jiveturkey once bubbled...
I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new PT-10 housing from Japan. Unfortunatley, I know very little about how to maintain that puppy. I'm getting Depp insurance but hopefully if im digilent, I won't need to use it. I know to soak after a dive and I know I have to clean o-rings but there's gotta be more to it than that. Does anyone have any websites or tips that will show me how to begin? This is my first underwater setup. I'd hate to have to make an insurance claim on my first dive with it.
There's actually not alot of maintainance to the PT-10. After use, rinse it real well, especially if you've been in salt water. I avoid ever putting my camera/housing in camera buckets on dive boats. I'll dunk it to rinse the initial saltwater off but then I'll keep it wrapped in a wet towel until I can get it dried off. In the rinse bucket, the boats vibrations can loosen all kinds of things. And if there are any other cameras in the buckets, they will just be rubbing against each other. I have seen some bad damage cuased by crowded rinse buckets!
The small tube of lube that came with your housing will last you a long time. Gilligan and others say they have used plain silicone grease as a replacement with no problems. I prefer to use the grease recommended by the makers. I've had my PT-10 for almost 2 years and I haven't even used half the tube yet. I visually check the o-ring every time I open the housing. But unless I've been diving in very silty water, beach diving in surf or any other reason sand and dirt could get on the o-ring, I clean the o-ring at the end of the day. Always make sure you clean the o-ring channel as well as the o-ring itself. Every 2-3 days, I wash the o-ring is warm soapy water to remove everything. Give it a light greasing and replace, ready for the next time.
Canned air and a soft cloth is good to keep the inside clean. I only use micro-fiber cloths to clean the lens port so I haven't had any reason to take the port apart, as Gilligan mentions on his website. It's nice to know how to do it, though, just in case.
The o-rings inside the buttons can't be changed by the user, at least as far as I know. Unless you are taking hundreds of photos a week with the housing, I don't think I would worry about those o-rings. Unfortunately, even though Olympus is selling the PT-15 and above housings in the US now, I don't think they will honor the warranties on the PT-10 and below. But who knows....I haven't tried it!
I think you'll do just fine! Just use some common sense and don't think everything has to be taken apart in order to be clean and ready to use.