'look at this... the thing is beautiful!!'
I get home last night and work on mounting this to the rig. I use two bits of bungee, and attach it to the handle brackets. It fits perfectly on the dome. To use it, I just roll it up to the top of the sunshade - out of the frame. When I'm done with the shot, I pull it back down, clip off, sling the cam back and scooter to the next site.
I play with it a bit and I think, "hmmmm - this may work well for my Macro Ports as well."
It does! It fits my macro ports when configured for my 60mm or for my 105mm.
So excellent!!!
I manipulated this for about 40 minutes last night while watching Chopped on the food network (best show ever.) I put on my glove liners, put on my dry gloves and started rolling up and unrolling the cover over the ports. Over and over... its gonna be simple and easy.
Tomorrow morning will be the final test - as I'll take it diving on the Yukon and some other wrecks and sties around San Diego on Saturday.
I'm excited!!
Many thanks to Cricket for her excellent customer service and to Otter Bay for such a great product. I can't wait to get this on the water and try it out.
More pics below.
-Ken
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Detail shots of attaching the dome port cover to my rig. I'll eventually go to some sort of quick release mount for the bungees. Right now, they're just tied on.
