Dive container for car keys

[Jaan]

I see you have lanyard holes on the housing lid. What about the bottom? Ideally we need a way of connecting all three pieces together and to the diver. Do you have any provision to connect the PLB inside the housing?

Hey Akimbo, indeed, there is a small 3mm hole in the bottom lip also to attach a ring or a clip as needed. Nice idea to attach top to bottom to prevent loss when in stressful situations.

JB weld some aluminum washers that are bent 90 degrees to give you a loop perhaps? Would need to be on the lid and bottom of the main tube otherwise the curve of the canister tube would get in the way, so would be hard to get to once its in.

Hey Azstinger11
I'm not sure about welding onto the anodized aluminum but some strong adhesive based mounts could be used to attach to the inside of the lid which is quite shallow and is flat and smooth (and dry) so makes a good contact surface.

This way you could attach the Top (lid) to the Bottom, and the other side of the Top to a lanyard, and the PLB to the top so everything is attached. Just an idea .. and I'd welcome more input from others on using and mounting/securing the devices in the canister.

 

[azstinger11]

I mean JB Weld is just a stupid strong 2 part epoxy from my knowledge, not actually welding.

 

[Scared Silly]

Regarding the rental car hack to separate a key from the FOB. While I am sure most car rental companies will be happy to have both halves returned beforehand one then needs to keep track of both halves. A PITA. So a simple solution is to carry a few elcheapo split rings. Which are also great for securing zippers together on luggage. And more than likely the rental car company will not notice the difference. So fewer questions when returning.

As for keys and a drysuit. That works fine and as much as I love dry suit diving I ain't diving in a dry suit in Bonaire.

For Jaan, are the new versions still being mfg in China? If so have you looked at other countries for mfg?

 

[Akimbo]

That being said I've had pretty good luck with JB Weld holding up to some pretty harsh conditions, so think the heat cycling should be okay, but can't say for certain.

JB weld or any other adhesive is easy enough to test. Just cycle between boiling water and ice water as many times as required to reassure yourself it will work. Probably don't want the PLB inside when you do it.

I think the issue would be differential expansion and contraction rather than adhesive strength. That might argue in favor of a thin aluminum disk with holes for adhesive to grab. A more flexible adhesive might be more reliable than something rigid like two-part epoxies.

 

[Jaan]

have you looked at other countries for mfg?

Couldn't get the time of day from anyone in NA with the small quantities. DM me if you have suggestions. Quite pleased with the quality we're getting though, we spec it out and inspect each batch carefully.

 

[Akimbo]

Given material and machining costs, I wonder if using aluminum tubing and two O-ring sealed end caps machined from solid round stock would be cheaper? It is amazing what CNC lathes can punch out.

If supporting longer PLBs ever becomes an issue you could always design a longer cap.