Some sleep and then an update

'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Fri 3 Jun 2011 19:08
First off, thanks for all the salvage ideas and positive vibes/electronic
hugs. To bring you all up to date.
Yesterday I found out who had lent the two flotation sausages; they were a
bit miffed because they hadn't had a word of thanks but once I found out
who they were they got several paragraphs! They also agreed to lend a
couple more, but let me explain what we're up against here.
They're a commercial concern, SeaMech I think. They have a total of six
sausages, I have two (one leaks quite badly), one is fifty KM away (lent
to a yottie in distress who never returned it, why why why do people do
this it makes it so difficult for the next distressed mariner). They have
two in the yard, one of which was almost totally destroyed by the last
user (and has not been repaired by anyone!) and one which needs a new
valve fitted and looks like it'll leak as well. One was lent out and
they're trying to track it down. I will have to do any leak repairs
necessary but at least they're not asking for any payment. One of them
will be available this morning. Right now we're investigating the best way
of repairing the bags, so far we've used a heat gun and rubber patches.
Two part Hyperlon glue is available (at a price) if we go down that route.
Once I've finishef this update I'll do 5 mins research on the net.
I am supposedly paying Fiji $250 per day for each leaking bag (5) from the
Dive Shop. we'll see about that but right now I need them 'on side' and
willing to hire out their compressor. I'm 90% certain that if the bags
were sound Trouters would be ashore now and would not have become totally
waterlogged, which of course has destroyed all the
electronics/batteries/instruments/books left on board and scattered pots
and pans on the sea floor. My poor boat is now basically a total rebuild.
After we secured the promise of more sausages yesterday we went out to the
boat and removed all the leaking bags, meaning to repair them today. We
priced inner tubes (too expensive considering the interior volume),
plastic bottles and the like and had a long hard think about using the
liferaft. After a lot of swimming around and free-diving under the bridge
deck (surreal looking at plates and books on the seabed. I retrieved a
multimeter~useless of course~ and a cookbook) we decided the flotation
sausages were the best option. Rich, thanks for the thought on pumps.
Third World mate, yes there is a fire department but no there are no
floating pumps. The ones we have access to cannot keep up with the inflow
of water so unless we can beach and patch (the next option if plan Z4
fails) we're going with the flotation bags.
Plan today is to spend this morning (0700 as I type) patching every
bag/sausage we can lay our hands on then go out to the boat at 1200 (ish)
to set up all the floats in slow time. We have the offer of a more
powerful boat to tow so we can use the club rescue boat as a floating base
for the compressor and top up bags as/when necessary.
Hey ho, what is that light at the end of the tunnel, my opinions on it
vary! I'm now getting good emotional support 'locally', and boy does that
help.....I say no more.


Fiji: +6799212518
A writer's life for me?
http://roastbeefonsundays.blogspot.com/