Being that ORCA is outfitted with two really stout booms, a heavy 20000# Gearmatic tow winch and a large working deck, I am seriously considering outfitting her as a light salvage vessel and thinking right now about what that would entail regarding gear needed:
>several large dewatering pumps,
>large webslings & other lifting gear
>large engine powered air compressor w/ lift bags,
>dive gear and compressor
>a four point mooring capability of some sort,
>maybe an A-frame off the transom for heavy lifting
She doesn’t have a ton of HP for towing (225hp specifically). I know the wheel is pitched for towing trawls so should be able tow a waterlogged vessel if needed to shallow water provided the weather isn’t shit or currents ripping.
I wonder what marine underwriters would need in form of experience to become qualified in their eyes? In Puget Sound, Global Diving and Salvage is the big dog with a bunch of smaller players but I am wondering if a small fish might be able to play in the pool?
Of course, I can always charter her out for shark hunting!
Anyway, just rambling thoughts as I goof off online on a Sunday afternoon.
I know MILLER FREEMAN is going to be disposed of soon but she’s a wee bit past my ability to pay for on a credit card. I also know she is a might rusty in her internals and is going to need a massive investment to get her certified to go to sea again. Of course, Dan Stabbert will likely buy her. He seems to buy most of the old NOAA tubs sold in the NW and then seems to find work for them out there. I guess the old DAVID STARR JORDAN is working somewhere? He bought and refit her, the DAVIDSON and the McARTHUR as well. He also has the old ALPHA HELIX out there but see her listed for sale perpetually so perhaps she isn’t working all the time?
Anybody know what’s going on with the Ocean Services’ fleet these days?
for as old and tired as the MF is, she is still kick ass better than the OSCAR DYSON class pieces of shit!
I hope that something positive happens with FREEMAN but it will only be if there is paying work for her to justify the expense of a major rebuild. MT MITCHELL cost $15+M to rebuild ten years ago and has never found steady work. If the owners weren’t rich assed fishermen from Alaska that ship would have gone bankrupt many times already!
Stabbert Marine is behind all of that they have the alpha helix and one or two others. You would be fine in salvage a know a guy in Port Orchard who does marine salvage mostly yachts and other things at marinas that need inspections or if stuff sinks. Your first piece if gear should be a kick ass diver in my opinion.
[QUOTE=rshrew;112067]Stabbert Marine is behind all of that they have the alpha helix and one or two others. You would be fine in salvage a know a guy in Port Orchard who does marine salvage mostly yachts and other things at marinas that need inspections or if stuff sinks. Your first piece if gear should be a kick ass diver in my opinion.[/QUOTE]
Ah, there’s drunken divers all over the place there living in Ballard flophouses or the gutter under the bridge…they’re dime a dozen and work for beer and skittles!
Actually you are correct that I do need to team up with a dive contractor…let him worry about his men and I only supply a boat with gear. That’s the way to go
btw, unless there has been major anger management taking place, the owners of the MT MITCHELL and Dandy Danny can’t stand each other. Of course most of the west coast maritime community feels the same way about ole Danny Boy but boy does he manage to make the BUCKS. He is beyond Teflon, no shit ever sticks to the guy! Now I hear he is partnered with Global Diving for his Brazilian operation.
Hey, you could always sell some TV Network on the idea of Filming a Series about doing Salvage Work and have it pay for your boat. Oh, Never mind that has been tired before and as I have not heard about a season Two, I guess the Rations Sucked!
[QUOTE=Tugs;112073]Hey, you could always sell some TV Network on the idea of Filming a Series about doing Salvage Work and have it pay for your boat. Oh, Never mind that has been tired before and as I have not heard about a season Two, I guess the Rations Sucked![/QUOTE]
well the Lord knows I swear enough for reality TV!
speaking of reality TV…who likes “Mountain Men”? Seems to be just slightly less contrived and phony that all the rest of the visual diarrhea the cable networks force feed us!
The idea of subbing the dive work out to someone else may have merit, I know that we have had a marine construction firm do a bunch of stuff for us with their crane barge, and when the bill came the diver was always invoiced separately, as the insurance policy for the crane barge company would not allow them to provide diver services.
Rigging for a 4 point anchoring system should be pretty painless, the biggest challenge could be making sure you have good space for stowing the rodes. And, you will probably want to have a skiff for running and retrieving the anchors. When I worked on a small dive boat in the Keys we had a great system for mooring; there was a 90 lb. Danforth anchor on each corner, each with about 300 ft. of 1" polypropylene rode. ( I know, polypro sucks, but it did the job here).
Each anchor had a 5/8" crown line with a bouy on it. We were working in 20 to 30 feet of water depth, so that wasnt an issue. When the time came to set up, we would drop the two bow anchors at a 45 degree angle, then back down to where we wanted to be set up.
Then using the skiff, we ran the stern anchors. The crown line was attached to a cleat on the stern of a 13’ Boston whaler with a 25hp tiller operated outboard motor. The anchor was towed behind the whaler by the crown line at a distance of about 15 feet behind the whaler at a sufficient speed to cause the anchor to plane at the surface behind the whaler. The chain and polypropylene anchor rode was paid out from the back deck, while the captain directed the whaler which way to go as it ran away from the boat, and then a hand signal to drop the anchor to the bottom. Once all 4 anchors were set, any positional moves were accomplished by using the engines to move the boat, and rodes were adjusted by hand without having to use winches.
Retrieving anchors was just as easy as setting them, when the time came the whaler would pull all the slack out of the crown line on the anchor that needed to be retrieved, or re-set in a different location. Tying off the crown line, and then the crew on the boat slacking the rode, we would pull the anchor out of the bottom by its crown, and the speed would cause the anchor to surface and plane behind the whaler. The whaler crew would then turn and run full tilt back to the boat, swooping alongside and throwing the crown line up to the deck crew on the boat to then retrieve the anchor. Pretty slick way of doing it, if you ask me. Of course, this may not work as well in deeper water depths, or if you cannot use a danforth type anchor that will not plane off behind a skiff.
definitely going to team up with a separate diver or dive company with their own men, gear and insurance! That is one place I don’t plan to go myself although I am planning to have a small compressor and some dive gear I can use myself (I just got a sweet deal on an Interspiro full face dive mask but without comms).
Rigging for a 4 point anchoring system should be pretty painless, the biggest challenge could be making sure you have good space for stowing the rodes. And, you will probably want to have a skiff for running and retrieving the anchors. When I worked on a small dive boat in the Keys we had a great system for mooring; there was a 90 lb. Danforth anchor on each corner, each with about 300 ft. of 1" polypropylene rode. ( I know, polypro sucks, but it did the job here).
I’ve got a bid in on a nice 16’ Whaler on Washington State Surplus but doubt I’ll get it since I am broke and can’t go higher but in the end I think I’ll likely get a heavyduty aluminum boat which will have more utility for me. I’ve already been working up a rigging plan for the anchor spread. Will need chocks in the stern to run the lines through and stout cleats to make the rodes off to in the cockpit. Up forward, the boat already has a hurking winch and I wonder if I can’t actually set up for a three point moor with a single big assed anchor forward. Drop forward and then come astern until past the point of work, run out and drop both anchors off the stern using the skiff and make them off by hand and then winch up on the forward rode until all is tight. Should work I think? Two anchors forward might be a bitch unless I use a little fishplate and shackle both anchors into a single wire.
Here’s that winch:
you can see what I mean by hurkin!
Updated - - -
No question I need to be talking with an agent who specializes in getting cover for such operations. Since I got to get the boat fixed up first, I have time but right now I see using the ORCA for both occasional fisheries charters and salvage jobs. Anything to make a buck to pay for the boat and gear.
[QUOTE=cmakin;112229]Moving into the commercial area will certainly involve some state and federal compliance, and, of course H&M and P&I insurance. . . .[/QUOTE]
No question I need to be talking with an agent who specializes in getting cover for such operations. Since I got to get the boat fixed up first, I have time but right now I see using the ORCA for both occasional fisheries charters and salvage jobs. Anything to make a buck to pay for the boat and gear.
