Up until last week, the amazing MPSV / GO America’s (GOA) transom mounted offshore A-Frame had a rating of 11-tons. In preparation for a job that would required the launch and retrieval of a heavier load, the Guice Offshore/Global SubDive (GO/GSD) team set out to increase the GOA’s A-Frame rating to 15-tons, based on the engineering instructions received from our partners.
Load tests are designed to ensure lifting equipment has the capacity to perform to the required standard. In our case, the client’s equipment weighed a whopping 12-tons, so the GOA’s 11-ton A-Frame needed a full strength test to go through to achieve this goal.
It all started with the nice folks at Cajun Water Weight Rentals in Harvey, LA sending the weight bags to our testing location at Derecktor Shipyard in Fort Pierce, FL. We thank Rob Mac Keen, Project Manager at Derecktor for his help, patience, and hospitality.
Weight bags were off-loaded and carefully set on the deck of the GOA, and the rigging process, led by the collective GO/GSD team began. We started by attaching a 17-ton pull-tested and inspected shackle (thank you Certex Lifting Products & Service for your speedy work), a snatch block, and the load cell to the 120,000 lb blue line.
Then, we connected the GOA’s fire hoses to each bag and started filling them up with water while NEMO & NOMAD witnessed the whole process, patiently waiting for their turn to get in the water.
We tested, and tested, and re-tested, until we achieved our goal (and beyond). We were now ready to service our client.
We are happy to announce that the GO America’s A-Frame is now rated to 15-tons and ready to provide recovery, launch & retrieval services.
GOA’s 15-ton A-Frame successful launch & retrieval of Triton Submarines’ new 3300/6.
In other words, the GOA grew a pair.
Need to hire our amazing surface to seafloor exploration services? No problem! Contact us, we can manage your entire project.
Not all service providers are created equal, and this is particularly true in the marine industry. Marine operations require effort, carefully crafted logistics, and dedicated and professional personnel to be properly effected.
Just as it is important to take care of your crew, it is equally important to maintain all equipment to ensure the safety of all onboard and the successful execution of all vessel operations.
To better support our valued clients and unique operations, Guice Offshore, our strategic partner, has successfully completed repairs, maintenance, and systems upgrades to the Multi-Purpose Supply Vessel, GO America, aka GOA. In other words, the GOA got some love and she is now fully ready to service you!
The GOA is a 150′ class DP1 vessel with incredible operational capacity. This amazing vessel offers 20+ passenger accommodations, it carries 2x Cummins KTA 38MO of propulsion power, has 330 LT deck cargo and 14,982 usg of portable water capacity, and comes equipped with Dynamic Positioning Beier Integrated Systems, 2 radars, SAT communications, and many more useful extras.
This vessel also offers unique special equipment. It has 240 – 2″ x 2″ NATO grid pattern deck monitor sockets customizable for all jobs, a Palfinger Crane, a mounted 11-ton A-frame with man-rate winch, a moon pool, and much more.
Upgrades:
Increase speed on A-frame winch. Maintained original line pull;
Relocated main turning sheave box to free up center pad-eye;
Removed, overhauled and replaced main A-frame winch;
Upgraded existing engine control system to a modern ZF system;
Upgraded the DP computers and DP software to latest version;
Removed pad-eyes on transom and at side gates to prevent; interferences with client equipment and smaller vessels coming alongside;
Replaced tire fenders;
Load test crane and A-frame;
DP Trial;
Cleaned, blasted, and re-coated bottom of vessel.
Repairs:
A-frame – replaced heel pin and bushings to prevent binding;
A-frame – overhauled stbd ram;
Replaced seals and overhauled stbd main engine gear box;
Overhauled bow thruster unit;
Replaced rudder bushings;
Replaced all after-coolers on main engines;
Replaced after-coolers and reset overheads on generators;
Repaired various exhaust leaks from main engines;
Replaced ~20 split and cracked deck boards.
The GOA is available for partnerships and direct chartering. Contact us to learn more about our fleet and vast complement of resources. We are the top collaborative human exploration, search and recovery, documentation, and conservation team for the marine world.
Not all #submersible operations are created equal, and this is particularly true for Global Sub Dive. Our #Triton submersibles, #NEMO and #NOMAD also known as #Omega and #Kensington don’t just perform deep dives, they do it in accordance with standards and rules developed by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), a global leader in classification designed to rigid international standards.
Robert Carmichael, Global Sub Dive’s CEO checks
Our subs are ABS class certified (American Bureau of Shipping) “manned submersibles” and therefore require rigorous annual inspection and full disassembly, re-calibration of instrumentation, Hydrotest of cylinders, removal of coatings on metal parts, ND testing of welds, re-coating with white undercoat, black final coat (for easy detection of final coat break throutgh).
#Submersible Pilot @RandyHolt checks #NEMO’s sphere
After each mission, NEMO and NOMAD undergo a rigorous maintenance checkup to comply with all technical requirements to be ready for the next project.
From systems to subsystems, from components to maintenance of anything associated with operational procedures required for maximum (reasonable) assurance of overall safety for operations, our “girls” get a full checkup.
#NEMO’s Sphere
Our team follows a thorough checklist that includes mechanical equipment, the pressure hull, ballasts, emergency systems, propulsion, launch and recovery system (LARS), electrical, air and oxygen, acrylic sphere, communications, life support systems, gauges, and O rings, O rings, and O rings, just to name a few. The subs have countless components that must be checked, tested, and retested to ensure the submersibles are safe, reliable, and compliant.
When choosing a company for submersible experience and/or training, always make sure that all equipment is compliant and all personnel is competent, certified, and appropriately experienced. Our submersible team has years of regular experience and are all appropriately trained in each position they are assigned, as per the Fundamentals of Submersible Operations and Piloting, including Triton “unit specific” factory training.
Contact @GlobalSubDive for all your #surfacetoseafloor exploration needs.
After a long week of patiently waiting and strategic logistics, NEMO & NOMAD subs return home to Pompano Beach, FL to prep for their next mission. As stated by our CEO Robert Carmichael “the girls are finally home.”
NEMO & NOMAD Subs Offloading at Global Sub Dive’s Headquarters
Earlier this year in January of 2019, NEMO & NOMAD shipped out to execute submersible operations for the Nekton Mission First Descent surveying 8 different locations off the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean. For this particular mission, the subs were dressed in yellow and red and sported decals from the mission’s partners Kensington Tours and Omega.
We wan to thank Triton Submersibles for the help and support offered to the Nekton Mission First Descent. You guys are awesome!
But yesterday was a really long day for the Global Sub Dive crew and support personnel. Based on the information received from Port Everglades the previous day, we all arrived bright and early at GSD’s HQ to receive our assets. The team and support crew spent quite an amount of time prepping the warehouse to ensure everything will be organized for the arrival of GSD’s best girls. However, in this business, anything can happen.
From left to right, Randy Holt, Billy Neunzing, Shane Zigler, and Diana Giorgetti patiently wait for cargo to arrive…
We waited an hour, then two, then four, and by the sixth hour we were all ready for the girls to get home. But the girls were not arriving. It took some strategic planning and sweet talking the wonderful staff at Maersk and Port Everglades to finally get the first part of our cargo delivered: the container.
During missions, the container serves as the lifeline for the subs. It carries anything from spare parts to miracle fixes. Upon its arrival, our awesome crane operator from Allegiance Crane’s Pompano Beach location was ready to offload all 15,000 pounds of it from the flat rack.
Randy Holt climbs up on top of the container and hooks all four corners to the crane’s rig.
After offload, the container is placed on a trailer, where it remain until it needs to ship out to the next mission. For the next few weeks, the Global Sub Dive crew will inventory its contents, clean it up, and get it ready for the next project.
Randy Holt happy to see the container finally on its trailer!
After the container arrived, was offloaded, placed on its new location, strapped and secured, the GSD team and support personnel prepped for the arrival of the girls: NEMO & NOMAD.
On first look, the girls arrived quite messy. Their “clothing” was undone, but we were happy to see they arrived unharmed and ready to be serviced.
The offloading of the subs took much longer and more fine tuned logistics. NEMO appeared to have been partying all night, while NOMAD was a little more dressed.
Despite their messy look, upon removal of their protective cover, we were happy to see that both NEMO & NOMAD were intact. We are still unsure what transpired at the port, but we thank whomever partied with our girls for returning them home safe.
First to offload was NOMAD. With her bright red suit, she looked stunning to us. Shane Zigler hooked her onto the crane’s rig and carefully offloaded from the flat rack and onto her trailer were she was hauled into our warehouse.
Then came NEMO. With her bright yellow suit, she really looked like a party girl! Once again, Shane Zigler climbed up and hooked NEMO to the crane’s rig to be carefully offloaded and hauled into our warehouse.
After what seemed to be the longest day of my life, container and subs were safely stored inside our warehouse and the Global Sub Dive crew and support personnel finally went home. It was a very long day…
Being part of a submersible operations team is a unique experience, but it comes with hard work and a requirement to be able to work as a team. I think we have the best submersible operations crew in the world and I am honored to be part of Global Sub Dive’s Surface to Seafloor Exploration Team.
Did know our subs executed the first deep ocean live broadcast during the Nekton Mission First Descent? Don’t worry, you can sign up to our newsletter and receive firsthand information about our operations.
The Global Sub Dive team worked through the holidays to get both subs, NEMO and NOMAD ready for their next mission.
The picture above shows both subs mounted on the transport truck, securely tethered down, and ready to be shipped.
Looks easy, right? Well, this image shows the end result of many hours of hard work by our professional team and service providers.
So let’s start from the beginning.
NEMO Sub, shrink wrapped, inside Global Sub Dive’s Warehouse
To begin preparing the subs for a mission or project, NEMO and NOMAD get decals related to the sponsors and supporters of the mission they will be facilitating and then shrink wrapped to protect them from being scratched during transport. For this mission, our client wanted each sub to have a specific color, so NEMO was dressed in yellow, and NOMAD was dressed in dragon red. All this is done at Global Sub Dive’s Headquarters, located in Pompano Beach, Florida.
After getting their special paint job and shrink wrapping, the subs are loaded onto the back of our custom trailer and hauled outside of the warehouse where there is ample working space for the crane to pick them up and placed them on the transport truck.
Our custom trailer is specifically designed to fit our Triton 1000/2 subs, securely fitting them on their tracks when they are transported from our Headquarters in Pompano Beach, Florida to our vessel the GO America, which is docked in Davie, Florida. But for this mission, the subs will be heading out of the country.
Next, the very professional team at Allegiance Crane will have the job of hooking NEMO and NOMAD from the lifting harness and carefully off-loading them from the trailer to be placed on then transport truck. We love our subs, and we always make sure every person who comes in contact with them feels the same. For these delicate jobs, and to keep everything under the trusting umbrella of capable and knowledgeable hands, our boss chooses to hire family. The crane operator in the image above is Clay our CEO’s son in law.
With our boss watching every step to make sure everything is done properly, Clay hooks the subs, then gently and slowly starts moving them. Each sub has a dry weight of 6,800 lbs (3,100 kg), so each movement the crane operator makes must be meticulously planned and executed to avoid any injuries to personnel or damages to equipment.
Randy carefully supervises the loading of the second sub onto the transport truck and starts the tethering process, which has to be done with absolute care to ensure the subs will not shift or fall off.
To ensure the submersibles are properly and tightly secured, the team uses heavy duty lever action load binders, each with the capacity to hold over 5,000 lbs of weight. The chains get dressed with a tubular canvas and any lose chain parts are secured with heavy duty ultra strong zip ties to prevent the subs from getting scratched and arrive at their destination with battle scars.
NEMO & NOMAD loaded and secured, ready for transport to Port Everglades
The next step is to get the container ready for transport. Whether it is a project in the Bahamas, an exploration missions near Italy, conservation efforts in Guadalupe Island, or the middle of the Indian Ocean, the sub container accompanies the subs wherever their missions and project are located.
For this process, Randy spends a considerable amount of time making sure all equipment needed to recharge and perform all maintenance on the subs is carefully selected, tested, if necessary packaged or repackaged, and placed and secured inside the container.
From tools to spare parts to other related support equipment, the container weighing close to 15,000 lbs is now ready to be shipped together with NEMO & NOMAD.
Once all necessary support materials and components for the mission are added to the container, it is then hauled out of our warehouse into an open area where it will be loaded onto the transport truck.
After the container is carefully hoisted outside of the warehouse, Randy climbs up and hooks the lifting chains to all four corners so that the crane operator can start the slow lifting process onto transport truck.
With all four corners securely attached, the container is slowly lifted from the ground.
Slowly…
And after about 15 minutes of careful movements with the massive crane, the container is finally loaded on the back of the transport truck and ready to begin its tethering process.
For this part, the boss and Randy cut equal length chains that will be used to secure all four corners of the container to the transport truck.
Our equipment is considered special cargo, so we use open top containers designed for equipment that does not fit into a standard containers. These open top options allow for our precious cargo to the easily secured with a variety of lashing bars and bull rings.
The tethering process to transport Global Sub Dive’s equipment is perhaps the most time consuming of all. I mean, we have to make sure that equipment worth millions of dollars is properly secured from door to door, and back to our headquarters.
Nearly two hours into the process, the support container is securely attached using heavy duty lever action load binders and very big chains, and it is now ready to begin its trek to Port Everglades to meet NEMO & NOMAD and be en-route to their next mission.
Global Sub Dive is a world class compliment of resources that provides a platform for collaborative human exploration and documentation of the marine world. We are a mission specific team of professionals ready to support your next project. Want to learn more about our elite services, team, and resources? Please drop us a message.
