Prop Wash diverters

riobravo · Aug 22, 2006

hi bp,
Ive used a combination of the two, sometimes you have to cut the mud layer into squares while the wash moves them, i think your getting off track, blowers or a deflector plate seems to be the leading way to move overburden.
jas

FISHEYE · Aug 22, 2006

Just get yourself a high powered jet boat or jet ski and back right up on the beach say for the 1715 fleet wrecks an dig a giant hole.someone i know right now is setting up a jet boat with a jet drive with a diesel engine.it may not go fast but i will dig big hole in very shallow water.i have several jet skis,i dug a channel in my dads lake that was 70 feet long and 8 foot deep with a kawasaki 550.i just hoseclamped a flexible plastic pipe on the output and did the 3 point anchors.had my brother aim the end of the pipe where to dig.it worked great,plus no one on the lake knew what we were doing since we are always working on jet skis.the military had large size jet boats at one time,im sure if you scan the DOD auctions you might get lucky and find one that needs some work.

SEAHUNTER · Aug 22, 2006

BPEDERSON
IS THAT A PICTURE OF YOUR BOAT ON YOUR PROFILE. SURE LOOKS LIKE ONE SWEET SALVAGE VESSEL. WISH I HAD ONE THAT NICE.
BEST OF LUCK IN YOUR SEARCH !!!!
SEAHUNTER

ScubaFinder · Aug 23, 2006

Just for kicks, I'll add this here, I'm going on an interesting adventure this weekend.

My uncle and I have had a lot of time to sit and talk over the last week while my Father is in the hospital, and I ended up getting a salvage job from it. In a muddy Texas Lake, my uncle dumped his tackle box off the end of his dock. Problem is, it had the Rolex my Aunt bought him for their 25th anniversary in it. He knows the approximate location, so I'm going down with my detector to search for it. It was dropped 5 years ago, so I'm guessing it's buried in muck by now. I was going to take a SeaDoo Diver Propulsion Vehicle with me to blow a hole in the mud once I (hopefully) locate the tackle box. My uncle has a large pile of junk iron, so I figure I'll take a big chunk down with me for weight so I can operate the DPV, and then I'll leave it there when it's time to come up.

All I know is it's about 30ft deep, and the viz will most definitely be Zero.

Any thoughts?

Jason

riobravo · Aug 23, 2006

hi jason,
close your eyes, in zero vis you think you can see things that arent there when their open.

Peg Leg · Aug 23, 2006

If you want to see some serious HOLE BLOWERS you need to check out www.marinesalvage.us
Peg Leg

rgecy · Aug 23, 2006

Jason,

I dive black water every week. I would not consider blowing a hole until you verify how the objects are embedded. You may find they are sitting just on top of the mud and any disturbance may bury them deeper. Plus, the mud is probably a few feet deep and you may just make things worse.

The first thing to do is go down and locate the tackle box and feel around with you hands on the surface to see if you can locate anything. I would also consider a metal detector as a first option. I found a set of keys a guy droped off a dock into mud in almost absolute zero vis conditions. It was at a boat landing and the mud and silt from people powering their boats up on the trailers actually covered the keys a little.

If it were me, I would have a good super bright white or led light to penetrate the suspended particles and a metal detector. Forget the scooter, if you get a hit, you can dig it out with your hands.

CONSIDER BLOWING A HOLE AS YOUR ABSOLUTE LAST HOPE TO FIND IT! YOU MAY MAKE THINGS MUCH WORSE!

Good Luck,

Robert in SC

bpedersen · Aug 23, 2006

Seahunter

This is a drawing of one of the boats that we are almost finished designing. This one happens to be the big boy at 105'. The other is scout type of boat at 52'. The 52 footer is the one with waterjet system that I was asking about for the mailboxes.

Brent

ScubaFinder · Aug 23, 2006

Thanks Robert! I was going to have to rent the DPV, you probably saved me $15

This will be my first true blackwater dive...I have over 50 lake dives, and 7 night dives. I don't imagine this will be much worse, but it will certainly be different, I stuck my arm into the water up to my elbow and I couldn't see my hand....or wrist for that matter, at the surface it's probably 4-6" viz. Should be fun!

Jason

rgecy · Aug 23, 2006

Jason,

I did a dive about a month ago where the viz was so bad, it truly was zero! Not 6" or even 2"! I could not see the needle on my pressure gage 2" in front of my mask with my light on! I had to press it up to the glass on my mask and luckily I had a glow in the dark gage! It freaked me out for a second when I couldn't read it at first.

It was the darkest I have ever been in! When I turned my light on it was like looking through pea soup. Surprisingly we found several good megalodon teeth that day! There have been times where I ditch the light altogether and just feel along the bottom with my hands.
"Braille Diving" we like to call it!

Good Luck,

Robert in SC

ScubaFinder · Aug 23, 2006

Braille Diving, I like that one

I'd be a little nervous too not being able to see my pressure guage...my computer is air integrated, so it would beep at me when I got to 700 lbs. I'm a computer guy at my day job, and I STILL check my good old manual pressure guage frequently though...force of habit.

Put a new battery in the under water MD and am ready to go for this weekend. I hope I can find the dang thing...my Aunt will be ecstatic if I bring that watch back to her!

Thanks for all the advice!

Jason

riobravo · Aug 24, 2006

good luck on your venture scubaseeker,
i have made many of those black water dives and at one point made a decent living braille diving, it is a fact that with persitance and a tank or two you will succeed, tie a line to a piling and work a pattern out slowly, take a scoop with holes (plastic) and be systematic.
dont expect visibility, and wear extra weight, dont worry about running out of air it doesnt just stop, just gets harder to create a vacume in the regulator hose

. and usually u can get another breath on a controlled assent
try breathing at home from an almost empty tank till its gone to have this experiance without a shock.

ScubaFinder · Aug 24, 2006

Thanks Joseph, I bought a nice handheld metal scoop, and have my Search and Recovery, underwater navigator, and Rescue Diver certs...so the pattern will be no problem, there are plenty of pilings around. In 30 feet of water, I'm really not even concerned about running out of air, I free dive to 40 all the time.

Jason