Lo"pez" Penetration!!!

[Norris]

The subject title says it all. Met up with some great folks for an Edmonds dive and found the pontoon. I made a short video with my point and shoot, Reefmaster mini

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlBk2I3-muA[/youtube]

[dwashbur]

When I saw the title I thought it was gonna be J-Lo porn or something, so I almost didn't watch...good video! Looks like it's going to be a very nice attraction once some more life takes hold.

[Dashrynn]

hahaha omg i loved the part where she was like hi..uhhh whatever nevermind.

[LCF]

Oh, Edmonds could start seeing more of me . . . !

[ljjames]

how much do they need for the underwater jackhammer? I think there are enough cave nuts and newly minted cave nuts that would donate for that cause that we could probably help them buy the thing by next week...

MORE HOLES! MORE PASSAGES!!!!!!!

Anyone who can find out what they need $$$ wise just let us know! STAT!

[4ster]

how much do they need for the underwater jackhammer? I think there are enough cave nuts and newly minted cave nuts that would donate for that cause that we could probably help them buy the thing by next week...

MORE HOLES! MORE PASSAGES!!!!!!!

Anyone who can find out what they need $$$ wise just let us know! STAT!

The underwater maintenance is done on nearly a zero budget. For instance, when some folks were trying to steal the propeller off the Triumph using an underwater torch, Bruce designed and built a big hacksaw to complete the the cut that the thieves had started. Divers took turns sawing until the shaft was cut. To this day I would like to have seen the look behind their masks when the thieves (I am sure they think of themselves as salvagers) came back to complete the job. The prop is in storage and will be a feature in the park someday.

The park volunteers are talking about low tech and less noisy methods to make holes right now. We have not adjusted our sights on methods that will require actual money. Right now the effort is on improving the foundation and cleaning up the rest of the construction equipment left by General Construction.

A jackhammer big enough to do the job is going to need a surface compressor on a boat and a long hose to the pontoon. It would need a boat like the "Aluminator" to hold the compressor and stage the gear. A marine grade jackhammer that would last for more than a few uses before becoming a pile of rusted junk will be expensive. I've not done any research on the equipment because it is way out of our budget range. Laura, that is a great offer. Do you "cave nuts" have a particular piece of equipment in mind? If so lets talk, and see if it works into Bruce's plans.

[sheahanmcculla]

Great video Norris. 1st one? I am glad someone posted a video so we can see it. I hope to go visit soon.

[ljjames]

I don't have a particular piece of equipment in mind, but I have friends who might be able to find out...

Hey loanwolf! Got any ideas? We have a few commercial divers and ex commercial divers on this site... what say you!??!

What I'm offering is my assistance drumming up the necessary support and funds... I'll donate my time to find a boat, talk to peeps, type type type on the internet, etc... I imagine we'll rent the thing for the duration of the project if its ridiculously expensive... also as i'm not sure how many projects do you guys need a pneumatic jackhammer for...

I'm sure a bunch of you are asking "why this? why don't you do this for the whole park?" Well, I here's the answer.. .I would rather focus my time and energy on one small part of the big picture and be successful than do a half ass job on the whole thing and not be able to actually help at all. Baby steps... People who have not tried cave diving and gotten the bug won't understand how beneficial this could be for the upkeep of our skill set. It will help out those who do penetration wreck diving as well. I think as a advanced diver training aid, the pontoon could be just about the best thing since sliced bread

how much do they need for the underwater jackhammer? I think there are enough cave nuts and newly minted cave nuts that would donate for that cause that we could probably help them buy the thing by next week...

MORE HOLES! MORE PASSAGES!!!!!!!

Anyone who can find out what they need $$$ wise just let us know! STAT!

The underwater maintenance is done on nearly a zero budget. For instance, when some folks were trying to steal the propeller off the Triumph using an underwater torch, Bruce designed and built a big hacksaw to complete the the cut that the thieves had started. Divers took turns sawing until the shaft was cut. To this day I would like to have seen the look behind their masks when the thieves (I am sure they think of themselves as salvagers) came back to complete the job. The prop is in storage and will be a feature in the park someday.

The park volunteers are talking about low tech and less noisy methods to make holes right now. We have not adjusted our sights on methods that will require actual money. Right now the effort is on improving the foundation and cleaning up the rest of the construction equipment left by General Construction.

A jackhammer big enough to do the job is going to need a surface compressor on a boat and a long hose to the pontoon. It would need a boat like the "Aluminator" to hold the compressor and stage the gear. A marine grade jackhammer that would last for more than a few uses before becoming a pile of rusted junk will be expensive. I've not done any research on the equipment because it is way out of our budget range. Laura, that is a great offer. Do you "cave nuts" have a particular piece of equipment in mind? If so lets talk, and see if it works into Bruce's plans.

[selkie]

I don’t think a jackhammer is practical and I don’t think pneumatic is the answer. The concrete looks to be 6-8” thick and I am sure it is reinforced with rebar. Better options would be a hydraulic drill and a hydraulic diamond saw. If you are cutting holes in the side you will want to drill holes to install pad eyes to control the piece of concrete you are cutting out. The place to start is with John Ritter at Dive Commercial International. Who knows, you may be able to talk Divers Institute into making it a class project. I have had no contact with the school in years but my class salvaged a sailboat that was donated to the Sea Scouts.

[Gooch]

Hey Norris! Thanks for posting the video of that pontoon. I've been curious what it looked like but haven't been there yet. Cool stuff!

[mkmc]

I can speak a little on the subject or adding more passages. As I know Bruce personally, and we have talked about future plans for the pontoon.

The projects that the park volunteers will do in the future are as such. First they are trying to stop or minimize the subsidence of the pontoon into the ground. If you have been there you will notice how much area is under the pontoon. This is no accident, for several dives prior to dropping the pontoon we placed tons of material under it to give a small footprint. It's working, but the pontoon has lost a foot since Wednesday. One footer we placed under it by Bruce's calculations is holding up 1/3 of the weight of the pontoon, 100 tons! So on Saturday we began packing more materials at the edge of the bottom to hold it up.

So once that is done, the fun stuff can being. Bruce's plans for the next (or more) year involve the decoration of the outside with a variety of really creative ideas. The pontoon is a bare rectangle, diversifying and adding surface area will only increase it attractiveness to life. So culverts, concrete pylons left at the Oil Dock, and rubble will be strewn around and on the pontoon.

Bruce is also concerned that the chambers will act as traps for the life that can't swim. If you think that is silly just imagine how many crabs might fall in a year. So that is where the "making more holes" idea came from. Not holes for divers but little exit ports for life. Also the holes will probably help the natural removal of silt There are several scemes for making a hole in 6 inch reinforce concrete. The one that seems to be the most plausible is to first make some guide holes with a pneumatic drill, and make a pattern on the outside of a chamber. Then once inside. Use a hydraulic jack, something that can produce several tons of pressure, and with a ram of some kind, punch out the section that you outlined with the drill. The jack will be set against the intermediate wall of the chamber. If any one of you guys or gals that has experience with this sort of things has some points, we're all ears Remember the only funds that the park has is the sale of one $10 dollar park map at a time.

And as I can gather thats all the plans that are on the table for the Pontoon. We should feel lucky that there are those nice holes in the first place, General Construction did that pro bono. That being said, I would imagine that if a group of divers wanted to safely put more passages between the chambers then they could do so on their own accord. In the past there have been groups that have tried to make a feature, but they've lacked the gumption that has kept Bruce going for 32 years, and their projects never really materialized. So if there is a group of divers that really, really wants to renovate the pontoon, my advice is to get organized, and talk to Bruce, just remember to be in your dive gear went you do!

[Norris]

Great video Norris. 1st one? I am glad someone posted a video so we can see it. I hope to go visit soon.

Was it really that obvious?????

Yes that was my very first video, just playing around and trying to make it a little funner to watch than just watching my camera all over the place and long drawn out bumbling...
With April waving the second time that was my fault for not even noticing..ha ha

Yeah it will be fun to watch that feature grow.

[ljjames]

Thank you so much for the input, its good to have it 'from the horses mouth' so to speak (or at least close to it)

I'll ask around and see if people are really interested... The DIT is a great idea for both the critter holes and possibly more swim throughs. I have to go talk to them about she-p's for their female students anyway so maybe feel them out a bit

I can speak a little on the subject or adding more passages. As I know Bruce personally, and we have talked about future plans for the pontoon.

The projects that the park volunteers will do in the future are as such. First they are trying to stop or minimize the subsidence of the pontoon into the ground. If you have been there you will notice how much area is under the pontoon. This is no accident, for several dives prior to dropping the pontoon we placed tons of material under it to give a small footprint. It's working, but the pontoon has lost a foot since Wednesday. One footer we placed under it by Bruce's calculations is holding up 1/3 of the weight of the pontoon, 100 tons! So on Saturday we began packing more materials at the edge of the bottom to hold it up.

So once that is done, the fun stuff can being. Bruce's plans for the next (or more) year involve the decoration of the outside with a variety of really creative ideas. The pontoon is a bare rectangle, diversifying and adding surface area will only increase it attractiveness to life. So culverts, concrete pylons left at the Oil Dock, and rubble will be strewn around and on the pontoon.

Bruce is also concerned that the chambers will act as traps for the life that can't swim. If you think that is silly just imagine how many crabs might fall in a year. So that is where the "making more holes" idea came from. Not holes for divers but little exit ports for life. Also the holes will probably help the natural removal of silt There are several scemes for making a hole in 6 inch reinforce concrete. The one that seems to be the most plausible is to first make some guide holes with a pneumatic drill, and make a pattern on the outside of a chamber. Then once inside. Use a hydraulic jack, something that can produce several tons of pressure, and with a ram of some kind, punch out the section that you outlined with the drill. The jack will be set against the intermediate wall of the chamber. If any one of you guys or gals that has experience with this sort of things has some points, we're all ears Remember the only funds that the park has is the sale of one $10 dollar park map at a time.

And as I can gather thats all the plans that are on the table for the Pontoon. We should feel lucky that there are those nice holes in the first place, General Construction did that pro bono. That being said, I would imagine that if a group of divers wanted to safely put more passages between the chambers then they could do so on their own accord. In the past there have been groups that have tried to make a feature, but they've lacked the gumption that has kept Bruce going for 32 years, and their projects never really materialized. So if there is a group of divers that really, really wants to renovate the pontoon, my advice is to get organized, and talk to Bruce, just remember to be in your dive gear went you do!

[Joshua Smith]

Great video! Thanks for sharing it here. I have a grand total of 2 dives at EUP. But I'm going to be up there soon to check this new feature out- it looks like a lot of fun!

[sheahanmcculla]

Great video Norris. 1st one? I am glad someone posted a video so we can see it. I hope to go visit soon.

Was it really that obvious?????

Yes that was my very first video, just playing around and trying to make it a little funner to watch than just watching my camera all over the place and long drawn out bumbling...
With April waving the second time that was my fault for not even noticing..ha ha

Yeah it will be fun to watch that feature grow.

It was great! I just heard you had a video camera and were going to start shooting some videos. So I was just wondering. You did a great job. It was pretty funny with the captions.

[blt2go]

Since I have only used one in my dive training classes many many moons ago, (and can't watch the video at work)I will ask those of you with more industrial diving experience, would a Broco underwater cutting torch be able to burn thru the concrete? They are pretty cool tools and from what I remember can burn thru some pretty serious stuff and only need the torch and an air supply to run...

[defied]

Since I have only used one in my dive training classes many many moons ago, (and can't watch the video at work)I will ask those of you with more industrial diving experience, would a Broco underwater cutting torch be able to burn thru the concrete? They are pretty cool tools and from what I remember can burn thru some pretty serious stuff and only need the torch and an air supply to run...

A jackhammer would be cheaper. Yes, a broco can cut through concrete, but it's more expensive on a consumables basis. It's also a little dangerous to someone who is not used to pushing pure O2 into pockets in concrete, and then blowing it up. I've been nailed by flying chunks of concrete, and even in the water it's super uncomfortable.

D(B)

[Pez7378]

The subject title says it all. Met up with some great folks for an Edmonds dive and found the pontoon. I made a short video with my point and shoot, Reefmaster mini

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlBk2I3-muA[/youtube]

How did I ever miss this video? Did they ever make more openings?

[Norris]

I know man I was hurt! Yeah they have placed some holes in it now so the air doesnt get trapped, and there is growth all over this thing. Its looking good!

[Old Nubbins]

Here is some footage of the Triumph (I think) and the pontoon. This is from my first dive after OW cert back in early March.
The pontoon is around 4:00 mins if you want to FF through the boring stuff.

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/10104555[/vimeo]