[PSUBS-MAILIST] PC2021

Tue Jan 26 17:58:49 EST 2021

Jon - finally checking in on the list. My apologies that it has taken so
long, unacceptable on my part.

Thanks to both Cliff and Jon for starting these threads on project updates
and a possible PC '21.

I'll take this opportunity to share an update of my own, sorry that it's
going to be rather long-winded.

For those who might not have heard through the Facebook grapevine, my
family has experienced a bit of bad luck lately (well actually a lot of bad
luck, haha). During a ferocious storm back in the summer of 2019, our
family home was struck by lightning! The smell of ozone and burned wiring
filled the whole house but we checked scrupulously and there was no fire.
We had to replace our TVs, computers and other appliances because the
electricity from the lightning seems to have entered the house through the
power main. We also inspected and replaced as much wiring as we could, but
wiring behind walls and in the ceiling proved nearly impossible to replace
so we left it alone. Apparently that was a big mistake because a few months
later in October of 2019, the house caught fire and, for all intents and
purposes, burned to the ground. Some of the structure was salvageable but
much of it was lost. We are very fortunate that we also own a sort of
'guest house' on the same property that was untouched by the flames, so
we've been living in this little place for the past 15 months now as the
house has been getting gutted, redesigned and now rebuilt. Unbelievably we
suffered a second, completely unrelated, fire on the same property this
July, 2020. A tree fell in strong winds bringing a 19.9KV line down onto
our detached garage. The metal garage became electrified and started
emitting sparks. This eventually caught some fireworks on fire that went
off and set the whole building alight. After the house fire we had made
extra room in this garage for the storage of any salvageable articles from
the house, so the garage was loaded to the gills with valuable stuff and
unfortunately it was all lost to smoke, fire, water or some combination
thereof. Several fire departments responded immediately but there was
little to be done before the electric utility killed the line and for some
reason that took the better part of an hour. It was painful for us to watch
as the garage went up in smoke and flame with the firemen standing by but
unable to safely fight the fire. Luckily in the lightning strike and both
structure fires, no lives were lost and in the final analysis that's all
that matters. But throw in the pandemic that we've all been dealing with
and this past year has been no picnic at the beach!

Starting in the fall of 2019, right before the house fire hit, I had
embarked on the project of a lifetime - building a light airplane. I rented
out a business-jet hangar at my local airport and began quick-build
construction of Zenair Ltd. CH-801-SD bush plane. Because the hangar
affords ample work room, I decided to take the K-250 submersible Snoopy out
to the hangar as well. This turned out to be a real blessing-in-disguise
because out at the hangar Snoopy was safe from the impending doom that
befell our property a short while later! Snoopy was torn apart for overhaul
in late 2018 (a process which both Alec and Steve have been
extremely helpful with) and her parts were all moved out to the hangar over
the summer before the fire, so she's all safe but still in need of
sandblasting, painting and reassembly. Beyond having the sub project and
airplane project running concurrently, I've also been working on a house of
my own down the road from my parents' place... the fire was God's way of
telling me that it's time to move out of my parents' home and starting
living like a so-called "adult" hahaha.

Both the rebuild project of mom and dad's house and the restoration of my
own house down the road are coming along nicely despite some delays caused
by the various virus shutdowns. With any luck we should be moved into our
'new' homes by the late spring and then full attention can be returned to
the projects at hand. I try to head out to the hangar when I have a couple
of spare hours and get a little something done, mostly with the
establishment of a "shop" (crane, work bench, drill press, lathe, etc. but
I put shop in quotations because it's pretty makeshift at this point).

As to a potential PC-'21, I would love to participate but I am hesitate to
offer my services, especially so down in Islamorada until I get a better
idea of when we'll be moved into our new homes and have our lives back on
track (obviously this takes priority at the moment). We also have several
events coming up this year including an airshow and a wedding, but those
are partially dependent on how COVID plays out as well. Although I really
can't offer any hard and fast assistance this year, my desire to
participate in sub events remains strong. If you guys come up with
something for this year, please keep me in the loop because I'd like to see
if I could make it (almost certainly without Snoopy for this year). I am
eager to get back under the water ASAP, but sometimes the best things are
worth the wait. Best wishes to whoever might be reading this, hope you are
all staying healthy and safe amid this dreadful pandemic. ~ Douglas S.

On Thu, Jan 7, 2021 at 2:46 PM Jon Wallace via Personal_Submersibles <
personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:

> I'm sure we will have a need for your services.
> Jon
>
>
> On Thursday, January 7, 2021, 12:09:21 PM EST, Sean T. Stevenson via
> Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:
>
>
> I don't have a sub to bring, but I'd be happy to assist with sub ops again
> if I can make the dates work. Any need for a support / rescue diver?
>
> Sean
>
> _______________________________________________
> Personal_Submersibles mailing list
> Personal_Submersibles at psubs.org
> http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles
>
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