Found what I considered a pretty good deal on ebay for a 5 year old Nauticam housing and macro port ($1100 all-in). Lots of exterior photos which showed some moderate wear and tear but nothing too bad. The housing arrived today and holy moly it was GAROSSSS inside. The o-ring looks like it was never changed? The o-ring seat is COVERED in grease (looks like the put a whole tube of silicon lube on at once and then never again - stained white all around). Lots of brown spotting, the on/off switch for the moisture detector shows signs of rust and there is a weird reddish brown gunk inside.
I don't have any experience in cleaning up and servicing housings, so I am asking for quick opinions if this is worth keeping if the seller would cover the costs for service / re-haul at Backscatter.
You are in LA? Why not call into Blue Water photo and ask for an opinion, They are in Culver City. I have called in there a couple of times and they have been very helpful - you want to check if the vacuum electronics are working if they are not there is $$ there to replace. I would think it would need a complete disassembly and service to allow you to clean all the gunk out.
Find out out how much a complete overhaul would be and see if that cost plus the housing price would still be reasonable.
Not a bad idea! But as far as I am aware, they do not service equipment. However Backscatter in Monterey, CA does. I do have an e-mail with photos out to them asking for opinions. Spoke to the seller and they agreed to cover charges for the service (which is sort of relieving)
If that requires replacing it'll add to the cost. Always better to see the thing in person and play with all the controls to help decide, thats why I suggested taking it to Bluewater as it's relatively close. If there is corrosion on the o-ring seating surfaces for instance that may junk the housing potentially. You can test the leak alarm by wetting your finger and touching the contacts to see if that works.
Looks like it had a small leak.
You can send in the housing for a rebuild.
+replacing any bad electronics
It looks a lot like my housing after a small leak.
I would bypass the middle man and send it straight to nauticam. They will change all the internal orings. Just be ready for about $500 service /parts charge.
