Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

[Charles,Oak Island]

Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

has anyone built an air lift or other sand moving equipment ? If so got any plains you want to share of do's and don'ts of DIY on these items. ??

 

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[Indiana_Jonz]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

Charles, Im in the process of designing a surface mounted recovery system incorporating blowers and a recovery system for the treasure recovered, all self contained in one unit. You might have noticed I posted a message looking for potential investors in a couple of projects that could lead to bigger and better recoveries in the future. I will be working with a world reknown salvage diver who has located a number wrecks, all with valuables loctated. I hope to get up and running by next years dive season. If you know of anyone that would be interested, please let me know. Only honest and trustworthy people will be accepted as investors no matter how much money they have, and of course you would be included also. Take care-walt

 

[oldfart]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

main problem to use of either system is low visibility however the discharge end for airlifts can be remote (downtide) which helps.
Also the problem of the head control is much easier with airlift which more or less guides itself.
If this is a serious enquiry I could give you my eldest sons email in Gibraltar where he has just built and used an airlift in connection with a jetty building contract for the Gibraltar government.

 

[Charles,Oak Island]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

OF,
I didn't know there was any other type of visibility.I have a small sand moving system using the venture system about built ( for the past 3 years) Looking for any input for use on boats 24 to 28 ft. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Have been playing with the idea of using an auto air conditioner compress with a 4 hp gas motor for an air supply for a small lift.

thanks again

 

[Charles,Oak Island]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

Hi Dell, I got the compressor idea while doing a search on the DECOSHOP web site's? DIY section.

" If you want to play with junk and make it work, grab an old A/C compressor off a car. Run a belt off anything that will spin it. Instent cheap air. Might blow a little spooge, but will get a decent volume of at at pressures of around 100 PSI. I know of many auto repair shops that use an old york compressor for the shop air. Just need 12V to energize the clutch, or easier is to just lock up the clutch and not worry about it. The built in HP popoff valves are usually set in the 400 PSI range, so you shouldn't have to worry about them too much."

I'll be working in the 30 to 40 ft range.

thanks for all the replies

 

[wreckdiver1715]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

I am installing a Hookah system w/ 4 100 foot hoses on my 33 foot boat. I am going to rig the air lift to one of the hoses with a quick disconnect and valve at the airlift. I think this should work as long as I don?t have divers on the other three hoses at the same time. My hope is that the system will support the airlift and two divers. Has anyone else tried this before? I would be extremely interested in hearing about success and failures related to any similar systems.

 

[Charles,Oak Island]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

interesting, when do you think you will have the Hookah system lift up and running ?

 

[wreckdiver1715]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

Charles, don?t have a schedule yet, as I am still doing research on the components required. My plan is to purchase, install and test the system prior to the start of next springs dive season.
I am still doing some upgrades to the boat and the hookah system is a priority. Fortunately the weather is good year round down this way, and I can test the system at the dock as soon as it is installed.
I was able to dive with a hookah for the first time at the beginning of the month. Wow! I am sold on the system. No heavy tank and BC to deal with, this made the process from ingress to egress from the ocean relatively effortless in comparison to normal scuba gear. On my first dive (less than one atmosphere), I was able to stay down almost two hours, and could have stayed down longer but we had more divers than regulators, so we worked on shifts.
The following week, I was back on Scuba. I came out of the water swearing that I was trading in the scuba gear for the hookah system.

Q

 

[Desertdigger]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

I was always told that if you went more than 33 feet deep on a hookla system you were in danger of oxygen posioning and embolism??

 

[Charles,Oak Island]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

Don't know why you would get oxygen poisoning since the air in scuba tanks is basically the same air as with a hookah unit. I have seen a number of units advertised that take to divers to 60 feet. Me... I like tanks don't want any air hose getting tangled in wreckage or having the area I want to cover restricted by the length of air hose. Guess I just an old fashion type of guy. l

 

[aazzxx]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

Hi There,

I am new here, but on our coast is a lot of diamond diving activity, they operate at about 45 meter and first move rocks away from crevasses, then they have large pumps to get the sand containing diamonds up in 150mm hoses, then the sand gets sifted.

I could findout exactly how the pumping system works, but they use a number of different methods, one is using air, but I dont know if thisis waht you guys call an airlift.

Living in different part of the world, we use different terminology

regards F

 

[Dinkydick]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

Hi All:

I just registered on to this website.

A little about me, I am a retired commercial diver (50 years). I have done and used allot of
different types of equipment and electronics. I am well versed in ocean salvage, underwater
welding, underwater construction, demolition, and just about any other underwater work. I am
presently the sole owner of a treasure hunting business and have all my own electronic gear.

If any of you have a specific question let me know. I have built numerous tools for underwater use
and presently I'm building electronic detection equipment for use on land as well as underwater.

Maybe we can be of help to one another. I have questions to

Dinkydick

 

[wreckdiver1715]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

Dinkydick, welcome to the forum! I am wreckdiver1715, located in Satellite Beach Florida. I think you will find lots of spirited conversation and a wealth of information sharing on this forum. So tell me, what part of the country are you located in?

 

[Dinkydick]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

I presently reside in Jacksonville Florida and have been here almost 30 years.

 

[flagold]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

Wreckdiver:

Interesting you mention this now, I just picked up a Brownie 390 yesterday in Ft. Lauderdale. I've been diving hookah out west for 6 years, came back and tried to use SCUBA again and similarly, simply refuse to go back. I'll be using it the coming year similar to what you're doing. I haven't been to the meetings since Mel died, but may go again this coming year and contract, just depends on a lot of other factors.

Charles: you've got it backwards, with tanks you have the greater exposure to foul air and embolism and bends. Hookah good to 90 feet. Out west we operate them 8 hours a day gold dredging, and the last few years the working depth has been 15 feet on the bedrock. This is the result of a week's work: http://www.treasuresites.com/Golden2.jpg the total for the summer was 6lbs.

Anyone wanting to move sand shallow and keep goodies embedded would do well to look at a Proline or Keene 5" dredge with a 9 hp Honda or two 6.5 Honda engines. Another option would be a Bazooka dredge from Schmitt Enterprises in Venice Florida. The bazooka will move a load of stuff, the detractor is it won't move it far and won't keep anything you don't see first in the way of cobs or precious stones. The Keene and Proline will sort and collect precious stones (emerald/corundum/diamond) since they are above the specific gravity of sand as well as heavy metals.

Good luck.
MM

 

[Charles,Oak Island]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

I've got what backwards ?" I said Don't know why you would get oxygen poisoning since the air in scuba tanks is basically the same air as with a hookah unit"
I been diving since about 67 and as of yet have had no medical or mental problems from diving. I like tanks that is what uncle sam stuck on my back and I like the freedom. And yes I get in the water on a rather regular bases 3 to 4 times a week all year.

 

[flagold]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

Sorry Charles, it was Desertdigger I meant to reply to. MM

 

[CaribbeanDiver]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

And with all air systems use a air difuser to get the most out of your air. You can double your production from 1/2 the air.

Rich

 

[Dinkydick]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

Hi All:

There are many ways to move material underwater. The problem with airlifts is the lack of air volume.
Auto AC compressors are too small for anything in diving. If you have an airplane surplus dealer near you
look for small vacuum pumps and run them as an air compressor. These pumps are used for a vacuum
source for various instruments. They have large volumes for there size. I have ran a 4-inch airlift of of one that was about as big as a grapefruit. I can supply pictures if you are interested. It ran off a 5 hp
Briggs motor as I had an extra one. Cessna aircraft use these pumps. They only produce about 45 to 50
psi but work great for their size. I used garden hose for airline and 4-inch PVC SDR(?) pipe.

Has anyone thought of using a jetski with a diverter or funnel to hose adapter for a high pressure water source. Gold dredges work good. Jet pumps with a jetting tip work also if you have a place to put the material. I have used 4-inch jet pumps powered by 12 cylinder diesel engines which supply about 300psi of water pressure and can hold them in one hand if the jet tip is the balance type. I don't have pictures of this type but I can supply information to make one any size.

Let's hear your questions.

Dinkydick

 

[amarda2]

Re: Shipwreck sand moving tools air/water ??

hello charlie
just found & logged in to the web-site,
we've been busy this summer, had about 2 months in wales on a yellow wreck. we were using a 28' aluminium combat support boat with twin 212hp engines through a jet drive system. we had some extension pieces made which could be clipped on to the output of the drives when we blowing sand from wreck-site. we found that 2 stern anchors & a bow anchor set in a y formation was sufficiant to hold the boat steady whilst blowing.
we encounted a few problems when we were, some we could do little about mainly unseasonaly easterly gales & the close proximity of a pub.
we had a problem with the engines starting to get 2 hot this was caused by sand being drawn in to exterior cooling system, we got over this by starting the blow cycle with about 10mins at very revs, this cleared the really light sand on the seabed without it rising up as far as the water intakes.
anyway were doing the same sort of thing here in england next in between gold panning championships, but were selling the boat &going for a
more transportable system, whether thats a lighter boat, a barge or anything, i would welcome any ideas anyone had on this bearing in mind
we will be in shallow water close to shore & use both hookah & scuba systems.

well charles i think iv'e waffled enough.
bye for now, amarda2 (like your name, same as mine)