[PSUBS-MAILIST] Commercial question

Mon May 19 15:03:08 EDT 2014

One of the true joys (I suspect) of owning a pair of Deepworkers would be the certain knowledge that another pilot could be on his or her own way in about ten minutes from a standing start if necessary. I consider the DWs a sort of Swiss Army Knife as built by Rolex, which means that they are beautifully made, imminently useful, and can be hammered like an old anvil if necessary. The Perry's and Pisces were kind of like that, too, only bigger. And it would be hard to imagine something we couldn't do or manage with one of those.

I've come to the rescue once and had someone return the favor another time. We backed each other up, basically. ROVs of the day were underpowered, frustratingly delicate, and generally unwieldy. We didn't trust them, and for good reason. Better to have what the US Navy calls the Mk I Human Eyeball on site. I still believe that, mind you.

That said, there is/was a thing called subsmash which comes from the gov't, but extended to civilian vehicles. When they dive, you as another operator would know about it and be on a list for alerts in case of emergency. I believe Nuytco did that for HURL at one time. Back in the day, all the major contractors had a handshake agreement about potential problems. No matter who it was, if somebody needed help, everybody came running, no questions asked.

These days? Hm. If I win the lottery, it would be a pair of DWs maybe, or a pair of acrylic boats. Worst case, one or the other of those with a tailored ROV to provide support for emergencies.

Vance

-----Original Message-----
From: Sean T. Stevenson via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
To: Personal Submersibles General Discussion <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
Sent: Mon, May 19, 2014 1:15 pm
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Commercial question

Vance - when you were piloting subs in      the oilfields, what contingency plans were in place for rescue in      the event of becoming disabled?

      Sean

      On 2014-05-19 10:46, via Personal_Submersibles wrote:

Pinned          into some kind of "only one way out" configuration by the          currents. Kind of nerve wracking, that one.        
Vance

-----Original Message-----
            From: Brian Cox via Personal_Submersibles            <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
            To: Personal Submersibles General Discussion            <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
            Sent: Mon, May 19, 2014 10:38 am
            Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Commercial question

What are  ‘box canyon’ current pins ?                 I don't want to get stuck in one !

                --- personal_submersibles at psubs.org                wrote:

                From: Phil Nuytten via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
                To: "Personal Submersibles General Discussion" <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
                Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Commercial question
                Date: Wed, 7 May 2014 22:31:18 -0700

Hi, Scott,

The major reason that quite a few operators                      prefer subs over ROV’s is the absence of a                      surface  tether. This allows you to go places that                      you shouldn’t and wouldn’t go with a machine                      because the risk of entanglement – inside platform                      legs, pile jackets, etc., There are a number of                      other reasons that have to do with the operators                      senses being right on the site rather than a half                      a mile away. Difficult to explain is the ‘whole                      grasp’ scenario that ROV operators who try manned                      subs almost always mention. Simply put, in a sub                      with a wide view port or a 360 degree dome,  you                      have a strong sense of where everything is – how                      long ago you passed that pipeline, what direction                      it’s in to go back to, the lay of the bottom,  the                      trending of the currents, where to find lees to                      hide in, how to avoid ‘box canyon’ current pins,                      the ability to hit ‘auto altitude’ and fly a fixed                      height above a pipeline or cable regardless of the                      bottom (and therefore the cable’s) undulations.                      When it comes to doing complex work using manips,                      there’s no contest man versus machines. Machines                      do get the work done if they are set up properly,                      but much slower and with many tries, compared to                      the pilot whose hand on the joystick is five feet                      away from the work .

You often hear ROV types say ‘well, it’s just                      the same as being there”. . .  Yeah, right! just                      like telephone sex is the same as the real thing!

I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Phil

From: swaters                              via Personal_Submersibles 

Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2014 7:43                            PM

To: personal_submersibles at psubs.org                          

Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST]                            Commercial question

I have always heard that ROV's are cheaper to                        operate, less risky, and cheaper to buy. I was                        curious what is the advantages of submarines in                        the commercial world such as the oil industry?                        It seems like Phil Nuyten has been able to be                        sucsessful with submarines. Just a curiousity of                        mine.

Thanks,

Scott Waters

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