4" (old model) Enclosure Buoyancy

[Tides]

Hello!

I’m trying to create a drop camera similar to the ones by @Paucam and @WorkshopScience and have some concerns with regards to its buoyancy. My current setup is the 4" aluminum housing (not locking series) with an flat acrylic endcap on one end and the 5-hole aluminum encap on the other. Inside I will be putting in a GoPro Hero 5 and a battery pack and we will be attaching the lumen subsea lights outside. We are trying to get the drop camera to go to around 250-350 meters. We will be testing it out with a tether before working on a release system that maybe will be using GTRs only. My question is will the enclosure be positively buoyant on its own or would it still be necessary to attach it to a buoyancy foam for it to return to the surface? Cheers in advance!

[EliotBR (Eliot)]

Hi @Tides,

For custom devices you’ll generally need to calculate the buoyancy yourself. For things that are mostly inside an enclosure that should be reasonably straightforward - there’s an example calculation here which may be useful.

Feel free to follow up to post your working, or if something isn’t clear, or you have additional questions