Wet cams with water stuck in the stem and thumb loop (BD C4 and UL)

Hello all,

So I thought I might do an lockdown appropriate activity and clean all my cams and re-lube them. I used warm water and detergent and worked the triggers. I rinsed them well, perhaps too well. When I let them dry, some of the water migrated up under the plastic sheath of the stem and has settled in the thumb loop.

Has This ever happened to any of you? I figure there are some wet weather climbers and alpine folks whom have dealt with some version of this problem. Will my cables rust and fail causing me to meet my untimely demise when I whip for the four-hundredth time on the incredible hand crack!? Please and thank you,
-Climby

Climbing world problems.

Climby Climberson wrote: Hello all,

So I thought I might do an lockdown appropriate activity and clean all my cams and re-lube them. I used warm water and detergent and worked the triggers. I rinsed them well, perhaps too well. When I let them dry, some of the water migrated up under the plastic sheath of the stem and has settled in the thumb loop.

Has This ever happened to any of you? I figure there are some wet weather climbers and alpine folks whom have dealt with some version of this problem. Will my cables rust and fail causing me to meet my untimely demise when I whip for the four-hundredth time on the incredible hand crack!? Please and thank you,
-Climby

Heat oven up to about 150, turn off. Put cams on towel lined bake sheet, then place sheet on middle rack and leave overnight. In morning it'll be dry.

Grandpa Dave wrote:

Heat oven up to about 150, turn off. Put cams on towel lined bake sheet, then place sheet on middle rack and leave overnight. In morning it'll be dry.

How do you know when they're ready, stick a fork in them? You should specify 150 Farenheight, we don't want the cams getting overdone or sticking to the pan. 

Grandpa Dave wrote:

Heat oven up to about 150, turn off. Put cams on towel lined bake sheet, then place sheet on middle rack and leave overnight. In morning it'll be dry.

I would pretty much agree with this suggestion with a few additions, I might not get the oven quite that hot more of like 125 F,  put them on a cotton towel, and orient them cam end up so to let the moisture easily escape.

DrRockso wrote:
How do you know when they're ready, stick a fork in them? You should specify 150 Farenheight, we don't want the cams getting overdone or sticking to the pan.

The cams spring open when done.

Grandpa Dave wrote:

Heat oven up to about 150, turn off. Put cams on towel lined bake sheet, then place sheet on middle rack and leave overnight. In morning it'll be dry.

If there werent fabric slings on them, this might actually be good advice.

Put them in a bag of iphones

For what it's worth... Soft goods weakening due to moisture is why CAMP doesn't use or recommend using shrink tube, their representative told me. Difficult to dry, more difficult to check, especially if it's opaque.

Put them in the dryer, better yet use a hair dryer!

Most ovens won't go that low.... The lowest temp on mine is ~170f.  I would lay it on your heat vent register, put it in front of a dehumidifier or in a bucket of rice before I put it in the oven.  Or if you have a food dehydrator toss it in there.

I would send these pictures to BD. I have definitely gotten my cams wet before and this did not happen. They may replace em or something if they designed them for this to not happen. Worth a shot to get their input.

Sleep with them all night long baby!

Generally, a situation like this calls for an exorcism. So it's important to find the right priest. God bless and godspeed.

Hang them in a dry or windy so the water can drain out.

You can contact BD about problems with corrosion on the cables and they will say they have not heard of that being a problem.  

Rice might work, but silica gel would probably work better.  Used to be able to get it at "Drug Stores", but I don't think so anymore. Gun shops sometimes have canisters, as keeping guns dry for long-term storage is important.  Try there or AMAZON if the rice doesn't work.  (It's easily re-activated and re-used.)

ps - 150F should not hurt the webbing (cars and car trunks easily get to this temp in the sun, even in the Northeast in the summer...180F in the South) But do be careful if you try this, as somewhere up above 200F (?) it might.  Nylon melts around 450F.  

Eric Howe wrote: Most ovens won't go that low.... The lowest temp on mine is ~170f.  I would lay it on your heat vent register, put it in front of a dehumidifier or in a bucket of rice before I put it in the oven.  Or if you have a food dehydrator toss it in there.

That is lowest set point (though some have a warm option which is lower). One can simply turn the oven off before it reaches the lowest set point. Further, one can even monitor the temperature with a thermometer. That said the goal is to warm the oven up then turn it off (as noted in the original suggestion), not maintain the temperature.

Ok, mix with rice and silica, bake in the oven... Got it

Climby Climberson wrote: Ok, mix with rice and silica, bake in the oven... Got it

And salt to taste.... :-)

Put 'em in your microwave on high for about a minute!

I had the exact same thing happen to me a few days ago: I was washing and re-lubing my cams (rack is a mix of ultralight, Z4 and C4, all black diamond), and I noticed beads of moisture under the plastic sheath when I was done. I only dipped/swished the metal lobes and the very end of the cam in a bowl of water when I was washing them (i.e. I didn't submerge the entire cam in water), so the moisture must have migrated down toward the sling end when I took them out. Glad I found this thread! I might email black diamond to see what they say. For now I've had my cams hanging sling end up in front of a fan for over 24 hours and the moisture is still there. I'll try that for a bit longer, possibly hanging them the other way (lobe end up) to help the moisture escape, and then maybe I'll move to the oven recipe everyone wrote about above.

If anyone has any recommendations beyond the oven recipe, please let me know! OP, did it work for you?

Some pictures for posterity:

Adrian Torchianawrote:

If anyone has any recommendations beyond the oven recipe, please let me know! OP, did it work for you?

Three year old thread and the OP's last logon was Jan 12, 2023.