Attention: Divers Needed!

[oldtnt]

My name is Paul Gerditschke and I am the Commanding Officer in a volunteer organization called the Navy League of Canada. We are a youth group for kids aged 9-13 and are located in Ajax ON.

This summer we are planning a trip aboard a ship from Penatanguishene to Parry sound and Owen Sound. This will be the second year on this trip unfortunately this year we might not be able to go on our trip because our vessel is badly crippled from Zebra mussels. The Mussels slow us down and cause us to burn more fuel then we can afford.

Since this organization is entirely volunteer driven with no funding from government sources we are appealing to the diving community for help to clean off the hull. The ship is currently docked in Penatanguishene Harbor. The vessels name is Still Watch and is 134 feet long and 24 feet wide. If anyone is willing to come out for a Saturday we can offer up lunch and drinks.

Thanks in advance EDIT: Saturday June 27th 09 is best but it's flexible

Paul Gerditschke

 

[ryshannon]

Should put a post in Neptunes Divers shop, may get a good response there

 

[simcoediver]

What weekend would you need a bunch of divers to work on the ship?

 

[oldtnt]

Saturday June 27th 09 is best but it's flexible

sorry
Neptunes Divers shop? is that another forum?

 

[fppf]

I think its to far a drive for us to help out.
However, my wife and I clean sail boat hulls. FYI it takes us about 40-60 minutes to clean a 40 foot sail boat of algae. That's about 400 square feet or so. Your going to need somewhere in the order of 20 divers or so to clean that hull, you have over 3,000 square feet. And zebra muscles are not the easiest thing to get off.

You will also want to make sure you get experienced divers. Hull cleaning can be a dangerous and strenuous activity. Zebra muscles are like razor blades as well, leather gloves over your regular gloves is highly recommend.

 

[JMcD]

Neptunes Locker is a dive shop in Penetanguishene.

Neptune's Locker - Home

I don't know if they have a message board - I don't see one on their site, but you'd have the opportunity to identify divers local to where your vessel is at the moment...

The key question perhaps is where will it be on June 27th? Still in Penetanguishene?

There are a lot of local divers that may be interested in such an excercise if it is reasonably straight forward to do...I'm not familiar with the work needed to clean zebra mussels off a vessel of this size. Typically smaller vessels are removed from the water before cleaning etc... are there environmental concerns? Protocols?

 

[simcoediver]

Thanks for your input FPPF, the leather gloves is an excellent suggestion,, Its entirely possible he may have 200 experienced divers volunteering their time to help out this youth group.
It would get done in no time at all!hopefully!
fppf, are regular hard blade putty knives the best way to remove zebras?

 

[fppf]

Yeah, that will get them off. The trick is getting the muscles off, and leaving the paint on the hull. You don't want to get the muscles off and just end up in dry dock anyway patching rot and repainting.

 

[oldtnt]

Still Watch will be in Penatanguishene that weekend. We will take her out of the harbor into clean deep water to make the job easier. I herd that a plastic shovel works well, that is what a pair of divers used when they tried to clean her last year but the mussels were so bad they could only get the starboard side shaft clean.

Thanks for the early interest.

 

[fppf]

I would think a plastic shovel would not work that well at all. The problem with hull cleaning is being able to push hard enough to get the tool to work. A shovel has a huge area, you need to push real hard. A plastic scraper is much smaller, much less force for same pressure. A 2 diver team would not be able to make a dent in that size ship. And if its that bad, you are going to need one hell of a team.

Please keep in mind most sport divers are not accustom to doing work on scuba. They are used to floating around looking at stuff. Even an "experienced" diver that does not have experience in hull cleaning wont be anywhere near efficient.

If the build up is really that bad, have you looked into a dry dock and steam cleaning?