I usually remove and grease the O-ring on my camera and strobe every time I open the camera case or strobe (the only time I didn't do this on my strobe I had a partial flood). No matter how careful I am pulling the O-ring, it is going to get stretched and distorted.
My cheap nature objects to paying S&S $14 for a $1 item
I have the same cheap nature (Scottish heritage?). Any time I panic and feel the need to buy orings for anything, I go to a local industrial supplier and ask for some "engineering samples". They are free. Unless it is Friday. Then they want "$10 cash for the boys" (which I believe means "for the pub").
The oring for these strobes is a standard JIS 2401 "G35" - 34.4 mm internal diameter, 3.1mm cross section.
Why are you fiddling with your oring every time you open the case?
My routine is to grease my orings at the start of every trip. I then NEVER remove them during the trip unless I screwed up and silted myself out - this means there maybe sand on the rings. If this actually happens, a quick removal, spit & shine and replacement happens. No new grease, no stretching, no pulling. No extra fiddling.
Every time you fiddle with an oring is an opportunity for you to screw up.
orings generally only "stretch" under the following conditions:
- you stretch the hell out of them by pulling them to 3, 4 or more times their normal size
- you applied incorrect lube which caused them to "melt"
Based upon years of observation, my opinion is that the photogs that fiddle with orings every dive are the ones that flood something before the end of the week.
