New ROV

[Louise Gibney]

We have had a Video Ray for about 3 years. We’ve only flown it about 3 times. We were thinking of going into this industry but it sure looks tough. I am considering building a business plan and thinking of purchasing another ROV that will go to 1000 ft. Video Ray makes a nice machine but pricey. We live in Victoria BC (for the past year). Does anyone have suggestions on where to start? I am going to visit the local law enforcement and see if they could use a machine…for a nominal fee. I understand their budgets are pretty tight.

Also, are there set hours to "graduate" from trainee to tech???? I have only about 20 or 30 hours actually flying the machine. It’s fun but the umbilical pulls it around a bit. Spins it lots too.

Finally….I think you have a 3 question limit….$1,200 Cdn for a 10 hour day with operator (up to 8 hours flying time). Is that too high? With our limited experience, we’d likely hire a tech for now.

Louise

[Ray Shields]

I cannot help with the business case but as far as how many hours to "become" a Pilot tech, there is no such thing. ROVs may have people that are called "Pilots" but there is no rules and regulations regarding who can call themselves what or number of hours etc.

[Christopher Tyson]

There are only IMCA guidelines which companies loosely adhere to, or some even develop their own competency schemes.

I’m sure you’ll find more info here http://www.imca-int.com/divisions/rov/publications/ , and probably find more on piloting hours if you dig deep enough.

[James McLauchlan]

If you own an ROV system and your company sends it out on contract it’s entirely up to you (as the boss) what you call yourself, or your crew, as far as rank is concerned.

Technically, if only one person goes out then they are the Supervisor. Admittedly only supervising the system and themselves, but there is nobody else making the ROV decisions so they are actually supervising the ROV side of things.

Rates
For our LBV150 I recently had a client agree to €975/day with P/T included. One weeks work.

If it’s offshore work you will hit that price target easily but inshore/inland lakes waterways etc you may find it harder to get people to accept that kind of rate. Don’t forget to quote a mob and demob fee to cover costs, external to contract, before the day rate kicks in.
The rate largely depends on it being a small operation or a large company/government operation you are quoting. You need to asses ability to pay versus need/urgency for the task to be carried out.

Based on what I have read, and from people I have spoken with over recent years, I would suggest that in North America for deeper operating Mini ROV systems VideoRay are hard to beat on reliability and after sales service. They appear to come out on top over Seabotix in both respects. That having been said, the Seabotix LBV range is quite varied with many operational solutions on offer… along with many $0000’s on the price.

Just a few words of warning on the business front.
These days, there are so many Micro/mini/recreational ROV’s on the market that just about every man and his dog sees it as an easy/quick route to making a living. That is simply not the case. For anyone to make a go of business in this game they need to work at the business for 3-5 years, build up contacts and clients and look for repeat business. Expect to run at a healthy loss for the first few years.
As for Offshore operations… If you don’t have the experience yourself I would suggest you don’t go there unless you can employ people with years of operational experience that will look after the client and protect your financial interests. That type of experience does not come cheap.

Look at niche markets…. inland waters… pipeline ingress, restricted access inspection- water tanks, water towers, ships potable water tanks, locks, harbour/marina maintenance (forget harbour security – the catch phrase has been done to death)

It’s a small world. My father (Canadian) is in Victoria – He owns Oak bay Sailing School – say Hi if you bump into him 🙂
We may even shift our own operation over there one day. The thought has crossed our minds. Drop me a PM if you wish.

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