Underwater Endoscope Camera for checking props etc

What all this is leading to are underwater drones…I’m watching them closely…waiting for the price to drop to affordable. There are two kinds…tethered and untethered…obviously the tethered are the cheapest but have the risk of fouling on your stern gear etc…and the swim you bought the technology to avoid becomes necessary.
One day, untethered drones with robot arms that can remove the lobster pot..will be a reality at a price point we can live with
 
What all this is leading to are underwater drones…I’m watching them closely…waiting for the price to drop to affordable. There are two kinds…tethered and untethered…obviously the tethered are the cheapest but have the risk of fouling on your stern gear etc…and the swim you bought the technology to avoid becomes necessary.
One day, untethered drones with robot arms that can remove the lobster pot..will be a reality at a price point we can live with
The day after, untethered drones with robot arms that can remove your prop, will be a reality that we (or our successors) might have to guard against.

The sword of tech often has two edges
 
I still use a GoPro taped to a boathook.
Ok there's no live feed but I'm in no rush, I film the underside of the boat in a grid style pattern. I then sit down below with a cup of tea and watch the footage back, 9 times out of 10, I get what I need first time and don't need to reshoot. It takes a bit of practice to get the right distance but the IQ and focus on the GoPro's is so good you get the detail you need.
I already have one (two actually) which I use for other things so the above makes sense to me.
 
I keep my endoscope on the boat…it has its own screen and a 2 meter bendy stem…before that I had a longer one that wasn’t flexible and that I tied to a boat hook. As everyone says, the focal point are to narrow to really see anything underwater.
The fishing camera sounds good
 
The video is not so good because I had to film with sunlight blasting into the water .... my guy needed to have sun at his back to dive and clear the rope.
But if I could have put fishing camera other side - the video would have been good and clear.


An Endoscope would have been far worse with poor FoV etc ... I have two Endo's so I'm not talking from no experience.
 
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I have a cheap endoscope/borescope from Lidl, used it for inspecting the heat exchangers on the engines it has a 1m probe and is 4mm in diameter.

The technician that services the engines borescoped the cylinders of the engines, his borescope is tiny, less than the 4mm of mine, it is fully steerable, cost him €3k for it. We were able to put it into the cylinders from the injector holes and look around the inside, rocking the engine we were able to inspect the valves too, the cross hatching in the bores was still in good shape.
 
I have a cheap endoscope/borescope from Lidl, used it for inspecting the heat exchangers on the engines it has a 1m probe and is 4mm in diameter.

The technician that services the engines borescoped the cylinders of the engines, his borescope is tiny, less than the 4mm of mine, it is fully steerable, cost him €3k for it. We were able to put it into the cylinders from the injector holes and look around the inside, rocking the engine we were able to inspect the valves too, the cross hatching in the bores was still in good shape.

THAT is the real purpose of Endo's .... closed spaces that you do not need 1m .. 5m depth of field etc.

I use mine when inspecting inside model fuselages ... finding narrow ways to thread a cable etc.
 
I bought a cheapish Draper endoscope Draper Endoscope to help route pipes and cables into hidden areas on the boat. I also used it later on tied to a long boathook to look at a suspected fouled prop - not perfect for that but good enough to say it was not fouled. (Turned out the prop vibration wasn't fouling but a significantly bent blade - found this after liftout, but I doubt any underwater camera could have told this.)
 
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