How Mailbox blowers work?

[MPH200]

When I was 12 years old ,I wanted to hunt treasure from the 1715 Fleet, so I got my scuba license at Jim Hollis scuba world in Orlando Fl. Now I'm almost 47 years old and I feel, it's time to put in some work, on these wrecks. I would like to know if any of you guys have a friend or know of someone who has a mailbox or two for sale. Thank you in advance for your help. Scotty

Wish it was that easy. There are leases in place that are protected. You may want to contact one of the lease holders to apply to be subcontractor.

 

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[ropesfish]

What size blowers are you looking for? They've been built from 12" diameter to 72"+. Sizing the tube diameter to the prop, matching the location and type of attachments to the stern and bottom and the overall weight of the to the size of boat is pretty important.

 

[AUVnav]

After showboating the latest 1715 find, I think Spain is about to school Florida on how well they 'work'.

 

[ARC]

After showboating the latest 1715 find, I think Spain is about to school Florida on how well they 'work'.[/QUOTE

How can Spain "school" Florida on a technique that was invented and perfected IN Florida ?

I think it has been / will be... the other way around.

 

[Tnmountains]

Wonder if we could sink this post back to where it was laying in april 2010

 

[AUVnav]

How can Spain "school" Florida on a technique that was invented and perfected IN Florida ?

schooling means Spain is about to teach Florida a lesson on how Spain feels about the use of mailboxes in the world of archaeological recovery.

(ie shut it down)

 

[ARC]

You will not find an argument from me that mailboxes are a harsh tool when recovering delicate items...
But they are the fastest and easiest way to remove sand in exploration for item location.

I wonder what Spain holds up its sleeve to remove 4-7 feet (plus and minus) of overburden... ?
As an alternative to mailbox sand removal >?
I think Spain has no clue as to the environmental situations here on our coasts.

This perplexes me.

By the way... I want to add my 2 cents worth... on this disturbing subject of "Spain owning anything here"...
IF there is any interference from Spain concerning finds ON or IN Florida lands OR its waters...
There is no shortage of Anti-theft funding and donations here... and many are prepared to exhaust the funds and resources all the way to the Supremes...
The lines of wealthy connected individuals who will never let this happen stretches from here TO Spain... and back.
The legal team(s) here are... and have been... postured and ready.
I for one would donate as well to them... And contact all I know.

IF they try and "take" from American soil... I recommend Spain puts on a seatbelt on for that one.... heh
I do not think they will find the same results as they got from Odyssey...
This IS NOT the "Mercedes" on the bottom of arguable submerged lands... This IS Florida .... get it ?....
AKA... AMERICA.
And Spain shall not "Tread" here... too many smart deep pocketed individuals to allow that to ever happen...
The news would be alive with that sort of news and Americans will never allow Spain to "take" from its citizens...

Spain may have won a major battle concerning "debatable ownership"... through "red tape"...
But would not look good trying to "pushover" on America's lands.
There is NO debate on "who" owns what lies on OUR lands...
We do...
Americans.

PS> Remember one thing... "possession" IS 9/10ths of ALL law.

 

[bobinsd]

Has anyone ever tried to blow a trench rather than just a hole, which only exposes a small area at the very bottom. Having been on the Macgruder
I remember how long it was between dives, and the time it took to relocate. Seems to me that blowing a trench would expose much more bottom area
in a shorter period of time.

 

[ropesfish]

Has anyone ever tried to blow a trench rather than just a hole, which only exposes a small area at the very bottom. Having been on the Macgruder
I remember how long it was between dives, and the time it took to relocate. Seems to me that blowing a trench would expose much more bottom area
in a shorter period of time.

Trenching is a pretty standard prospecting method. Pick your spot, set your anchors at low tide and use your propwash deflectors/mailboxes to trench your way toward the beach on the rising tide. Inspect, detect, record and plot your holes and finds, then move up or down the beach 50-100 feet and do it again, looking for an artifact trail. It requires planning, funding, discipline and reasonable weather to execute. Easy to plan, hard to do. There's often the lure of..."right over there Mo/Kip/Marx/Lou/Mel/Greg/Brandon/Chris/Brent found fill in this blank with something awesome. ​ We could go over there and take a look".

 

[FISHEYE]

Building a prop deflector for trenching for a twin engine boat would be cheaper and easier to do than building 2 blowers.Plus you can use hydraulics to raise and lower it to get out of there quick when a storm shows up.Your deflector can also be dual purpose.A dive platform and deflector.

 

[FISHEYE]

I designed some new tech that wont require a 3 point anchor system.Just one bow anchor to be set and no lengthy setup times.I wont discuss it here or show any pics.Ill be using it on my other treasure boat the "GoldenEye" on the cabin wreck site next summer.

 

[bobinsd]

My thought was to use 2 bow anchors set at maximum practical distance, then vector the mailbox thrust slightly towards the bow, perhaps 5 degrees from vertical. This will have the effect of keeping the lines taught. Using an observer in the water, further aft to watch the underwater action, signal when the bottom is reached. At that time, the lines would be slowly pulled in, moving the ship forward against the thrust of the mailbox, and leaving (presumably) a reasonably clear, visible path in the overburden. Inspection of the initial area uncovered can begin when the ship is still clearing, albeit at a safe distance away. Make sense?

 

[horseman]

bow anchors

My thought was to use 2 bow anchors set at maximum practical distance, then vector the mailbox thrust slightly towards the bow, perhaps 5 degrees from vertical. This will have the effect of keeping the lines taught. Using an observer in the water, further aft to watch the underwater action, signal when the bottom is reached. At that time, the lines would be slowly pulled in, moving the ship forward against the thrust of the mailbox, and leaving (presumably) a reasonably clear, visible path in the overburden. Inspection of the initial area uncovered can begin when the ship is still clearing, albeit at a safe distance away. Make sense?

If you are blowing sand forward are you not afraid of ruining water pump impellers? I have not done this but I was thinking of aft anchors and angling aft. I honestly want to move shallow sand and thought bow into tide letting the sand disburse with the tide once it was blown off the bottom. Any suggestions would be appreciated because I have not used a blower before just a straight inboard.

 

[SADS 669]

Gotta have great strainers and inspect them regularly.......every hole is not too much....

 

[captbo]

on a small scale why would a trash pump not on deck work?

 

[ropesfish]

Captbo..it does...same principle- just about 1% as effective.

<<Added for clarity>> The reason is that a 2"-4" trash pump would be 1% as effective is merely because it would move about 1% of the water that a 24"-30" propwash diverting mailbox would. Now...using an 8 or 10 inch irrigation pump on a barge with some controllable nozzle arrangement...hmmmmm.....

 

[ScubaDigger]

Hi Tom,
I just signed-up and I urgently need those mailbox plans. I am the operations manager for Norwegian People's Aid (NPA-Palau) a humanitarian disarmament NGO, tasked in removing US and Japanese WWII munitions of the Republic of Palau. The Palauan coastguard (Marine-Law) is seeking to expand its docking facilities, and we are to scan the bottom for explosive remnants of war (ERWs). I am aware of the mailboxes, but you mentioned above and I quote: "Send a PM "RGecy", he has a good set of plans on how to build a blower." Since I have no clue to navigate and the project is urgent, is there a guide on how to reach "RGecy" and ask him for a copy of those plans. The depth we are going to work is 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) and I wonder whether the mailbox is an overkill... Perhaps a vacuum tube (AC flexible vent with a compressor hose inside it to cause bubbles to create suction. What do you think?

 

[ARC]

The mailbox was first built to uncover shellfish beds in the Chesapeake bay area then were adapted for use in uncovering treasure.Still none the less it is the best tool in are line of work.Just a little more info on how they work is the boat is first anchored in a 3 or 4 point angle.Bow,stern etc. .Then the mailboxes are pinned in the down position.At this time after being put in the spot you plan to uncover the boat is then put in gear.This then directs the prop wash down and removes the sand from over the nice piles of long lost goodies for you to collect and enjoy. Thank you Capt Rodney

Incorrect.

Mel Fisher invented the mailbox blower.

 

[Salvor6]

Hello Scuba Digger and welcome to TreasureNet. An air lift dredge will not work in less than 30 foot deep water. A Keene Engineering 600GPM pump with an 18hp engine will work very well and costs a lot less than blowers.
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]Pump: Direct Mount Pumps: Keene Engineering Online
6" jet log: [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]http://www.keeneeng.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=PJ[/FONT][SUB][SUP]
[/SUP][/SUB][/FONT]

 

[ARC]

PS... I invented an air lift 15 years ago and never put into the world.