**Perfect** salvage boat for 1715 type recovery?

[Au_Dreamers]

Drill a hole in the front deck and power a 36" horizontal propeller and your aces!

 

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[ARC]

Does this mean you are not a fan of the Chesapeake Deadrise ?

I would not own anything these days made of fiberglass and/or wood.

If you gave me a fiberglass or wood boat...
It would be listed on craigslist by the end of same day.
Period.
I mean that's like owning a typewriter to text msg.

I Choose practicality OVER money pits as well.
I need a WORK boat.
Not a chore whore.

 

[ARC]

Actually... they are beautiful boats... and cool boats everywhere...
Just not for me.
IF I had time to work on a boat those require in "upkeep"... that would be a different story.

I have hauled those over the years to the dump and shoved them off... JUST for the trailer it sits on.

This is 2015...
We learned a lot from those boats...
Like...
They are not ideal for everyday work LIKE diving...

Wanna go Crabbing... fishing... yes.
But even then...
ME... never own one... nope.

 

[Au_Dreamers]

Ropesfish prior post is very valid and continues my thoughts.... and to continue... it's back again to that funding, what's available aspect.

When you think about what Ropesfish wrote it's almost hind site is 20/20

Those boats per say didn't have much in common, a twin engine commercial boat, a twin engine sportfish, single engine recreational fishing boat, single engine cruiser? a twin engine trawler. What "the operations" did have in common was first and mostly they picked the right spot once (at least once). Hard working experienced crews helped out heaps too. Treasure found makes headlines not "no finds" holes blown.

One could go out with a peach basket in an inner-tube and a ping pong paddle and find treasure if they set-up on the right spot. From there's it's just a matter of increasing sand moving efficiency.

So let's say you have an idea that you want to cover an area within a wreck site that you believe holds some headline newsworthy treasure finds!

You've determined that this area is 1800 ft along the beach and 450 ft out to sea.
We have 810,000 sq ft of "lawn to mow" sand moving.

If you're operating on the smaller end of sand moving capability it could take you 9.5 seasons to cover this area "mowing the lawn" style of excavation. Remember you can hold several hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions in treasure, depending on the item(s) in your two hands cupped together!!! So you wouldn't want to miss any of those "tiny" gold coins.

If you're operating on the larger end of sand moving capability it could take roughly 2 1/3 of a season.

It has it's variables that aren't concrete but the biggest factor that could change the above is days workable. Up until this last season (1715 Fleet) workable days haven't been plentiful. So in this formula using a 60 day season, something very ideal, if one only got a 30 day season those numbers would be doubled to 19 and 4 2/3 seasons.

Few salvors last longer than a few seasons and the longer run of 19 years to cover an area that would be a good bit of ocean bottom but still only a fraction of one wreck site would take nearly a life's work to accomplish.

Which bring us back to moving sand as efficiently as possible... You can be on "small blower" boat digging sand for 12 minute holes or "big blower" boat digging sand for 12 minute holes covering exponentially more ground giving yourself exponentially more possibility to find treasure or get lucky with that ping pong paddle and hit it big time!

Ideally yeah those Chessy's are sweet units!! I don't see good inexpensive ones often. They're usually expensive or rotting wood hulls.....

Delta's and Island Hoppers are nice too. I saw a picture of a hmm 46' ? Bertram stripped down to deck with just a wheel house forward which looks good above the water but I wonder if that wide beam compensates for that deep deadrise rocking on the 3 point anchoring!

 

[Salvor6]

Hello Don. I remember when you first bought the R/V Explorer on the Miami River. Where is she now?

ARRC, this is not 2015 anymore.

 

[silverking]

Both the Island Hopper and the Delta Dive Boat have a wiiiiddddeeee beams!
Such a massive, open work deck would serve a salvage effort extremely well.

Sea Hawk Boats

It would be interesting how the deeper V affects stability at anchor in the shallower waters of the Treasure Coast, although the aft section of the hull does look like it flattens out substantially, so perhaps stability would be fine while on the hook.

It looks like the Delta Dive Boats have been out of production for quite a while now, and prices look quite good on such a vessel today.
The Delta seems to have a higher freeboard, with no motor box "hump", resulting in a completely flat work deck.

 

[ARC]

Both the Island Hopper and the Delta Dive Boat have a wiiiiddddeeee beams!
Such a massive, open work deck would serve a salvage effort extremely well.

Sea Hawk Boats

It would be interesting how the deeper V affects stability at anchor in the shallower waters of the Treasure Coast, although the aft section of the hull does look like it flattens out substantially, so perhaps stability would be fine while on the hook.

It looks like the Delta Dive Boats have been out of production for quite a while now, and prices look quite good on such a vessel today.
The Delta seems to have a higher freeboard, with no motor box "hump", resulting in a completely flat work deck.

Guess you are not "seeing" my point of all my ramble about pontoon style boats...

V hull style boats are not stable... Unless massive... They pitch and roll... period.

This is the main reason to get "away" from these types of boats for diving purposes.
And...
There is a list of "cons" to these style boats...
and hands down they are "inferior" for diving and... I do not care what anyone says otherwise.

I checked the site addy you posted in the above post...
I wonder why you went to the pages of the V hulls... when this company makes specific PRO dive boats... ? ? ?
AND they "get it"...
Their dive boats are pontoons.
And decent ones IMO.

I would def be a buyer of one of their fiberglass pontoons boats... IF they would make to specs...
and foam fill pons OR compartmentalized.

 

[ARC]

Are you more stable standing on one leg ?
Or two ?

And the "break in contact with the water between pons allows for "push" of water to be "absorbed"...
Hence...
STABILITY.
V's are one legged man... NO stability... unless like I said very big.
Also...
V's always have a gunnel you must breach every time you enter of exit the craft... hence ... What a pain in the ARSE. heh

They also cost more... all the way around.
More to buy...
More to run...
More to upkeep and service.

Night and day...
I do not know why anyone SERIOUS about diving on a regular basis would even consider a V hull boat...
OF ANY type.

 

[old man]

OH... I wanted to add one more thing to a way earlier post about "waves" and the "threat" thereof...
The last thing I am worried about is waves in my boat...
In fact...
I am not worried EVER in my boat.
heh.
A wave 10 foot tall could slam completely over the ENTIRE boat... over and over...
Could entirely envelope me...
Completely swamp me...
And as fst as the water came on the boat...
It is gone.
My boat would just "continue on"... unfazed...
No water... not one gallon would remain in 3 seconds
She CANNOT sink...
EVEN if I have a 2 foot wide hole in TWO of my toons.

- ONLY A JOKE - for amusement ...
*** AARC seems to remember a certain claim of "she cannot sink" once about a large luxury liner that now sits at the bottom of the ocean*** :P

Repeat... just a joke... This is actually the case for me... I cannot sink.

AARC,
If you want the perfect salvage boat that is cheap and easy to maintain? You need to get one like mine.

 

[silverking]

Guess you are not "seeing" my point of all my ramble about pontoon style boats...

No, I'm reading your posts and taking note of pontoon style boats that may serve the needs of treasure salvage. There's been more than one 1715 salvage effort that history shows us used some sort of pontoon set up.

My own experience with pontoon style watercraft leaves much to be desired in terms of the reality of being out on open water ... your milage obviously differs.

The point of the thread though, was to take a look at any boat that may work well in a shallow water salvage effort, but also had to make the run back to the dock at the end of the day.
So looking at pontoon boats has added information to the thread that fits right in with the topic at hand.

I'm not sure you're going to convince anybody to change their mind about some version of a "V" bottom hull as the ideal for near shore/open water salvage though. I think many can imagine stuffing the bow of any pontoon craft into a big wave, and the resultant 2' or 3' of water you'd take over the entire deck.

But hey ... whatever works for the user is what this thread is about.

 

[ARC]

If I worked the 1715...
Without a shadow of doubt in my mind...
I would work circles around that / them...
DUE to my "rig" / "setup" and experience.
And you can take that to the bank.

I can / could work EVERY area there without a problem...
For this is my specialty...
My boat was specifically designed for these type of very shallow situations.

I have done item recovery since age 6...
actually even before 6 if you count my father purposely throwing things off docks for me to find.
I did Anchor recovery as my first "biz" as a teen... Along with my bottom cleaning biz.
Along with everything else people lost off their boats and wanted back.
My nickname as a kid was "fish"... and was known to be able to spot a needle in a haystack.
From Marinas to straight up wave pounded beaches.
Most of the time... in my youth... NO gear / NO air...
Because it actually just slowed me down.

I am not here to argue... just to open your mind...
And believe me when I say...
IF you want to work VERY shallow water.
Don't buy a V hull.

Good luck in any and all of your ventures...
Especially in procuring a vessel that will meet your needs.

 

[silverking]

The great thing about a discussion is that folks can have different views on any given topic, yet still carry on the conversation and hopefully learn something in the process.

 

[ARC]

"food for thought" pics.

You can use your imagination from here.

 

[FISHEYE]

Pontoon type boats with outboard motors are great for flat water in lakes or river operations but not out in the ocean.Very rarely its flat in the ocean.

 

[ARC]

Fish...
These are not "flatwater" boats.
They will take wave WAY better than any V hull...
Its physics man.

I am never in flat water with mine.
I can stay in ANY water yours is in.
At 3 times the stability

This is WHY they now make dive boats in this style now.
Manu's of these are back logged for at least a year because of new demand.

I hate to say it... and no offense...
But it seems that many on here including you are running on old tech and thought.

 

[ARC]

When I was younger... I was going bigger in boats...
Now...
Less IS more.

 

[Au_Dreamers]

There's a big difference between "granddaddy's" pontoon boat and a heavy duty multi-hull vessel. But the water-slide is pretty fun!

 

[silverking]

Despite what appear to be alternate experiences with the ability of a pontoon craft to take on heavy seas, it still seems that many experienced skippers believe that pontoon craft are primarily inland, or lake boats, with the ability to function in open, rough seas open to question.

That pontoon craft can function in open water when seas are calm isn't (apparently) up for debate.

That pontoon type craft have been used on 1715 recovery efforts in times passed is definitely part of the established record.

So ... pontoon craft can indeed be considered for treasure salvage, with each persons own interpretation of the appropriate use in open water or big seas left up to each individual to decide.

I think I've captured the essence of the last few pages

Any other types of favored treasure recovery vessels out there?

How about the anchor boat? ... jonboat, Whaler, typical dingy, rubber boat??

 

[ARC]

Hmmm...
And to think...
The original /first shipwreck treasure hunter of the 1715 ...

First rig was a surfboard with a hole cut in it and a piece of glass.

 

[FISHEYE]

If you are on a pontoon boat and a big wave washes over your decks you better be tied to something or you will wash right off those decks.