Creating tripod leg sleeves

We invest a lot in our tripods so that they can take a beating and constantly support our gear yet we baby them whenever we get the chance (at least most do.) In my search to get the tripod dirty and wet I realized that dropping the joints into salt water or even fresh water would be a poor decision. So with that in mind I looked for a solution to sleeve my tripod legs. I wanted something that was durable, light, easy to attach, and can be quickly stowed in a small space. In the process I have snapped photos to document the process in case you would like to try it yourself. I’d say the whole project probably cost me 20-30$ having to buy all the equipment. To peak your interest here is what I ended up with:

(Pardon the cell phone shot. Shot this at Minnie falls trying to not get my cell damaged from the pouring rain. Forgot my extra d70 body; D’oh!)

Materials Needed:

• 1.5″ Economy Discharge Hose cut to length that will fit your tripod legs
• Gorilla Glue (try and get one with a long nose applicator for hard to reach places)
• Gorilla Heavy duty duck-like tape
• scissor
• heavy duty clamps or stable weights
• tape measure
  

So in my quest for materials to sleeve my tripod legs I headed to Home Depot. I checked Lowe’s as well, but they had less of a selection for me. I originally looked up clear tubing. Seems like a nice idea because it can be flexible for storage or at least that’s what I first thought. As I searched for clear tubing it got expensive and thicker as you went up in diameter. The first joint on my tripod isn’t incredibly thick, but the second is larger then the first. Taking the advice of the ‘know it all’ employees I was ready to walk out without a solution. I was told this thin hose like sleeve wouldn’t work and I was discouraged. Rather then believe him though I tried it. I put the joints in an voila! I am not sure of the technical term, but it says that it is called ” 1.5″ economy discharge hose II.” I went from 5-6$ for clear tubing to under 2$ for the hose sleeve.

Make sure to measure your tripod legs and get about 4-5 inches extra to help create a better seal. I will show you why I bought extra for that better seal in a bit. Not only extra to hang off the end of the tripod legs, but also 4-5inches to cut for sleeving the sleeves.

You can see at the bottom that Extra is sticking out for the extra seals we will create. Just sealing at one point will not work well.

Make sure to also bring the sleeving up high enough. Never know when you might need to go deep or just to protect against spray or splash.

We are going to create three seals in order to add redundancy and prevent failure of the sleeves. One seal won’t be enough in my mind especially as it will be submerged for possibly long periods of time and with uneven surfaces. The first seal will be a line of glue clamped between the entrance of the tubing for an immediate block. Then we will crease the tubing creating another partial seal. Lastly we will use a cut piece of tubing 4-5 inches and sleeve the folded seal. Gluing the sleeved sleeve as well. All these joints will be taped using the Gorilla Tape. What I love about Gorilla tape is it can be easily torn like gaffers or duck tape, it has extra tacky glue for a seal on both smooth and rough surfaces, and it has a great vinyl like outer coating to repel moisture. Don’t worry about all that I just described. I have images documenting all the seals I’m talking about.

Here on the sleeve where the tape measure is resting I drew a line to know where I was going to crease the bottom of the sleeve. The sleeve saying “4 inch sections” in the foreground is marked by a small black splotch you can see on the upper left portion  of the sleeve. I will me making three  of these 4 inch sections for each leg.

To give you an idea of what I am shooting for here I put the sleeves on the section with the bottom folded up. When you see the final product it will look sleek.

*Now be careful when using this glue. It is strong and sticks easily to skin. Please read the directions for proper use. For example using a dampened and cleaned surface for a seal.*
As you can see above I went about an inch or so up from the bottom of each sleeve and put a solid line of glue from inside end to end. Then I found something flat and rigid to use as compression when clamped to spread the glue. The reason I chose Gorilla glue is for it’s amazing strength and more so it expands. So much so to almost 3-4x its size. This is going to be absolutely essential to fill in any gaps we may have missed. Also did I mention a lot of their glue line is waterproof? As you can see in the picture you don’t have to buy heavy duty clamps. While they are strong and ideal I found that a desk lamp clamp provided more then enough to hold my third sleeve in place.

(example of how a small line of foam can expand)

Once the seal has hardened (I waited 3 to 4hrs) to about 90% I would use gorilla tape to close up the end of the sleeve. I would extend the tape a bit past the end and fold it over onto itself. Feel free to use an extra piece of tape to make sure you have a proper seal. Next we will crease the sleeve at the line we drew.

In order to get the sleeve over the creased and taped area could be a bit tricky. Creating a U like shape can help when sliding it over. When making the U shape though make the bulge facing away from the main chamber of the sleeve. This way as you slide the tripod leg into your final product it will be a bit easier to do so. Once we have the extra hose/tubing we cut to sleeve over the crease (as I showed 4 images above) we will begin by gluing both inner ends. This means we will be gluing the inner ring about half an inch in of each side.  Then continue to clamp it for at least 3-4 hours.

Once the glue is set I then continued to completely wrap the seams in gorilla tape. Leaving me with a tight seal ready for dunking. Now before you go out into the field I would wait at least until the next day for a test run. This way all the glue on the tape and seals can cure. Feel free to use extra tape to make sure you haven’t left any air pockets. Taking your time is very important as the tape and glue will become less forgiving as you play with it.

Our final product. I was out in these waters for a good half our I would say in varying heights of water. I only have Wellingtons (petroleum knee high boots) at the moment so I cant take it incredibly deep. I would expect the hose to hold up however as it’s designed to carry water. Instead were using it to keep it out. I created a quick pop up gallery of all the images I took while working on the project here. I hope this simple and inexpensive way to help protect your tripod legs helps to take your photography to the next level. If you have any comments or suggestions feel free to contact me or drop a comment in the comment section. My next item is going to be building and testing a ground pod for 20-30$. All the best.

(Example of how easy it is to compress and drop in a bag. I’ve shown it inside of a reusable shopping bag for scale.)

*Do this at your own risk* Sorry for the legality junk.