Need help

[Victor Caballeros]

I have a small water proof video camera that can be strapped to a helmet or can be put in with screws. Last time I strapped it to my helmet if came off in the river and i was very very lucky to find it. So I'm thinking about drilling a single hole on top of my boat to place the camera. If i did this would i be making a GREAT MISTAKE?

[jjones03]

it will void your warranty...

[Victor Caballeros]

I take very good care of my boat and i did buy it brand new and don't want to void it out. so is there a way I can use the handle in the front?

[jjones03]

what kind of boat is it

[turboturtle]

How old is it. It may be out of warranty.

You might try some sticky backed Velcro strips and wrap n strap it on your deck. Others here have thought of some rather ingenious ways to secure their cameras. I hope they chime in. I'm too skeert to do that. I don't want to loose mine. I might try one of the Go Pro's, though I don't particularly like the lower quality pics than what mine produces.

[Victor Caballeros]

I have a Pryhana Strech it's in beautiful shape and it two years old. I have a good Camera and don't want it falling off. I thought of duck tape but still nervous about it.

[DMG]

I wish I had taken a picture of the setup I made for filming a boatball game. My Wavesport has two small screws going down from the deck which secure the forward bulkhead. The screws go into an aluminum block which is glued into the foam bulkhead. Anyway, I put a small wire holder under one of the screw heads and tied a loop of 1/8" shock cord through that. I then fabricated a block of closed cell foam with a slot to hold my Olympus Stylus point-and-shoot at just the right angle. I glued the block down with contact cement, holding it down with a flat bungee while it cured. All I did is loop the camera's wrist strap through the loop in my skirt, set the camera in the block, and pull the shock cord over it. It stayed put through two hours of boatball hell but the block was starting to pull up in a few places. I wasn't interested in doing any more filming so I just tore it off and threw it away. The contact cement cleaned up fairly easily, too. Something like that may work for you without having to drill any new holes if your boat already has hardware that attaches from the outside.

Another possibility is to use those D-ring patches designed for outfitting canoes and such. Paddledog uses something like that for his video camera. You'd probably still need a foam block or something to hold the camera still, but it would give you some attachment points without having to drill. If you did decide to drill, it seems you would want the end of the screw to be burried in a foam bulkhead or something to keep you from getting hung up on it. Polyethylene will not hold threads well but a long wood screw into some closed cell foam would hold just fine for mounting a camera, I would think.

Good luck with it!

~Dave

[jjones03]

oohh thats a tough one... the stretch doesnt have metal grab loops so that may take some experimenting. gopro sells some mounts that use high strength tape to stick to the boat deck... and its relatively small so it wont get in the way when you dont bring the camera along.

[gannon311]

talk to chester about a good helmet mount.his is made of foam.and works well

[mb]

There is a catolog that sells a set-up for attaching a camera to a helmet--either NRS or Piragis (sp?). Or, you can ask Chester! Or---use screws and duct tape. Duct tape holds just about everything. I used to use it on my teenage kids!