packing and transporting my rig

Hi Martys,

Just back from wild gorgeous green steep wet Dominica...

I experimented with a few products. I have tossed the cans, but I do remeber that the Great Stuff was of the triple expanding kind. I do belive it was the space filler. You want the one with the most expansion, otherwise you end up using many cans. 3-4 cans did the job for me.

I also had success with another brand called "Space Invaders", which was some great green wellexpanding foam. However it took a while to dry.

I am planning on making an impoved version of my case once I get unpacked and settled back to reality. Planning on taking and posting some pix ... and recording exact wording on foam cans for the benefit of future experiments

In two seperate travel experiences, on the same model plane, with the same Dryzone 100, with the same contents, I had different results.

Flying from SJU to BON, it fit with no problem. Flying from SJU to Dominica, apparently on an older model of the same plane, it wasn't even close. I ended up having to crowbar it under the seat in front of me...

I just bought a Tenba D17-C, expecting it to be carryon size, and it is way too big. I also got to see a Tamrac Cyber Pack 8 this weekend, and I thinki ti is too big too, but it is very nice...

In SJU you don't want to have any bag look good/new/expensive. That airport makes more stuff disappear to never be seen again or, if very lucky, only to be seen days or weeks later, than any other airport. Have to go thru there pertty much every time I leave or return home on St. Croix. Luckily there is a direct flight on Coastal Airs 9 seat Cessna from STX to Dominica. 44 lbs restriction, but you can pay $1 extra per additional lbs and carry all your gear + some more without hassle. This is btw why I prefer little hoppers to AA... you might have to sit between some boxes with plantains and chicken, but who cares as long as you know you can take your gear!

Off to indonesia in a few days. We have a wieght restriction of 50kilos on the Manado -Soring leg.

I'm packing 8 strobes 2 housings 6 camera bodies. Thank got my wife is not a photograper. I pack the subal in ahard housing case with 6 lock down points. This trip I put a housing in a zero haliburtion alum case. I pack dive junk wet suits fins regs the like in an army duffle bag. i have another hard square box for spare stuff like cloths- small -ports masks-chargers. I loas all lenes and bodies in a lowepro photo trecker and wear it aboard. it can get to 50 pounds easy. I pack other heavy items into a small pelican case for hand carry-batteries dive computer(orca edge) Some here have no idea what this is?? You have to have been diving a while to know that one. Anyway the 150 rolls of film in 4 ziplocks goes there also. Ya film its what photos used to come from and still do. Yes I'm packing a D100 for topside shots. 26 days aboard a liveaboard and 220 total #'s of checked luggage. This is the lightest I have ever been. Mark

Mark,

I too am going through the packing issue's. It looks like we are heading to the same place. I fly into Sorong May 7 - 7.15am

Am packing for 6 weeks in the field.

1 x Titan & full ports 1 x subal D2X & full ports 1 x Gates HD housing & monitor 1 x greenforce squid HID lights 1 LMI Pro hid lights 6 strobes 3 mod lights lot's ot ULCS arms etc.

Chargers and batteries for everything

2 x D100 bodies 2 x D2X bodies 1 x Z1 HDV Camera , assortment of lenses & filter's

1 laptop & 2 external drives

assorted spares

Have managed to get it all into 2 x pelican 1624 & a pretty full back pack.

Business class through to Surabaya so weight should be an issue until then.

I'll be the guy PLEADING at the baggage counter - see you there !

Peter

Peter, I've got equipment envy <_< <_< <_<....2 D2X's....that's not fair

Karl

Karl,

I 'll share the insurance & service cost's with you ............. No problems.

Peter

Just a quick update.

Total weight 106 kg's.

Excess baggage charge Cairns - Denpasar $1200 AUD ( about $900 USD ). Lets see how we go with the Indonesian Island hop.

Karl, still want to share.

to be continued................

Just curious - how does that compare to the actual flight price ?

I figure that a big guy weighs around 120kg + 20kg baggage allowance + 10kg carry-on.

So that's 150kg budgeted per person.

Are excess baggage charges in proportion to the cost of the flight ?

Mark,

 

I too am going through the packing issue's.  It looks like we are heading to the same place. I fly into Sorong May 7  - 7.15am

I'll be the guy PLEADING at the baggage counter - see you there !

of course, steve was the one doing the negotiating.

Hey, guys. Does anyone out there have recommendations for very-light, hardside luggage with wheels? No fancy features -- just tough, light, rolling, and capability for locking with zipties.

Want something relatively big so I can pack Seacam housing, dome, strobes + clothing and wetsuits in it, for trips where heavy luggage is not an option...

I bought a Benetton suitcase for less than $200 about a year ago. It's big enough to accomodate 2 seacam housing, 4 strobes, 4 ports and extensions, and more arms, clamps, sync cords and other bits than I want to list here.

It's also apparently strong enough to withstand baggage handlers, as it already has a fair number of trips under its belt.

And best of all, it weighs about 10lbs empty, including the custom foam inserts. Oh, and I lock it with a numbered lock, 2 keys, zip ties, and a belt

Eric, I have two for you:

Our scooters come with a case from Seahorse case. I know, I know, I'd never heard of them either! For the size of the case it's quite lightweight (75% of equivalent sized Storm case), and pretty robust (I'd say 90% of a Storm case). The scooters use the Hurricane SE-1220 case, which is completely watertight and no metal.

Although I haven't used it for diving, SKB makes a series of Military Retractable Handle Cases that I've used for some very delecate, hideously expensive equipment and the baggage gorillas haven't been able to break anything yet. The sides are pretty thin, and the foam takes on more of the load, but these are fully ATA compliant and weigh half of an equivalent sized Storm case. They are not quite watertight and the aluminum might corrode if left on deck, though. This would have been my first choice for our scooters if they didn't have a stock box.

All the best, James

Hi Eric,

bought today at Adorama a Kata's CCC-10 bag for video system. It's is soft and pack all of my rig (Aquatica housing, Dome Port, Flat port, extensions, EOS5D body, 5 lenses, 2 strobes). I loved this bag, mainly because I can carrier with me into the flights.

Regards

Fabio

Hey, guys. Does anyone out there have recommendations for very-light, hardside luggage with wheels? No fancy features -- just tough, light, rolling, and capability for locking with zipties.

 

Want something relatively big so I can pack Seacam housing, dome, strobes + clothing and wetsuits in it, for trips where heavy luggage is not an option...

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I bought a Lowepro Trekker Pro to carry all my gear in. The Trekker pro is the same as the Nature Trekker except that it has two detachable side pouches that I don't use. ....

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Those side pockets on the Trekker Pro can be very useful - each is perfect to take a standard bottle of Bacardi Oro Rum (or equivalent). I also sometimes load all my batteries into one of them to take the weight out of the checked bags.

Frogfish (Robert Delfs)

My new secret weapon is a Samsonite F'lite. It was designed to be light. It weights 13 pounds, semihard case, has great wheels and doesn't look like I have thousands of dollars of equipment in it. I weigh 160 pounds and can sit on this suitcase. It does sag about 1 inch but will hold my weight.

It happens to have approximately the same dimension as my Pelican 1650 which weighs 29 pounds empty. This is a big difference. The Pelican 1650 padding (as well as the lid compartments, will fit this suitcase. I also purchased a backpackers sleeping pad which is extra light and semicompressed and cut it up for extra padding.

I've bought stuff from this place a couple times, and they seem to be reputable:

http://www.luggagebase.com/btc/search.aspx...046002500000000

My new secret weapon is a Samsonite F'lite. It was designed to be light. It weights 13 pounds, semihard case, has great wheels and doesn't look like I have thousands of dollars of equipment in it. I weigh 160 pounds and can sit on this suitcase. It does sag about 1 inch but will hold my weight.

 

It happens to have approximately the same dimension as my Pelican 1650 which weighs 29 pounds empty. This is a big difference. The Pelican 1650 padding (as well as the lid compartments, will fit this suitcase. I also purchased a backpackers sleeping pad which is extra light and semicompressed and cut it up for extra padding.

 

I've bought stuff from this place a couple times, and they seem to be reputable:

 

http://www.luggagebase.com/btc/search.aspx...046002500000000

Fantastic, Will. That's the same suitcase I was looking at, and having you confirm that Pelican 1650 padding fits in it will pretty much cement my decision to give this a try.

How much does the Pelican 1650 padded dividers and lid compartment weigh? I have to now decide between padded dividers and using tupperware and other stuff...

I was thinking about the Lowepro Road Runner. It has some padded sections for lenses and other components, a backpack strap, and other tricks. That Samsonite looks nice, however, and I don;t think the Lowepro is a hard case.

http://www.lowepro.com/Products/Rolling_Ca...W_Patented.aspx

Fantastic, Will. That's the same suitcase I was looking at, and having you confirm that Pelican 1650 padding fits in it will pretty much cement my decision to give this a try.

 

How much does the Pelican 1650 padded dividers and lid compartment weigh?  I have to now decide between padded dividers and using tupperware and other stuff...

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Even that is to much weigh for me, with the restrictions of 8-10 Kg, the 13 pound take too much from it.

My choice is a super light suitcase I found, its have no name, its very cheap and most important it's weight is less the 5 Kg. Of course its not give too much protections to the equipment but since it’s with me all the time It's more then enough for me.

Actually for the next time I'm thinking on using a very simple side bag that its originally purpose was as cooler, its weight is few pounds and its can carry most of my equipment.

Has anyone here flown TACA recently? I've not flown on them since 2002 and they now have a 22-lb. carry-on limit which is very restrictive if you don't want to check gear through and leave it at the mercy of TSA or other security personnel to mishandle. In the past I've carried all my gear in a Pelican 1650, but even that is out of the question now if trying to avoid surcharges for bags over 50 lbs. That case so easily holds more than 20 lbs. of equipment that the case itself is the problem, at 29 lbs. Will's use of the Samsonite case sounds like an idea of merit.

But, for now, I can pack a fully functional set of photo gear into my LowePro CompuTrekker Plus AW and get that down to 35 lbs. by carrying my notebook PC separately, as I've discussed at http://ambress.com/D200/DX200/carryon.htm. That is within the 40 lb. limits of some carriers but obviously still well over TACA's puny 22 lb. limit.

The idea of wearing lots of pockets and doing the equipment shuffle between some possible weighing-in point and the security screening is also clever. For now though, I'll just plan on handling the bag as if it's not too heavy, and just be casual about everything....I don't recall ever having a carry-on weighed and maybe I can escape that this time around too.

Daryl