<font color='black' size='3' face='Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif'><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Cosmetic? Pshaw! In Germany, real men have dueling scars.</span><font size="3"><i> <span style="color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Glückwünsche!</span></i></font>
<div style="font-size: 12pt;">Vance<br>
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<div style="font-family:helvetica,arial;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Douglas Suhr via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles@psubs.org><br>
To: Personal Submersibles General Discussion <personal_submersibles@psubs.org><br>
Sent: Sat, Feb 25, 2017 4:05 pm<br>
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Islamorada Trip / Dive Report...<br>
<br>
Thank Tim. Yes, I do have a few photos which I will post on the site<br>
and then share the link. I would give a thousand dollars and my left<br>
eyeball for a video of that davit failure, unfortunately we didn't<br>
catch it on film.<br>
<br>
Alec, I agree with you that hoisting/maneuvering the hull is probably<br>
the most risky part of standard sub ops! In the aftermath of the<br>
incident, I remembered your story about Snoopy falling a short<br>
distance in your shop... she is a tried-and-true vessel, that's for<br>
sure.<br>
<br>
Re-reading my hastily prepared report, I now realize that I included<br>
nothing about what we did following the davit failure... so after we<br>
got over the shock and got our wits about us, dad jumped back in the<br>
water to make sure she wasn't leaking anywhere and to recover the<br>
spreader bar (still attached to snoopy's lifting lugs). Dad handed up<br>
the spreader, then slowly swam snoopy down to another davit, which<br>
Mike and I thoroughly inspected before snapping on the spreader and<br>
lowering it down to dad, who hooked her up for a second time that<br>
evening.<br>
<br>
With dad back out of the canal, we cautiously lifted Snoopy out of the<br>
water and onto the dock with the second davit. During our normal fresh<br>
water hose-down we spent extra time checking everything over to make<br>
sure any damage was discovered and noted, though we noticed nothing<br>
serious (unfortunately there is a fresh surface gouge in the port<br>
saddle tank where the spreader bar came to rest, but it's only<br>
cosmetic). ~ Doug<br>
<br>
On 2/25/17, Alec Smyth via Personal_Submersibles<br>
<<a href="mailto:personal_submersibles@psubs.org">personal_submersibles@psubs.org</a>> wrote:<br>
> Great report Doug, thanks! I always maintain the most dangerous part of a<br>
> little sub is in the workshop, and in particular the lifting. There's all<br>
> sorts of precarious situations one can let onself into when you need to do<br>
> things like flip the boat upside down to work on the bottom, etc. My<br>
> scaries incident by far was when a chain lift broke and dropped Snoopy a<br>
> foot onto the concrete floor of the garage. It was just a foot, but it was<br>
> probably picked up by nearby seismographs.<br>
><br>
> Best,<br>
><br>
> Alec<br>
><br>
> On Fri, Feb 24, 2017 at 4:06 PM, Douglas Suhr via Personal_Submersibles <<br>
> <a href="mailto:personal_submersibles@psubs.org">personal_submersibles@psubs.org</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
>> Holy smokes is this email overdue - sorry guys - better late than<br>
>> never (right?).<br>
>><br>
>> Greetings fellow PSUBBERS, Doug Jr. here with a basic trip / dive<br>
>> report from our October, 2016 excursion to the Florida Keys with<br>
>> submersible Snoopy.<br>
>><br>
>> The group ended up being no more than my own family and my friend Mike<br>
>> Patterson.<br>
>><br>
>> To start off, we had a relatively limited amount of time on location<br>
>> (about 6 days), considering that it was our first real trial with<br>
>> Snoopy. Complicating matters was the fact that October is still within<br>
>> hurricane season and the weather was not kind to us... we managed to<br>
>> be down in the Keys between (and not during) hurricanes / tropical<br>
>> storms, but the weather was still a major obstacle, giving us rain /<br>
>> thunder / lightning / strong winds / rough seas / poor water<br>
>> visibility... the works. Luckily the canal (of about 25 feet in depth)<br>
>> offered us enough shelter to conduct some test dives in spite of<br>
>> conditions.<br>
>><br>
>> Snoopy herself offered us excellent service with no major issues (no<br>
>> leaks, no electrical issues, etc). Prior to operation, we O2 cleaned<br>
>> the entire oxygen system (hoses, gauge, reg, valves, etc.) and when<br>
>> first in the water, my dad as support diver noticed an extremely small<br>
>> O2 leak on the exterior reg (producing super small / slow bubbles in<br>
>> the water). We rectified the problem by snugging up the fittings with<br>
>> a wrench.<br>
>><br>
>> With Snoopy right off the dock in the canal, we all had a great time<br>
>> acquainting ourselves with buoyancy and thruster control, noting the<br>
>> slight delay in reaction to input as well as the overall sensitivity<br>
>> of the controls.<br>
>><br>
>> In terms of trimming out for proper buoyancy (via trawl floats), I had<br>
>> been concerned that Snoopy wouldn't provide enough positive buoyancy<br>
>> for two heavier occupants, but my worries were belayed soon enough<br>
>> when I tried to dive solo (with no floats in the tubes) and the sub<br>
>> was WAY too buoyant. We ended up using all of the dive weights we had<br>
>> on hand, plus a few 10 LB anchors that we had lying about and finally<br>
>> I came to nearly neutral buoyancy (I weigh about 190lbs).<br>
>><br>
>> I don't have much doubt now that we have enough flotation in the<br>
>> submersible's current weight/float configuration to safely dive two<br>
>> heavier occupants, however, we ran out of time to test with two people<br>
>> aboard.<br>
>><br>
>> Aside from limited time and poor conditions, here are a few other<br>
>> issues we encountered: As Alec, Steve and anyone else who rode in<br>
>> Snoppy down in the Keys can attest, it gets HOT in the hull when you<br>
>> are on the surface (even if just for a couple of minutes). Being under<br>
>> the dome (in the Keys) reminded me of being in a greenhouse: hot and<br>
>> humid. We need a better way to control the humidity within the hull<br>
>> (if nothing else than for the electronics' sake). Air conditioning<br>
>> would be a dream!<br>
>><br>
>> I made the silly mistake of not bringing a scale for proper weight<br>
>> calculations (I assumed we had one at the house, but we didn't, then<br>
>> couldn't find any at the local drug stores!?!?). So we were doing a<br>
>> lot of guessing and checking when it came to trimming out. It took a<br>
>> while, but we ended up getting a pretty good system figured out.<br>
>><br>
>> The only real nasty experience we had through the duration of our stay<br>
>> in the keys occurred when the davit we were using to launch and<br>
>> recover the sub failed and dropped the sub down into the water. The<br>
>> davits we use are rated at 5,500 LBS and Snoopy weighs in at around<br>
>> 2600 LBS, so no problem... when the lifting equipment is new. Problem<br>
>> is that these davits have galvanized cable that has a way of looking<br>
>> healthy on the outside but ugly within the strands (after being<br>
>> exposed to the elements for some time). On one of our last recoveries,<br>
>> the cable of the davit we were using snapped violently, dropping the<br>
>> sub about 5 feet through the air and right back into the canal.<br>
>> Thankfully, it didn't occur when we were swinging the sub over the<br>
>> concrete dock and no damage resulted... but it taught me a powerful<br>
>> lesson in being prepared for the unexpected!<br>
>><br>
>> I know that to most of you guys these tips are common sense, but for<br>
>> the sake of safety, let me review a few things to consider when<br>
>> launching/recovering with cranes/davits:<br>
>><br>
>> 1. Never allow anyone under (or even close to) the vessel when it's<br>
>> being hoisted.<br>
>> 2. Use at least two tag-lines to control direction and arrest sway if<br>
>> lifting from a single point crane.<br>
>> 3. Don't lift higher than necessary.<br>
>> 4. Inspect equipment regularly and replace components when necessary.<br>
>> 5. Ensure hatch is closed and secured prior to lifting (this probably<br>
>> saved Snoopy from going to the bottom of the canal, as the<br>
>> 'splash-down' was extreme).<br>
>> 6. (for dome hatched vessels), wrap spreader bars, pulleys, blocks and<br>
>> other hardware in carpet (secured by tape or zip ties) so if a failure<br>
>> occurs the submersible won't incur damage (another thing that saved us<br>
>> - the spreader bar bonked Snoopy on the head, but she was protected by<br>
>> thick padding).<br>
>> 7. Never stand in line with tensioned wire rope. When it snaps, it<br>
>> whips with tremendous force.<br>
>><br>
>> Although at the time I was shocked that what happened actually<br>
>> occurred, in retrospect I'm happy it did, because for such a failure<br>
>> to occur at all, it couldn't have had a better outcome or made a<br>
>> stronger impression on me. Still a novice submersible operator, but<br>
>> getting better with each lesson I learn! ~ Douglas S.<br>
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>><br>
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