Blower (Mailbox) Construction for Our New Boat

[rgecy]

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to show off one of two 24" blowers we are having built for our dig boat. We ended up buying a 36' Uniflite with twin Chevy 454's. The fabricators were able to finish this one in one day by using the CAD design and full scale templates I made. The second is already cut and tacked together and should be done by lunch tomorrow!They are constructed from 1/8th inch aluminum sheet with 3" x 1/4" bands on the inlet and outlet for reinforcement.

The hard part is yet to come: The Installation!

I will post some picts as we progress. Lots to be done over the next week!

 

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[Chagy]

Re: Blower (Mailbox) Construction

So here it is the ARRG R/V Conquistador

 

[FISHEYE]

why did you use 1/8" thickness?3/8" is the standard for any size blower to 30",1/8" will rattle apart and break.you will spend more time taking them off an in the welding shop then out on your sites.lots of vibration with gas engines.deep six them an get diesels.run straight veggie oil for free.

 

[pcolaboy]

WHOA you've been busy !

Man those boxes are gonna have the new boat standing on its nose

Can't wait to hear and see the result. Good luck.

Pcola

 

[rgecy]

why did you use 1/8" thickness?3/8" is the standard for any size blower to 30",1/8" will rattle apart and break.you will spend more time taking them off an in the welding shop then out on your sites.lots of vibration with gas engines.deep six them an get diesels.run straight veggie oil for free.

FISHEYE,

Interesting, 3/8" huh? That's pretty damn thick! I have been looking at blowers for a while now and talking with Ed Mathews and others and never heard 3/8" as a standard. That's almost 1/2" you know!

Yes, we had to go with Gas for now, diesel would have been nice. But we have searched for almost 6 months and couldn't find a boat with diesels that ran good and met our price. So gas will do for now!

And straight veggie oil isn't free!

You can't beat a 36' Uniflite that sleeps 6, with strong 454's that purr like a kitten for $6k!

 

[FISHEYE]

straight used veggie oil is free.i now have over 400 gallons sitting in in barrels in my back yard.ready to be run though my Centrifuge system i built to purify it all down to 1 micron or less.i pick it up for free from resturants all over the central florida area.picking up some more every week from now on thru the summer.it sure is nice not haveing to spend any money at all on fuel costs.i can think of better things to do with my money.

 

[rgecy]

How many hours does it take you pick up the oil and refine it to get 20 gallons?

I have come to realize in life that my time is pretty expensive! In other words, am I saving enough money on biodiesel or veggie oil to justify not spending that time working and getting paid, or even time spent with my family!

Just some food for thought!

 

[Peg Leg]

RGecy,
Fine looking boat my friend.
Can't wait till you guys start recovering some TREASURE.
Good luck to all of you.
Peg Leg

 

[rgecy]

Thanks Don,

She will actually be in Cocoa next week for 4 or 5 days while we do some upgrades and fit the blowers.

I will be there for the entire week!

 

[SEAHUNTER]

Good looking boat.
Great deal !!!
Looks like you will have a great summer.
Good luck.
Seahunter

 

[FISHEYE]

the tank i have on my truck can suck out 120 gallons of oil at a resturant in less then 2 minutes.theres 8 resturants that i collect from less then 2 blocks from where i live.the centrifudge i have here can process 60 gallons an hour.all automatic.i dont need to babysit the process,if i make a bigger centrifudge i can process 300 gallons an hour.

my fuel tank on my boat is 600 gallons.to buy diesel at $3.00 a gallon would be $1800.both my engines burn 2 gallons an hour at 10 knots.so the way i see it,i spend less time working to pay for fuel and spend more time out on my boat looking for and finding treasure.

 

[rgecy]

Wow! John, 600 gallons? How big is your boat? Got any picts?

I see your logic, but I am sure there is travel time, setup time, storage, and other areas that seem minimal, but are taken for granted.

Anyway, not to get into a big discussion on the feasibility of biodiesel, I just wanted to show off the blowers and the boat and let you guys know what was happening! This has been a long time coming and I have been striving for this day for 3 years!

 

[Dinker]

I'll take one for $6K. Got another?

Good luck and congrats for finally livin the dream.

 

[ropesfish]

Nice work on the blowers! It sure is nice to be able to draw things up on the screen instead of doing the trial and error method. CAD and CAM sure make things easier.
Just because I have an inquiring mind.What is the max outflow CFM will your combination produce? I am sure there's a formula somewhere...but I don't know what it is...
Good luck where ever you are hunting.
bill black

 

[spez401]

RGency
I was thinking about you about a month ago... I remember you said you were looking for a bigger boat. I was at an insurance auction about a month ago, where they had a 42' cabin cruiser going up for auction (not sure on the make). It had been submerged (AKA sunk) for about 2 months before it was retreived.

The insurance company actually hired mechanics the week before the auction to see if they could get the twin deisels running. About an hour before the bidding actually started... they fired both motors. I stopped paying attention when the bidding got to around 50k

steve

 

[Darren in NC]

Wow, Steve. Great story. That wouldn't have happened with a pair of gas engines. Diesels are definitely the way to go. But we were getting prices of $30k for diesel boats that should have been going to the scrap yard. It was just a bit past our budget. When this deal came up, Robert jumped on it. We took it for a test run and ran the fool outta the engines. The generator needed a boost, but it cranked up fine, too. You can't beat it for the price. He didn't tell you about the marine plywood screwed over the big hole underneath Just kidding...we're all pretty excited about this coming year on the treasure coast!

 

[rgecy]

You know, to tell the truth, Darren actually found this boat on ebay and I just ran with it!

Steve, thats pretty amazing about the diesels firing up, it must have been in fresh water!

Darren knows I could rant about how good a deal we got, but I hate to jinx it! But man, I think it will turn out great!

For those who don't know, there are about 10 of us from TNet who came together this year and said that we could accomplish more as a group than individually. The name of our ragtag bunch is Aquatic Research and Recovery Group (ARGG for short)! We actually formed a company and are a valid Florida corporation with Lots of Vice Presidents! LOL

We actually nominated Jason (scubafinder) as VP of Beverage Acquisitions! There's a joke in there if you get it!

We now have 4 boats in the ARRG fleet ready for salvage with two 1715 sub-contracts. All be it, 3 of them are 25' or less and will be used for survey or just target inspection. This new boat will certainly move us to the next level by giving us a dig boat capable of overnight stay and extended operations.

We will be in Cocoa beach all next week prepping her and installing the blowers. I will post pictures as things progress.

Thanks guys for the replies. We certainly welcome anyone who wants to come dive the 1715 fleet with us this summer!

 

[go deep]

RGECY I knew you Jason and wife were moving to bigger and better things. I saw the look that morning in Sebastian,back in April the morning after you mounted the blowers on your smaller boat.Just keep in mind,as i am sure you do,make a decision and go with it.Looks like you made a good purchase,just keep working on the master plan,DIVING FOR TREASURE. GO DEEP

 

[FISHEYE]

rgecy,

i bought this boat for $1.00.i now have aprox 12k in it.
heres a pic of my 1968,37'6" striker sportfish,twin turbo DAF 6 cylinder 185hp diesels,24" props,all 1/4" and 3/8" welded aluminium construction,draft 2'6",13'9" beam,height from waterline 12'9",sleeps 6,2 a/c systems,hot water heater,8k generator,head,galley,12v bow anchor winch,1500 watt inverter,Raytheon Raystar 198 Gps,handheld and mounted VHF marine radios,hydraulic steering upper and lower helms,600 gal fuel cap,135 gal fresh water cap,non electric septic system that converts waste to gray water,headroom 6'4",all teak wood interior,weight dry 14,000lbs,top cruise speed 18 knots.additions soon to be added that i already have.color 12 mile radar,17"LCD touch screen chart plotters for upper and lower helms,under water and topside b/w and color ccd cameras,upper helm hardtop(just bought the pipe bender to make it)12 volt remote spotlight with IR filters for use with my night vision scope and IR cameras,got a bunch of other goodies that i wont mention here.in a about a month i will totally strip(water sandblast) the boat and paint it with a epoxy aerospace paint.plus the bottom needs to be done,im tired of scraping barnacles off the bottom,i may add the barnaclean system for $900.no more barnacles with this device.i can get a set of 30" 3/8" thick blowers already made
for less then $1000 all i have to do is build the brackets.but was thinking about building a combo deflector/dive platform instead.have to do some tests with a model of my boat first to see which blows more sand.

 

[FISHEYE]

look how flat the ocean is now at sebastian and vero beach!

http://www.sebastianinletcam.com/

http://www.verobeachcam.com/