Disaster Averted, minor flood

[Larry C]

I had my first ever camera housing leak this weekend. I noticed on our second dive that the port on my MDX-D300 was fogged up. Then I noticed fogging on the viewer window and the settings window as well. I wrongly assumed that I had left the camera in the sun too long, although it was in my insulated bag on the boat while we ate lunch.
When I took the camera out of the housing at the end of the dive, there were droplets pretty much throughout the housing, in all corners. Uh oh. I couldn't find any sign of contamination on the o-rings, so I waited to rinse and inspect when we got home. I dried everything out (fortunately, no apparent damage to camera or lens) and put the housing in the sink for about an hour. After drying, I opened it to find a tiny trickle behind the "OK" button on the lower back. This is the bottom button and the most vulnerable, and had been damaged by the previous owner. I suspect she dropped the housing once, but I've never had trouble with it before. I checked the button and found it wobbly, then turned gently and found that it was less than finger tight. I was able to easily unscrew the base from the housing.
This could have been disastrous. I was very lucky.
Word to the wise, check your buttons and levers inside and out periodically. Look for any looseness or wobbles.

 

[Interceptor121]

Well no major damage! Actually it can happen to buttons just to fall apart especially is used hard
Gladly all is OK. In a lot of housings the buttons orings are never serviced or replaced until is too late, is therefore paramount to rinse the set up properly and inspect them even just visually to make sure all is in order!

 

[Gilligan]

You lucked out big time.

 

[Peter_C]

Larry do you insure your camera?

I once threw my D300 on the way to being pulled into a swimming pool. Missed the flower bed I was aiming for too. The lens hood took the brunt of the initial impact fortunately. Sometimes I feel like I need insurance even though mine lives topside.

 

[fisheater]

Larry do you insure your camera?

I once threw my D300 on the way to being pulled into a swimming pool. Missed the flower bed I was aiming for too. The lens hood took the brunt of the initial impact fortunately. Sometimes I feel like I need insurance even though mine lives topside.

I remember that!

(NOTE: I wasn't involved in tossing him into the pool.)


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[Peter_C]

I remember that!

(NOTE: I wasn't involved in tossing him into the pool.)

Hey it was my own fault, as I was pushing him into the pool, with my camera in my hand. Lesson learned...the hard way.

 

[divengolf]

Well no major damage! Actually it can happen to buttons just to fall apart especially is used hard
Gladly all is OK. In a lot of housings the buttons orings are never serviced or replaced until is too late, is therefore paramount to rinse the set up properly and inspect them even just visually to make sure all is in order!

When inspecting the buttons, also look closely at the e-clip retainers on the inside. I've had two of them break in my Aquatica housing in the past year. The buttons come loose and in comes the ocean. One major flood, loss of camera, etc. One minor one with no damage. Insurance covered my loss with no deductable. Thanks USAA.

 

[Larry C]

I used to insure it, but they never sent a renewal, so my wife didn't renew it. Probably should.
Sea & Sea uses threaded bases instead of clips, so instead of clips breaking, the bases come unthreaded. Also a few weeks ago, the screw came off the focus button lever. It stopped working, the lever spun in a circle and I saw the spring shoot across the top of the camera inside the housing. I held the lever in place with my finger for the rest of the dive and then went up to Backscatter to borrow a tiny screwdriver, dug all the washers and the screw and spring out of the housing and they put it back together for me. (It was late, he wasn't a tech, he got it upside down but I fixed it when I got home.) The main thing was that the shaft never came out of the o-ring.
I tightened up the "OK" button base earlier this week and resoaked it in the sink. No leak. Then I dived the housing empty-wow is it buoyant. No leaks, so I put the camera in for dive #2. Of course dive #1 we had 40+ft. of vis. The second dive was green, with about 8-10ft., and the wind was blowing so hard that I had to chase down the anchor and stuff the point under a 4ft. block of concrete so it would still be there when we got back to the boat. Nothing like chasing your boat across Monterey Bay.