Rinse Tank dunking - yay or nay?

[darrenlowjq]

Hi fellow photographers,

On a recent dive trip a more experienced UW photographer than me explained that it wasn't necessarily the best idea to immerse my camera rig in the rinse tank between dives. His reasoning was that o-rings sealed better under greater pressure and consequently immersion in the shallow rinse tank might constitute a flooding risk to my rig.

Just wanted to check if this was on the level and also to hear about best practices from other seasoned veterans about what you do with your rigs during the surface interval.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

I have had more workshop student floods in the rinse tank than in the ocean. Big problem on a boat is that you hand your camera to the deck hand and it ends up in the rinse tank with several other housings on top of yours. I also have had student floods when they put the camera in a shallow rinse tank before the housing has even been in the water with on pressure having applied to O-rings and on a bumpy boat ride, makes for a great teaching moment but not so much for the owner. Always means that someone is not paying attension in class as this is one of the first things I cover. My view is a quick dunk AFTER a dive to rinse of the salt when the tank is empty is OK but not leaving it in the tank which I see done all the time on dive boats.

 

[oldschoolto]

I use the rinse tanks at Dive friends in Bonaire... They are always draining and refilled and a anti- bacteria stuff is put in the water.. Smells very clean and looks clear... Then give it a rinse when I get back home.. But, Most rinse tanks I wouldn't use or go near.. I like lots of fresh water form a hose than soak the regulators in a bucket for a few hours..

Jim...

 

[PatW]

I use rinse tanks after a dive, if possible, to get the salt off of the housing. I do not leave the camera in a rinse tank on the boat or on shore.

 

[Yoyodyne-88]

I worked on some offshore islands, at high-end resorts. We had to "make" our fresh water, and we had the "make" the electricity to make that water. Which meant hauling diesel fuel from the mainland in open boats.

Management wasn't real happy if we changed out the rinse-tank too often.

 

[ozziworld]

I find many dive resorts don't have fresh water in the sense that would be ideal for rinsing salt off our rigs. Many places have water supplied from wells which have water with a high mineral content. This could actually be worse than salt water. Mineral build-up can be from any number of elements that are in the ''fresh water''. "Fresh" is a term applied loosely in many cases to mean ''does not taste salty''. Not necessarily that it is better than salt water.

 

[Larry C]

I dip it in the tank after a dive, then take it out. Never leave your housing immersed in the rinse tank with a bunch of other housings between dives. Also, don't leave it outside in the exposed sun. You'll end up with a fogged port during your dive. If there's a camera table inside, use it. I have a cheap Costco "cooler bag" that fits the housing and strobes perfectly. Keeps it cool between dives and it doesn't get bumped around by careless clods.

 

[Nemrod]

I dip my camera in the tank if there is room to do so but then remove it and keep it on a pad or towel I bring along. Alternatively, sometimes to the dismay of the crew, I will rinse it with the freshwater hose if there is one and if there is plenty of water.

This has been a peeve of mine since I began carrying cameras decades ago. The crew despite my plaintiffs, admonitions and begging and specific instructions not to throw my cameras into the tub. This has flooded them, chipped and broken domes, damaged buttons, broken my strobes and raised various havoc with my rigs. At this point in time I am somewhat militant about it and have no issue with getting rather intense over it.

Just coming back from GC the same old story. I make specific instructions not to place my camera in the rinse tank but to either hold it for me while I climb the ladder or hand it to my wife or set it lens up on my mat. Nope, throw it in the tank is what they do. Fortunately no damage this time. I bring along a lightweight rubber mat. It is big enough if rolled fully out to accommodate a couple of camera rigs. I love to share it whenever possible. So, quite often people think it belongs to the boat and I have had people complain to me that I am hogging the mat. I, like, explain, it is mine, go buy/make your own.

It is expensive replacing domes, repairing near $700 strobes. There is no worse place one can put a camera than in the so called rinse tank which is usually populated by bobbing GoPros, spit, mask defog and who knows what else.

When I get home I give my equipment an extensive soak in distilled water, sometimes for days to pull the salt out. In the meantime while on a trip, I rinse as best I can between dives and post dive but we have to expect a little from the manufactures to build equipment that can live in the saltwater environments they were supposedly built to be used in. Given the cost of some of this stuff, I do not think that an unreasonable expectation.

N