Fugro Sealion 3000

[Horris]

Ray and all.
The second new FCV in Brazil has passed its sea trails to 3000msw and has now joined the first FCV on hire for a 4 year contract with Petrobras.
There are no plans to turn G3 into FCV !
Plans are in the pipeline eventually to refurb old Sealions into FCV by taking off any parts which are common between the, i.e motors, valves etc.
The next off the design stage is the FCV 1000, of which the first is due for release around May 2008.
From an Ops point of view, there will be no real feedback of how the vehicle handles and reliability for a few months, but at least it will get its feet wet at deep depths to give it a real trial. 😯

[Balloo]

If it performs as well as the G3 (G4) did straight out of the box and straight down to 4000m on prestige with no worries then Im sure the vehicle will be sound!!

Just hope its not a caley LARS system – and your sorted!!

Raymondo……..your right – built in singapore and a comp/res identical to the slinsby comp…………right down to the 5 springs jamming and bladders bursting.

The FCV should do well

[Tak_Tahu_Lah]

Slingsby over engineering? G3 was built by Singapore – same people that made Sealions. They have ex Slingsby guys so some of the ideas were copied Im sure.

G3 was in Aberdeen workshop last month, had maintenance and repaired buoyancy but no upgrades that i was aware of. Never worked with it but it does look good. Definately agree Sub Atlantic thrusters are good (they have them onnew FCV as well).

No, its not getting converted to an FCV, all the FCVs are being built new in Singapore. Brazil has just taken posession of its second one and the Aberdeen one is at Fort William doing trials.

Err no… The first Sealions were originally built in Singapore by Techno Transfer Industries.. The manufacturing part of Asiatic Underwater Contractors.. Who were then purchased by Racal.. who continued to build Sealions.. The in turn were purchased by Thales then by Fugro.. The original design was created by an ex OSEL engineer. Loosely based on a Rigworker.. RHL thruster motors, moog/ultra servos, remote technology manips and a powder coated stainless frame etc.. A lot of the valve packs/cans and manip parts looked very similar to gear produced by SEL but as far as I’m aware none of the guys involved in the production side were ex SEL.. There were only a handful of expats involved all the rest was done by Singaporeans..

[Anonymous]

G3 AKA Damian failed to get in the water on it’s last job did it not!! that’s the job after the prestige before it came back to north sea. It’s Damian tendancies spread from the day it tried run away off the back of a lorry and nearly killed a woman in a car on the road by crushing her car. it obviously was agraphobic and knew where it was going and has always hated water since!! It also gets cold and likes to start fires!!

[Balloo]

Too true savechange……………I do recall mention of a small bonfire 4 months too early. Also the story about it overtaken a dingbro delivery driver before crashing into the poor old woman who got an eyefull of TMS as she climbed out of her car through it.
As for the number of da beast…………………G3. Its not all bad, that much time on deck means lots of tea n biscuits!!

Tea white two and a shed load of ginger snaps!!

[J Deans]

I heard that Brazil are not having a very good time with the first Fugro FCV.

Having had to have it rescued earlier in 2007 by another ROV after snapping a tether, they have now managed the ultimate – ROV/thruster interface. Scratch one FCV!

Dont know how bad it is, but its quite major 😀

So they are having to divert one of the new FCVs meant for Aberdeen down to Brazil to replace it. Wonder if that will delay the Saltire which is supposed to be having 2 new FCVs put on it?

Aberdeens first FCV is on its way to West Africa for FPSO installation work.

[Subhuman]

There is another G3 in Canada owned by Oceaneering, was owned by Fugro. It is very reliable and is at work 24 hours a day 7 days a week with very little down time. It has issues though! Main res. And getting into the telm can take a few hours just to mention a few

[Del Ash]

On FCV 3017 (Unit #4), off Kakinada, India.
Awesome system, lots of touch screens and other stuff to play with 😀 ,
and yes, it’s got two consols, Pan & Tilt wars… comes in handy though.

Just heard yesterday that the Brazilian boyz lost theirs through a vessel thruster… R.I.P.

[rovbionic]

Would that be the beast on the Grand Banks semi.

Had the pleasure on the White Rose / Huskey job…skimpy cage but it did seem to work OK…that is if you do not want to count when Steve Drover chipped concrete with the T3!!!!

[marley]

Subhuman!!!!!!you cant be serious. 24hrs a day, 7 days a week.HA HA HA.
It is a good unit, I stress the word UNIT, when it works. Very powerful, It seems that it will always get the job done, albeit that when it hits deck you dont have to wonder what you will be doing for the rest of the shift. The subatlantic thrusters are great. Had to try a few different style prop nuts to find one that stayed on but finally got it sorted. The telem can is an easy task now, I guess it gets faster with practice. Anyway time go. Have to go dry off the seapig.

[Horris]

Destructiondel, glad you like the system…. Any ideas which one of the Brazilian FCV was RIP as they had 2 systems. Good chance to replace it anyway with a newer better version like the one you have, as the first 2 were lower power (125 hp) and more prototype if ya ken fit i mean….

[Del Ash]

Latest news is that the "lost one" has been recovered, don’t know the status yet but waiting on some photos from the office.

Horris, I don’t know which unit it is but at least it’s back now 🙂

Did a sub motor change yesterday, what a pleasure it was, I know it sounds strange to say that, but when you’ve had mostly sealions for the past 10yrs… you’ll know what I mean 😡

Unit #8 has just rolled off the line from GROV in S’pore, going to Aus for a joint venture between S’pore & Aus, should be interesting.

The perry type 4 top hat TMS is a dude too 😀

[Bacaruda]

Is the FCV as bad as people say it is?.

[James McLauchlan]

Who’s saying its bad then?

[Carlos Miguel]

SEALIONs is the bigger version of SEAPUPs which is made and design by RACAL….RACAL is bought by THALES…. the THALES bought by FUGRO….. I cannibalized 2 Seapups when I was in the yard and those PCBs, ligth circuits, and relay discs are made as a spare units to Sealions.

Sealion is a 20 year old ROV system which telemetry runs through a twisted pairs…. all camera runs through coax and each have a video amplifier on top side… it used 3ph 1200Vac to runs the hydraulic motor… pilot console buttons was very sticky sometimes but all spare is available… it is a free flying ROV, so watch out on weather because it will acts like a pendulum before it reach the deck…but if it comes with TMS – LAR will be smooth and easy… when replacing the servo valve, check first the resistance if it wired in parallel or series, you might give more or less power to the thruster…

It is an old ROV system but it still working fine…. good luck!

[Author]

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