Extremely Nervous...

[kidsdream]

I kept my mouth shut, but I did think it was a bit strange, but then you are from CA.

I prefer the tampon approach, but you've got to take it out of the plastic delivery system and cut off the string - then it just looks like a tube of gauze or cotton. I've had the same one in my D80 housing for two years. Nobody has ever noticed it, let alone guessed what it was without me telling them. Oh yeah, skip the "summer breeze" fresh scented ones, unless you like getting that fresh feeling when you open your housing after diving.

Edit: I bet that string could cause a flood if you weren't careful!

CheddarChick: Are you still using that Oly 350 that I purchased and sent to you a few years ago?

 

[kidsdream]

While different O rings materials do require unique grease, it really is the way to go. Changing the "stock" O rings brings even greater risk. What is most likely bothers you is that you can see more dirt or fibers on the lighter O rings. So yes I do use the std silicone on the black O rings, the Sea & Sea grease on the blue rings (I could imagine you could change out the synce cord O rings) and the Inon grease for their yellow O rings.

Testing your rig after a major service or your first time out is never a bad idea.

Not familiar with your housing, but - if the main o-ring is a color other than black, replace it with the same size (its probably metric Japanese size) buna-n material (the standard black ones). Those colored things are dust magnets. All my S&S gear has buna o-rings (vs the original blue thingies) because I couldn't keep their pretty blue ones clean. Everything with same o-ring compound also means you only need a good quality silicone grease for all of them - no "special" greases.

As far as testing the housing goes, dive it to 50-60ft without camera, work all the controls several times, looking for potential leaks. If all is ok then go take some great pics. As mentioned you will need a weight to offset buoyancy of housing, but tie it off externally. Don't put it inside housing as it can move around & damage a control.

 

[bigfrog23]

for the longest time i used to carry around several different types of grease for my different o-ring some for my sea sea strobe a different one for my aquatica housing and so forth. when i ran out of the aquatica grease that originally came with the housing i just happened to be down in Monterey so i decided to stop in a backscatter and pic up some more. so i went into the store and to pic some up and started talking to one of the guys in there about it and he said that sea and sea works on every thing so i bought some of it and some of the aquatica grease that only work on there o-ring because i was very hesitant eventually got in a situation were i need to use the sea and sea and it worked fine and have been using it ever sense on every thing from aquatica o-ring to ikelite o-rings and have had no problems.

 

[alcina]

How's it going? Hope you had a great time with your camera and didn't end up leaving it on the boat!

One thing I noticed you say was that you were going to lube the oring and let it air dry. Exposed orings are debris magnets. Much better to remove the oring, clean the groove, clean the oring, lightly grease the oring, check for debris, insert the oring, check for debris and close the housing.

Just do it - as long as you are careful and check things under a good light source, you'll likely be fine.

Look forward to the photos