Extensions? Capt Dom

[Skimmer]

Extensions? I've tried to go back and review most of the posts regarding your Jupiter Wreck..and I've read with
interest your plan to build cofferdams/10x10x10 aluminum enclosures to dig in..but, I have not seen any reference to blower extensions being used. Perhaps Imissed it, probably I have, since I'm sure you would have thought of it over the years. Granted, when we've used them, we had to repeatedly getthem rewelded due to splitting from the force generated, resulting in down (off, yea !!) days. also, your blower/stern mounts better be WAY strong, but, have you tried em??.. Easy to bolt on, and makes deeper digging waaayyyy easier. And, it keeps the local TIG welders busy in the summer.

 

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[Skimmer]

Uh, I also oughta mention we're diggin with Cat 3208 Turbo's, swingin a couple big ol 4 blade props, that makes a BIG difference. Maybe we should talk about cooperating for a couple days and you can see for yourself how to get to bedrock (terminal) depth.
I'd have to convince my bosses (investors) but we could probably work it out, we're nearby. Gettin bumpy
and chilly now, but a couple of otherwise nonproductive dock days could be the ticket.
Not to pee on your parade, but you won't get ME into
anunderwater aluminum box surrounded by the Jupiter Inlet sand waitin to crash in. I'm a scaredy cat.

 

[mad4wrecks]

Skimmer, welcome to the forum. How about introducing yourself to those of us who do not know you? Apparently you have done quite a bit of reading here but with only 8 posts I am not sure you are qualified yet to take a swipe at someone like Pegleg.

As for blower extensions, what is the formula for the extra length versus the additional depth of the hole? Keep in mind too that with the shallow depth these guys are working, extensions may not be feasible, unless they can be bolted on once a hole has been opened up.

Tom

 

[riobravo]

hi skimmer,
seen a lot of holes dug, and all areas are different, extensions aren't the solution for deeper holes in shallow water.
you have to use different techniques of which i not afraid to admit that i am still developing new procedures, not to say that I havent got a few tricks up my sleeve for shallow sites such as Jupiter.
what rig you been working on, have we met.

 

[capt dom]

Hi Skimmer,

Thanks for directing a question this way...

We had a great vessel Teddy Tucker - the great treasure hunter from Bermuda loaned us for a couple of years.
It was a 40 foot Cortun steel Louisiana quarters Barge tow boat with 8-71 N's swinging good sized wheels.

Attached is a photo. We started out with a deflector he had installed. Then went to a deflector / blower configuration - then to twin blowers over a 3 year period. The last blower had a 5 foot extention. We would depoy it after we dug a pilot hole with the first blower.

As we got into what was called deep hole number 3 - we just never could get to the bottom of it but kept finding coins and artifacts at the mid slope portion of the actual sand depth. Like others after us we continued to follow the yielding layer outward when we reached our digging limits

We have high horsepower (435) aftercooled CATS with 38 inch wheels and twin deflectors but no blowers.
Why did we go back to the delfectors you may ask?? Our plan going back to 2004 was to deflect away toward the beach the first 8 to 10 feet of sand - then rely on dredge pumps. This was in one specific area to test our hypothesis.

I am going to send this post off - as I have three photos already and see if it flys...

Capt Dom

 

[capt dom]

This was the boat Bruce and I outfitted in 2003. She was a 1980 rapid responce pilot rescue vessel with twin turbo 500 horsepower 8-71! Now that is some juice. We had an extention for her blower as well but when we got to where we wanted to dig - where we beleive a deep hole is - - - again we had the same difficulty.

This was when we started to experiment with a 4 inch hydraulic suction dredge pump.... Too small...
The sand would be falling off our bones before the 4 inch pump with a belt driven pto hydraulic pump we had installed to operate it.

That was when we decided to build the Phoenix as a mobile dredge platform to bring the pump and a hydraulic power pack out to the site. Whoops, another well meaning but incomplete idea. The Phoenix at 33 feet could bring the pump and power pack out but --- where we going to pump the sand to

That is when I decided to switch to the "Enterprise" becoming the pump/ hydraulic power pack delivery platform and the Phoenix being the place we pump the sand to. That currently is the plan we still are attempting to work all the bugs out of.

 

[capt dom]

Here is a photo or two of the deflectors being constructed at the boat yard in 2004 for the "Enterprise".

The deflectors work O.K. But nothing like a set of blowers like on the Rio Bravo.... I was ever impressed when they left and we slid over to the north side of their hole! A path of boulders about 60 feet with literally no sand between the cracks and voids! and many of the voids you could swim into... wow! Hard bottom was at about 22 to 25 feet while the top of the boulder pile was at about 14 to 16 feet....

If the weather and money was not an object.... (for us it is) bringing in a barge and a picker with grapples and picking up that rock and boulders to expose the bottom and fishers & cracks underneath the rock and guess what Even more coins and artifacts!

Oh well we can leave that for another day... arh

 

[Skimmer]

GDaddy-
Before I post again I'll forward my rough draft to
you for acceptance, OK? Sorry, I didn't realize that only you can make comments about other posters without
prior approval. I am sooooooo sorry.

 

[stevemc]

? Whats up with that?

 

[ScubaFinder]

Skimmer,

GDaddy has a resume that puts about 95% of treasure hunters to shame, the other 5% are his good friends. I believe he was merely asking what your qualifications were, and poking a little fun at PegLeg at the same time. We all poke a little fun at Peg now and then...sometimes we even bitch at him...but he's a long standing member here.

You speak as though you've been around the treasure hunting scene for a while, and I too wanted who you were and what you'd done. Not in a condecending way, in a curious one. After your last post, I'm not sure I care anymore, but for what its worth....it's customary around here to introduce yourself before you go slamming everyone. But feel free to alienate everyone right off the bat, who am I to judge.

Jason

 

[mad4wrecks]

Skimmer, after I welcomed you to the forum, all I did was ask you to introduce yourself.

Did you notice the "smile icon" after I mentioned you were too new here to take a crack at Pegleg

At ease dude!

By the way, we were discussing blower extensions and you seemed to know a bit about them, but haven't answered my question. I am curious how much additonal hole depth you get versus the length of the extension?

Splash! Tom