What happens to my noodle at 60 feet?

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wildbill9

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My 35 year dive buddy and wife convinced me to post this. I was concerned that this may not be the correct forum but it is a pretty general inquiry. I purchased new video dive light's and noticed that my new system was negatively buoyant. I have flex arms and wanted to try to make it closer to positive buoyancy. I was at Home Depot and saw the insulating covers used for a/c or hot water lines. It is water proof, flexible and fits my flex arms perfectly. These most closely resemble a noodle people use in a pool. Will depth effect their lift? Will they compress and become a brick? My system is a tg4, case, dual Kracken 5k lights, flex arms and base. Tanks for the help. Bill
 
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Good luck with your noodle.
 
I am using a similar setup to what you are planning. I've got pipe insulation on 2 flex arms. At the surface my rig is neutral to slightly floating. Of course the material compresses at depth and the rig is not as floaty but does not become a "brick" at all. I like the float at the surface as it means I can release the rig to adjust equipment etc. without it sinking. At depth it's still less weight to carry than without the insulation but won't float away if released. It will slowly sink away however.
The material needs replacing every now and then as repeated compression becomes somewhat permanent after many submersions to depth.
 
I, too, have resisted my worst impulses. I'll just answer your question.

The flexible noodles will be worthless at 60 ft. They will compress to almost nothing. The only way to get buoyancy is to displace water with something that weighs less than water. Foam is fine, but only if it is NOT flexible and does NOT compress. The foam used for balancing out U/W camera rigs is so stiff it is best cut with a saw. If you could bend it, it would break. it is NOT flexible.

Try and estimate how much buoyancy you need. One simple way is the just use a luggage scale and weigh your rig while it is submerged. It round numbers, a pint is a pound...that is, if your camera weighs a pound, you will need to displace a pint of pint of water with some that weighs nothing. that is unlikely, but gives a lower bound. Depending on the material you use, it will take more than a pint of volume. And that is at depth, not in air. So if you have an enormous amount of noodles, such that when they are all compressed to almost nothing at 60 ft they displace a quart or so of volume, you might balance out a pound.

Two real choices:
(1) purchase carbon-fiber or aluminum or foam STIX floats (or equivalent) as needed. Beneath The Sea makes some expressly for flex arms.
(2) DIY something out of syntactic foam, or out of PVC pipe, with sealed endcaps.
 
Just to add to what Tursiops just wrote...

If you are using one of the options he suggested, they will not be compressed at depth, meaning the total volume of the system will not change with depth. If the total volume and the total weight remain the same, then the buoyancy will not change. That means that if you get it right in 5 feet of water, it will be the same at 90 feet of water.
 
Deep sea fishing floats work. They are designed to compress and rebound and are inexpensive.
 
Ever bring a Styrofoam cup to depth?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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