Tripod leg sleeves / boots

<p>I'm looking for waterproof tripod boots to sleeve over the lower 12-18 inches of my tripod legs for the purpose of using the legs in streams and in sea water. The sleeves would have to slide over a max. 42mm leg width with relative ease. Any homemade or proprietory solutions are most welcome.</p>

<p>I get the bags that the carwash put over the rear wipers before the wash. Usually double or triple bagged will do the trick.</p>

<p>I bought some 2" PVC pipes, cut the pipes to length and glued on endcaps. I just slip over the legs and gaffer's tape them at the top to hold them in place and to help prevent water splashes from getting inside the sleeves. Not as easy to carry as Danny's bag method, but after 8 years they are still going strong.</p>

<p>Or you can buy the stainless steel tripods that Gitzo makes specifically for this purpose ;^)</p>

<p>Salt will corrode stainless steel faster than any other material... oceanography 101.</p>

<p>Anything intended to keep water out will also keep it in. Fresh water won't hurt a tripod. Just dry it off after use. After contact with salt water, the tripod should be disassembled, rinsed with potable water and dried before reassembly. CF tripods should be rinsed off and dried, but you probably don't have to disassemble them.</p>

<p>The times I've dunked my tripod (a Gitzo CF) in salt water, I've just washed it off in the shower. It did get pretty crunchy after one trip, so disassembled it, washed and regreased with no ill effects. Sand is worse.</p>

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<p>Sand is worse</p>

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<p>This is why I built my sleeves. At the ocean shore it is water, salt and sand are inseparable. I only had to wash off my tripod twice in 3 straight months of shooting (Once, because I dropped the tripod into the water). Since I shot photos every day for 3 months, disassembling and cleaning the tripod after each day would have been a real chore. Since that initial shoot, I've used it multiple times with no problem with water trapped.</p>

<p>Indraneel, my Gitzo comment was supposed to be a joke. Actually stainless itself isn't as bad a problem as when it touches an antagonistic material such as aluminum or CF. Since the Ocean tripod is stainless and carbon fiber, I wonder how long they will last.</p>

<p>Many thanks for the suggestions above. I have gotten sand into my Gitzo thread locks before whilst in New Zealand and was fortunate to be in a position to clean them out and re-lube the threads in a freind's workshop before moving on, however, I'm heading to the West Coast of the USA (from Australia) for the month of May and will find it difficult to perform a really proper clean and re-lube whilst on the road. </p>

<p>I will try both the plastic bag sleeves and also rig up some PVC pipe booties and see if I can go with those.</p>

<p>Many thanks</p>

<p>Matthew.</p>