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Renovation of a leaky Sea & Sea MDX-D300 Housing

Started by Kraken de Mabini ·

  • 5Posts
  • 5Replies

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Renovation of a leaky Sea & Sea MDX-D300 Housing

5 posts
  1. A friend has a Sea & Sea MDX-D300 Underwater Housing (for the Nikon D300), which leaks. The plan is to restore it to its full working condition. For this I need the .pdf manual on Sea&Sea housing repair and list of O ring sizes. I have Googled for it, so far with no luck. If anybody has the .pdf version of this manual and or the MDX-D300 housing parts diagrams, and particularly the list of O-rings, please let me know. Thank you.

  2. 42 minutes ago, Kraken de Mabini said:

    A friend has a Sea & Sea MDX-D300 Underwater Housing (for the Nikon D300), which leaks. The plan is to restore it to its full working condition. For this I need the .pdf manual on Sea&Sea housing repair and list of O ring sizes. I have Googled for it, so far with no luck. If anybody has the .pdf version of this manual and or the MDX-D300 housing parts diagrams, and particularly the list of O-rings, please let me know. Thank you.

    https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1130363-REG/sea_sea_ss_0926_os_mdx300s_overhaul_o_ring_kit_for.html

    It's the 300S , but expect it's fairly close in configuration.

     

  3. Hello, Chris:  Yes, thank you, I had already seen this kit offering, it is complete, also expensive, about $140 once the sales tax and shipping are included.  If I have the O-ring inventory to consult, I can buy the necessary O rings from the O Ring Store for a fraction of this. I can measure the old O rings, and will do so, but it is tedious and time consuming, a list will be a big help.
     O rings are surprisingly long lived, and if they are pliable with no cracks or other defects, many 0-rings and all the steel parts need not be replaced, so why pay for them? Admittedly, taking everything apart is a good idea to clean sand, dirt and gunk, at times rust, trapped in around the shafts and inside the springs. Some years ago, I rebuilt a one year old Aquatica housing: the metal shafts were rusty, and all O rings needed replacement, so a complete take apart was justified.  
    In this case the housing is quite old, with a long and honorable history of year around service in equatorial Sulawesi, and a complete disassembly is merited. As I am an amateur at this, having the manuals, part diagrams and lists and O-ring lists available may be quite useful. 

  4. 10 minutes ago, Kraken de Mabini said:

    Hello, Chris:  Yes, thank you, I had already seen this kit offering, it is complete, also expensive, about $140 once the sales tax and shipping are included.  If I have the O-ring inventory to consult, I can buy the necessary O rings from the O Ring Store for a fraction of this. I can measure the old O rings, and will do so, but it is tedious and time consuming, a list will be a big help.
     O rings are surprisingly long lived, and if they are pliable with no cracks or other defects, many 0-rings and all the steel parts need not be replaced, so why pay for them? Admittedly, taking everything apart is a good idea to clean sand, dirt and gunk, at times rust, trapped in around the shafts and inside the springs. Some years ago, I rebuilt a one year old Aquatica housing: the metal shafts were rusty, and all O rings needed replacement, so a complete take apart was justified.  
    In this case the housing is quite old, with a long and honorable history of year around service in equatorial Sulawesi, and a complete disassembly is merited. As I am an amateur at this, having the manuals, part diagrams and lists and O-ring lists available may be quite useful. 

    Fair enough, everyone has a different view of what their time is worth.  To me if I was going to the trouble of taking it apart I would certainly put a new o-ring in regardless.  Good luck with it, there doesn't seem to be any manuals out in the wider world, S&S seems to keep that stuff very close.

  5. Hi Kraken. 

    I believe none of the housing manufacturers provide to the general public the data you are asking. 
    They want to maintain your relationship with the brand and protect the business of their dealers.

    on my previous housing I bought the rebuild kit when I bought the housing.
    when I saw it, I had the same thought you had, that a bunch of o-rings seamed a lot of money (8 years ago I paid 40€), but when I checked the price of some of the o-rings (double orings) and the price of the kit did not seamed too expensive after all. But 120, is a lot more.

    most probably all the push buttons will have the same oring. At the end you will not need to measure all the orings.

    and I agree with Chris. As you are going to dismantle all the housing, it might be better to change all.

    but before anything else I would try to discover where the housing is leaking…

     

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