How we built an underwater housing to film our wooden surfboards in action

We have been toying with the idea of filming our boards in action in the water. Obviously we needed to get up close so we needed a way of getting the camera into the waves without filling it with salty water. Being boys who love to experiment and build things we decided to build our own rather than fork out over € 500. 

After some research on the web we were off to the local hardware store. Half an hour later € 40 worth of 4” sewer pipe components were scattered across the workbench, as well as a tube of 5 minute epoxy and a disc of ¼” Perspex for the lens. Essentially all that’s involved is two 4” access ports with screw off lids fitted with ‘o’ rings and one 4” pipe coupling.

The two ‘o’ rings are removed from the pipe coupling and the access ports are epoxy glued in. This bond must be strong and water proof, so it makes sense to rough up the surfaces to be bonded with some 36 grit sandpaper. We took one of the access port lids and cut a great big hole in the middle of it, leaving a flange for the Perspex disc to rest against. The rubber ‘o’ ring in the lid is taken out and the Perspex disc is inserted, then the ‘o’ ring is replaced on the inside of the Perspex disc. Just screw the lid back on and you have a waterproof housing.

Most modern mini DV cameras will fit into these 4” pipes. If you like you can fit the camera to some sort of base to keep it in position inside the housing, or else just use some old socks to pad out the empty space and hold the camera in position.

If you decide to build one, make sure the ‘o’ rings are clean and free of cracks or damage. Before every session in the water, lube the ‘o’ rings with Vaseline to help create a good seal. If in doubt stuff an old T shirt into the housing and tie a long rope to it with a weight on the end and gently drop it off a pier or deep end of a swimming pool.  If you can get it to 5m and it doesn’t leak, it should hold up in regular surf conditions. It was lots of fun to build and it was great to make something yourself from cheap parts instead of spending all that money on an off the shelf  housing. The catch: you got to press record before you put the camera in, then seal the housing, and your session is over when the battery is dead or the tape is finished. Afterwards you edit out the stuff you don’t want on your computer.

We’ll post footage of our boards in action on You Tube as soon as we get some good film. Keep an eye on our site for links and other news.