Is Your Rig Too Heavy?

[fins]

My Rig: I have an Oly-5050Z, PT015, Inon D-100 and dome port, ULCS arms, Inon D-180 strobe and an Ikelite dual handle tray that acquired over last winter. When getting into the water for the first time with this last May I felt like I was hauling around a boat anchor.

After a number of failed attempts at cutting the weight (milled down the Ikelite tray) and adding floatation (use of different sized PVC tubes and end caps attached to the tray) I about gave up all hope of having a "slightly negative" rig. That was until I got in touch with BobF on Digitaldiver.net Bob had built some floatation arms out of a material called core cell. This material is very light, very bouyant and does not compress at depth.

Bob sent me his plans and a sample of the material he had. I built a set of arms to his specs and tried them out. Well, my rig was still very negative (the UWL-100 is HEAVY). So I then made a floatation ring out of the material to fit over the UWL-100 barrel.

My first try with this new rig was a few weeks ago in Curacao. The floatation material really did the trick. The rig was only "slightly" negative in sea water. The salt has no negative effect on the material nor does the additional pressure at depth (max depth was 70').

You can see additional pics of the rig by going to clicking on "View Gallery" below and going to the "My Rig" folder.

If anyone has any interest in trying something like this I would be glad to share my experience in more detail. Just send me a PM.

[andrea31419]

I've the an olym with the PT10 housing an w/a lense, would I need the floatation around the lense?

[fins]

I've the an olym with the PT10 housing an w/a lense, would I need the floatation around the lense?

I'm not really sure how to answer as each person will have their own personal preference for how their rig feels in the water.

However, let me say this:

My first try with the core-cell material was just to build the boxes around my ULCS arms. Adding these boxes created enough bouyancy to easily float the arms, and my D180 strobe. But the rig still felt heavy to me so I tried the floatation ring around the lens barrel. You can see from the pics that the floatation ring is several layers thick. I started with only two layers, added the third and eventually added the 4th to get the bouyancy of the entire rig where I wanted it, just slightly negative.

I know I didn't directly answer your question, but I hope this helps.

[Dee]

I've the an olym with the PT10 housing an w/a lense, would I need the floatation around the lense?

No, you won't need it. The dome port he's using is way heavier than your WA lens. If I remember correctly, using only my WA lens and no strobe, I needed the counterweight on my rig. With the tray, strobe, WA and housing, the rig was just slightly negative.

[fins]

No, you won't need it. The dome port he's using is way heavier than your WA lens. If I remember correctly, using only my WA lens and no strobe, I needed the counterweight on my rig. With the tray, strobe, WA and housing, the rig was just slightly negative.

Hi Dee,

Not sure which w/a lens you (and Andrea) are referring too. But FWIW, with my rig the Inon UWL-100 is where the bulk of the weight is. The dome port itself weighs very little.

[andrea31419]

I've got the Inon W/A lens

[fins]

I recently returned from the Turks and Caicos where I was able to do more dives with the floatation arms and ring that I made. The material continues to hold up very well and maintain it's original bouyancy characteristics.

[fdog]

To paraphrase Albert, "It's all relative".

When I'm shooting for quality, with wide angle, I'm hopping in the water with a rig in the upper 30's in pounds.

Still, this is all only about 3 lbs negative. I would shudder at the prospect of a rig that's perfectly neutral.

BTW, I have tried syntactic foam in the past, and was easily able to produce a rig that was dead neutral. Gave it up quick; it did not suit my shooting style.

All the best, James