Fantase Housing FLAW!!!!

[fmerkel]

Anyone with a Fanatasea Housing, at least one for the Nikon P5000/5100 series would do well to take a GOOD look at the area inside the O-ring groove where the 8 screws hold on the back latches.
They penetrate the housing just below where the O-ring sits.
The latching stress over time distorts the screw holes and after even longer cracks form in the O-ring channel.
THIS IS A STRAIGHT CONDUIT FROM THE OUTSIDE TO THE INSIDE!
ARRGGHHH!!!

Joyce has 2 housing, her original and a used replacement we got locally because hers was leaking a little.
I thought it was the button O-rings and lousy buttons.
The plating they use on the buttons is pretty poor and the chrome/nickel (whatever) flakes off making a rough surface.

I cleaned and replaced the button O-rings > still leaked.

Got the new/used housing > leaked

Took both apart, cherry picked the best buttons, got brand new O-ring and using the newer housing (less beat up) assembled it all.
STILL LEAKED!
Seemed to be coming from the O-ring.
Replaced O-ring > still leaked.

Got inspecting it VERY CAREFULLY, under STRONG magnification and found the cracks in the screw holes.

BOTH housings have the same cracks in the same place.
This is obviously a design flaw.
I'll be contacting Fantasea.

Fritz

[eliseaboo]

Hm...maybe that explains why my old housing had a slight leak. I always wondered about those little screws, but my boyfriend didn't seem to think that was the problem. I can't really complain though -- I got several dive trips and over 100 dives on that housing, and probably easily that many on my new one so far. My thing is that I don't like the Ikelite diffusers. The Fantasea ones are much better for macro! Sigh...I suppose my next housing will have to include a strobe...I'm running out of Nikon combinations with manual options anyway.

[eliseaboo]

And that's the same model I'm using - the P5000. The old one anyway -- they don't make that housing anymore that I know of, unless they reintroduced it for the 5100?

[fmerkel]

The 5000 and 5100 use the same housing. It has been discontinued.
Checked and the compatible Ikelite is also out of production.

FWIW I took out the screws that had the obvious cracks, 2 of them, (a nasty little job, the latch hook interferes and they are bloody tight), filled with 15 minute epoxy, and put them back in. As it set I could see the epoxy oozing out of the cracks into the channel. I wiped this out before it set with denatured alcohol on a bit of paper towel. Don't want extra gunk in that channel. After the epoxy set I then smoothed the bumps a bit with 1000>2000 grit sandpaper on a Popsicle stick.

A test dive to almost 70' and and hour shipped no water at all.
Prior to that is was failing a bucket dunk test.

Fantasea wrote back requesting a photo and more info. I have no idea what they will do with this as it is way beyond warranty.
The only real fix is a new back and I doubt these are available.

Fritz

[eliseaboo]

Yeah...it took me several months to get a stupid rubber knob to replace the one that was dried up on my housing...and I purchased it! Dealing with Fantasea has been anything but efficient. If you are buying for customer service, this is definitely not your company...

Good fix though, I'll have to remember it. Though I was never actually seeing where the water was getting in -- at most it was a couple drops near the bottom of the housing (on that tray you screw the camera into) so I assume it's probably the o-ring. I used to store the old housing closed to keep out dust but my boyfriend suggested that's compressing the o-ring so now I just leave the housing unlatched when I store it. The current housing has even taken a tumble off my bumper, so I must just be lucky or something...with the way I treat my gear, these housings have held up like champs!

[fmerkel]

A bit of water in the bottom seems to be the same symptom. That's what Joyce had. A brand new O-ring fixed it for a couple dives. It would appear that the O-ring being compressed down on top of the cracks keeps most of the water out. A brand new one maybe is more supple and resilient at first so did a better job for a short while.

IMO keeping the latches closed both compresses the O-rings and in this case places maximal stress on the latch screws leading to this failure even sooner. The used housing we got as a replacement had seen a lot less use and generally was in better shape but had been kept latched all the time. This is the one I've been working on so far.

Fanatasea responded to my response with details and close up photo with a suggestion I might like a new Nikon 7000 and housing. They indicated they no longer make their housings like that.

I did the other screws this evening. One oozed epoxy so there was another 'fatal' crack. That's 5 cracks out of 8 screws in 1 housing.

[fmerkel]

The epoxy fix seems to help...at least for now.

It passed a bucket test, an empty dive test, then a full dive with camera and came up dry.
My concern is that over time the stresses will crack the repair. If it does hopefully it will not be a nasty flood, just a minor leaking that will give it away.

[archaeofish]

Fanatasea responded to my response with details and close up photo with a suggestion I might like a new Nikon 7000 and housing. They indicated they no longer make their housings like that.

Maybe I misread this, but did they offer to buy you a new camera and housing? Now that would we quality service!

[fmerkel]

That would be extraordinary service. Doubt they could sustain that kind of service for very long.
They did offer to sell me a Nikon P7000 and housing.

I figure the old package has got a time bomb on it so Joyce is looking around and talking to folks.
The recent thread here on cameras was good to read over.