The reason
Over the last half year, I’ve been on several beaches and sandy areas. From Alaska to the deserts of Utha to the beaches of California and then I stood in the salty waters of Maui. Finally we’ve been to New Zealand, where I shoot the Moreaki Boulders in the sand and salt water. So I thought it would be about time to clean the tripod. Further the sounds when pulling the legs out was not bearable anymore.
Preparation
I took a few plastic bowls, the biggest bowl and a plastic bucket from the kitchen. I filled the bucket with warm soapy water, this was to rinse off the long tubes and threats. In the big bowl I just hat warm water, so I can clean the little pieces. Finally I used the plastic bowls to store the nuts and other pieces of the tripod separately.
Cleaning
The cleaning was not so easy, as the threads where filled with silicon based fat. I did not have any smart way to get rid of it, other than using Q-Tips and tissues. But unfortunately, not all of the sand could get removed. Never the less most sand got washed away by the warm soapy water.
Assembly
After all parts had dried in the sun, I started to assemble the trip pod again. Unfortunately I still felt some sand in the threads, but I was not able to clean them better with the tools I had at my disposal. But it sounds a lot better that it did prior my cleaning actions.. so it was worth the job.
