[PSUBS-MAILIST] Islamorada Trip / Dive Report...

[via Personal_Submersibles]

Doug,
Good going. Splashdown! Nerves tested. Toasts made. Cigars smoked. Sunset appreciated even more than usual. A good day with a few extra gray hairs ain't all bad. As to the lifting yoke, if height is a problem, go with something like a pair of long bottle screws (turnbuckles) with end closures rather than open hooks. Make sure they are long enough so that slack in the lift line will result in the yoke pivoting to one side from the sub's welded lift points. I'd do the carpet thing, too, being a belt and suspenders kind of yahoo like I am.
Vance



-----Original Message-----
From: Douglas Suhr via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
To: personal_submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
Sent: Fri, Feb 24, 2017 4:07 pm
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Islamorada Trip / Dive Report...

Holy smokes is this email overdue - sorry guys - better late than
never (right?).

Greetings fellow PSUBBERS, Doug Jr. here with a basic trip / dive
report from our October, 2016 excursion to the Florida Keys with
submersible Snoopy.

The group ended up being no more than my own family and my friend Mike
Patterson.

To start off, we had a relatively limited amount of time on location
(about 6 days), considering that it was our first real trial with
Snoopy. Complicating matters was the fact that October is still within
hurricane season and the weather was not kind to us... we managed to
be down in the Keys between (and not during) hurricanes / tropical
storms, but the weather was still a major obstacle, giving us rain /
thunder / lightning / strong winds / rough seas / poor water
visibility... the works. Luckily the canal (of about 25 feet in depth)
offered us enough shelter to conduct some test dives in spite of
conditions.

Snoopy herself offered us excellent service with no major issues (no
leaks, no electrical issues, etc). Prior to operation, we O2 cleaned
the entire oxygen system (hoses, gauge, reg, valves, etc.) and when
first in the water, my dad as support diver noticed an extremely small
O2 leak on the exterior reg (producing super small / slow bubbles in
the water). We rectified the problem by snugging up the fittings with
a wrench.

With Snoopy right off the  dock in the canal, we all had a great time
acquainting ourselves with buoyancy and thruster control, noting the
slight delay in reaction to input as well as the overall sensitivity
of the controls.

In terms of trimming out for proper buoyancy (via trawl floats), I had
been concerned that Snoopy wouldn't provide enough positive buoyancy
for two heavier occupants, but my worries were belayed soon enough
when I tried to dive solo (with no floats in the tubes) and the sub
was WAY too buoyant. We ended up using all of the dive weights we had
on hand, plus a few 10 LB anchors that we had lying about and finally
I came to nearly neutral buoyancy (I weigh about 190lbs).

I don't have much doubt now that we have enough flotation in the
submersible's current weight/float configuration to safely dive two
heavier occupants, however, we ran out of time to test with two people
aboard.

Aside from limited time and poor conditions, here are a few other
issues we encountered: As Alec, Steve and anyone else who rode in
Snoppy down in the Keys can attest, it gets HOT in the hull when you
are on the surface (even if just for a couple of minutes). Being under
the dome (in the Keys) reminded me of being in a greenhouse: hot and
humid. We need a better way to control the humidity within the hull
(if nothing else than for the electronics' sake). Air conditioning
would be a dream!

I made the silly mistake of not bringing a scale for proper weight
calculations (I assumed we had one at the house, but we didn't, then
couldn't find any at the local drug stores!?!?). So we were doing a
lot of guessing and checking when it came to trimming out. It took a
while, but we ended up getting a pretty good system figured out.

The only real nasty experience we had through the duration of our stay
in the keys occurred when the davit we were using to launch and
recover the sub failed and dropped the sub down into the water. The
davits we use are rated at 5,500 LBS and Snoopy weighs in at around
2600 LBS, so no problem... when the lifting equipment is new. Problem
is that these davits have galvanized cable that has a way of looking
healthy on the outside but ugly within the strands (after being
exposed to the elements for some time). On one of our last recoveries,
the cable of the davit we were using snapped violently, dropping the
sub about 5 feet through the air and right back into the canal.
Thankfully, it didn't occur when we were swinging the sub over the
concrete dock and no damage resulted... but it taught me a powerful
lesson in being prepared for the unexpected!

I know that to most of you guys these tips are common sense, but for
the sake of safety, let me review a few things to consider when
launching/recovering with cranes/davits:

1. Never allow anyone under (or even close to) the vessel when it's
being hoisted.
2. Use at least two tag-lines to control direction and arrest sway if
lifting from a single point crane.
3. Don't lift higher than necessary.
4. Inspect equipment regularly and replace components when necessary.
5. Ensure hatch is closed and secured prior to lifting (this probably
saved Snoopy from going to the bottom of the canal, as the
'splash-down' was extreme).
6. (for dome hatched vessels), wrap spreader bars, pulleys, blocks and
other hardware in carpet (secured by tape or zip ties) so if a failure
occurs the submersible won't incur damage (another thing that saved us
- the spreader bar bonked Snoopy on the head, but she was protected by
thick padding).
7. Never stand in line with tensioned wire rope. When it snaps, it
whips with tremendous force.

Although at the time I was shocked that what happened actually
occurred, in retrospect I'm happy it did, because for such a failure
to occur at all, it couldn't have had a better outcome or made a
stronger impression on me. Still a novice submersible operator, but
getting better with each lesson I learn! ~ Douglas S.
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