Retra Lsd - protecting your sh*t? ☺

Hey fellow retrians (I can officially say that now!) 

I've finally got retra strobes + the lsd and looking at the lsd, it looks like it would be very prone to scratching.

Im concerned about two things:

* scratching of glass (if taking on/off)

* scratching of unit itself

Is there anything you'd recommend to protect the lsd? And also to protect the front when taking it off?

I've got the neoprene cover for the retras so I'm not too worried there!

Hi Sinetwo

i cut a section of sleeve off an old wetsuit to fit on the LSD tube. Works a treat. I’m traveling at the moment so can’t add a photo but will once I’m home. Like you I wanted to avoid scratches. 
 

I hadn’t thought of damage to the glass. It is a relatively small area and slightly reset. I suppose you could hunt around a hardware store for something like a plumbing piping end cap. Or a camera lens cover? 

Hey @TimG,

That was my thinking as well, getting neoprene to at least cover the tube. Alas I've no neoprene but I have seen Lillian Koh's setup where she's got some kind of protective skin, probably similar to the adhesive type you get on mobile phones. Not sure how well that would fare though!

Good tip on the cap, I guess if there is a suitable one then a bit of neoprene + a loop tag in the neoprene + cap + tiny lead would do the trick 

3 hours ago, sinetwo said:

Good tip on the cap, I guess if there is a suitable one then a bit of neoprene + a loop tag in the neoprene + cap + tiny lead would do the trick 

Yep, the slight lip on the glass end also allows you to tie (tightly) paracord around the tube without it sliding off. If you create a loop on the paracord before you tie-it on to the tube, you can use the loop to either secure a cap or to clip it on to a BCD. This is then in addition to the white cord loop that's already on the LSD.

A bit hard to explain (!) - but I'll post a pic when I can. Retra Oskar suggested this and it's a neat way of having two securing points for the LSD if you want to take it off during a dive and secure it to your BCD. The LSD is not something I'd want to lose mid-dive - or any other time!

For old wetsuit material, next time you're at a dive centre, ask them if you can scrounge a bit. Most dive centres will have  few scrapped, tatty wetsuits kicking around. You only need about 5" of sleeve.

On 10/26/2021 at 11:51 AM, TimG said:

Yep, the slight lip on the glass end also allows you to tie (tightly) paracord around the tube without it sliding off. If you create a loop on the paracord before you tie-it on to the tube, you can use the loop to either secure a cap or to clip it on to a BCD. This is then in addition to the white cord loop that's already on the LSD.

That's a great tip, thank you Tim, I'll experiment a bit.. @Oskar@RetraUWT do you have any other tips on how one can protect and attach the LSD during a dive?

Hi

As Tim already mentioned the optical tube can be used as a tying point besides the provided loop on the mounting module. I have nothing to add regarding protection except that we have not seen a meaningful reduction of light output even with scratched front glass. If you decide to use protection fro the LSD this will be for cosmetic reason.

Thanks @Oskar@RetraUWT that's good to hear. I did mange to get some old wetsuit material that I cut up. It's not pretty!

https://ibb.co/bRnV1Y5

https://ibb.co/HHGJsrw

Here's the second loop:

@TimG I'm confused, where is that loop attached in the 2nd photo? 

9 minutes ago, sinetwo said:

@TimG I'm confused, where is that loop attached in the 2nd photo? 

It's just tied tightly around the barrel of the LSD. The lip at the from end of the LSD keeps it from sliding off.

That makes sense, so it's tied with the loop hanging on the front which keeps it from moving. I'm hoping using neoprene may even give it a tiny bit of buoyancy

7 minutes ago, sinetwo said:

That makes sense, so it's tied with the loop hanging on the front which keeps it from moving. I'm hoping using neoprene may even give it a tiny bit of buoyancy

Well it might move up and down the barrel slightly - depends how tight you have tied it. But the important thing is that it can't slide off the LSD because of the lip at the front end. Plus the neoprene adds an extra bit of grip.

The idea is that you end up having two loops on the LSD and can clip it to two points on a BCD when not using it during the dive. Safer than one.

I doubt the neoprene will add very much in the way of buoyancy. The LSD is quite heavy and it's only relatively small piece of neoprene which will compress anyway as you descend.