Modifying Blowers

[diverlynn]

How about some of you guys put your testosterone to some good use. We are looking into modifying the way our blowers connect to the boat hull, when lowered. If you can see in the photo below (above the man's head) our blowers pivot into place and a pin is then placed and secured with a cotter pin. We would like to be able to drop them and have them latch into place without having to stick our fingers up against the "thing-a ma-bobs", (yea, I know) to secure the pins. I happen to need all 10 fingers or I want be able to count to 10 anymore. Thought about a large suicide clip but then we would have to release it to bring the blowers back up.
Any ideas??

Diverlynn

Water was pretty warm today, 'bout 74 deg., vis about 12" @ 30'

 

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[rgecy]

Joe (Riobravo) would be good to talk with about this!

The Bravo had some massive blowers as well and was pinned from the rear just off the ladder. They have korts nozzels around their props and the blower actually fits snug around the nozzel.

If you cant get Joe by PM, let me know and I will send you his Phone Number.

Robert

 

[crzhors]

Howdy,Nice looking mailboxes.If your boxes come to a stop where the pin holes align,Then you should have a seperate line that holds them there.You have no reason for any of your Digits to get in or between the Gubbins,
On the Magruder we have "hugger" lines to pull the boxes up tight.Then take a deep breath,jump in with both pins in hand,I think my best pin time is around 10 seconds.Our pins are 1inch dia. with a hole drilled where you clip a little caribiner on a tether thru the end. As you know in choppy water those boxes get to slammin,very dangerous and destructive without hugger lines.Our lines go from the winch forward to a block hanging over the side midship back to the box.Check out pictures of JB Magruder on the Mel Fisher site for the geometry. Good luck to you folks,
JD 8)

 

[rgecy]

Water was pretty warm today, 'bout 74 deg., vis about 12" @ 30'

Lynn,

Did you guys have sunlight at 30'? I wish I had 12" of vis! Sounds like a good day!

Just kidding! But imagine 12" with no sunlight!

See you soon!

Robert

 

[diver420]

Lynn,
Could you have some sort of a pin system with an air cylinder
(It would have to be sealed because of the salt water) and the
r shouldn't be a problem i'm sure you have some sort of a compressor
for hooka or filling tanks. Talk to an industrial air cylinder company and
they can set you in the correct design.

 

[crzhors]

Another issue is how much "stuff" you want to weld to the bottom of the boat,It does have to go thru the water still.As we have seen thru thousands of hours at sea,keeping it simple is best.Maybe you have the ability to haul out often,but when you can't ,the less moving parts and things to go wrong the better.When a squall blows up very suddenly,and you have to pull up and haul ass,one good slam of the boxes and the trick stuff gets bent.A kind of socket that the pin tab can slide into works well. I've dealt mostly with steel,Aluminum is another story...
a few thoughts, JD

 

[diverlynn]

Thanks to all of you,
Some great ideas to talk about today. We do winch and try tether tight but are not doing this midship, only off to the side. That might tighten it up more. Our pins and holes are also about 1" so there is not much room for error. Unfortunately a diver has to get in the water and underneath 'cause its below the on the hull. We all know what can happen under a bouncing boat. We need this to be a safe simple task and at this time its just not, not to mention in sloppy seas where its calm enough to dive it can make us cancel for that reason, it's my call.

Robert,
I never said we has sunlight....only til I got to about 15' did I see the sun. I am sure it will be better soon. We will see what today gives us.

Off topic,
Robert, Scott, Jason,
Will catch up with you all this month for sure, maybe at the presentation at Satellite Beach. Keep me up on your plans.

Diverlynn

 

[Peg Leg]

The MAILBOXES appear to be MONSTERS and way to big to operates correctly.
Just my opinion.
Peg Leg

 

[ScubaFinder]

So long as the mailboxes are about 2" larger than the props, then they are the right size. The Dammit Janet V has 38" screws I believe, so they look about right to me. I'd love to have a boat with that kind of Diesel power behind it.

I think moving the lines to mid-ship is the simplest and most effective fix. Snug them babies up tight with the winch instead of by hand, and then the pins would be simple and safer to get in place. Almost all of them require someone in the water under the boat to pin them up, but as long as they aren't flopping around it shouldn't be too bad.

Jason

 

[spez401]

I sent diverlynn a pm... but then was thinking everybody else might like to see this. (remember... i'm an attorney folks... not a salvager... but i can build just about anything). I originally got the idea from an old fisher plow set up i had for my jeep. When I was trying to find the plans for it, i thought about the latch on the fence to my backyard. The concept is the same, but the dimensions are different.

It is basically a gravity latch. The one I had on my plow setup was about 1/2 inch steel, and much bigger (1 1/2 inch pin), but the dimensions and concept are almost the same. Here's a picture of the latch and a scan of a drawing i did from memory on the plow.

My thought was... if you fit the latch (or even the pin) to the mailbox. when it drops into place, it will secure itself to the pin (or the latch). You can secure the pin or the latch to the back of the boat with a simple bracket. The latch itself is self-locking/attacing using a spring. To release it, you just have to tug on the backside of the latch... which could be done with a piece of line or pushrod (my plow had a metal push rod).

I'm curious what you guys think. I'll try to dig up a picture of my old plow...

 

[diverlynn]

Peg Leg,
The blowers could not be more perfect (as much as I know) we blew a hole today in about 30' of water about 12' deep and a 12' diameter. We have a new captain so we are making some test runs and dives. We really have a good crew, I look forward to working with them.

spex401,
That looks promising. We changed the lines we were using to tether the mailboxes into place and they held very tight. Even tho the water was pretty calm, the rollers were bouncing the hull a lot. We are making a lot of modifications to some of the equipment so this is at the top of the list (I hope, I know my limitations and this really gives me the hibie-jibies). We discussed making the holes and the pins larger so there is more room for error.

The water was great today, vis was up to about 6'-8' but a ripping current. At least it kept the water clean as we worked.

Thanks again guys, its much appreciated

Diverlynn

 

[NC_Bob]

Could you post a picture with the blowers "up" for the benefit of us noobs that ain't seen 'em in person?

In your picture, it looks like the cylindrical part pivots around the two vertical white bars (for the unit on the right in the picture, these are mounted roughly under the "J" of Janet and the "V"). There's also a rope that runs from the back edge of the blower up past the "V" to a winch or attachment--I assume for pulling back up when you're done. So rather than having to swim in between the hull and the blower to place a pin while the unit is banging up and down in the swell, couldn't you add a rigid bar that runs from a pivot at the bottom edge of the blower (where the rope is attached) back up to a pin assembly next to where the vertical white bars are attached to the stern? Again, big assumption, but the cylindrical sections look sturdy enough that it shouldn't matter whether they are fixed in place at the prop-end or the outwash end.

If something like that isn't beefy enough to hold things in place when you're blowing a hole (i.e if the propwash causes the whole thing to flex if it's held in place by a bar as I describe), the bar idea may at least be a better option for getting the boxes held more securely while you place the pins (again, if I'm understanding other parts of this thread that usually the boxes are held more-or-less securely in place with ropes running more-or-less forward).

Bob

 

[ScubaFinder]

Bob, your assessment of what is going on is pretty much right on, and your idea just might be an easy fix. I still think an automatic latching system like was mentioned before would be even easier to operate, but maybe not easier to install. Good idea....but I'm betting Lynn has the resources to put the auto-latch system in place. For a quick fix that could be done without pulling the boat out on a lift...you may have a winner!

Jason

 

[diverlynn]

Bob,
Thanks for another option. Not a problem with pulling the DJ out of the water, we can always cry "hull inspecting" at the marina, they don't charge for that.

Jason,
Correct, we have just about anything and anyone at our disposal to do welding & modifications.

Below is a pic with the blowers up. Long day yesterday and another one today so I didn't see the post last night. Need my beauty sleep now that I am working this hard again.
Later guys
Diverlynn

 

[FISHEYE]

useing pins an haveing divers go under the boat to put them in is so old school and dangerous.divers need all 10 fingers to work.use technology an get hydraulics.1 hydraulic cylinder for each blower.when i install the 60lb blowers on my boat there will be no pins.just hydraulic cylinders an a lever locking mechanism.or a solinoid lock in the blower framework to hold it to the bottom of the boat.no need to weld brackets to the bottom of the hull.auto latches in time will get bent and wont line up.blowers take alot of abuse.lots of vibration.the least amount of parts you have to break the better.i was even thinking about making the blower supports out of titanium.after seeing the destruction of aluminium supports fail on many blower systems.

 

[Peg Leg]

Just wondering,
Would it be possible to to make a MAILBOX attachment out of PVC for a small outboard motor. I only have to move 6 feet of sand through 5 feet of water?
I was actually thinking of using a 8 gallon aluminum drum and welding the curved piece to it. Similar to what Salvor6 has but smaller.
Peg Leg

 

[rgecy]

Peg,

I can give you a set of plans for an outboard blower. If you tell me the diameter you want I will scale it down and give all the dimensions for cutting.

Here is the set I drew for mine. Just like Salvor6 but mine is 18" (his is 16").

http://forum.treasurenet.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=41

Just tell me the specs you want and I can design the tube.

Robert

 

[Peg Leg]

Thanks,
But a friend of mine has a CAD program.
I have one also but have no idea how it works.
Thanks again I can download youre drawing and have one done from there.
Peg Leg