Home › Forums › General › General Board › ROVs or Divers?
- This topic has 6 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 10 months ago by
piedpiper.
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August 19, 2010 at 2:39 pm #3775
Chris Boulter
ParticipantHi,
I was wondering what the cut-off point is where operators choose between ROVs and divers?
I realise divers can only go so deep but is it 100% divers at 0-50m water depth, or is it 60/40?
What other things come into the decision making?
Great website by the way!
Cheers
Chris
August 19, 2010 at 3:30 pm #29030Ray Shields
ParticipantWhat the task is, the cost difference between the two, availability of divers/ROVs, many reasons.
If you simply just need a visual look at something, then ROVs are the way to go, if it involves any dexterity, then divers are better.
Its certainly not 100% divers in shallow water. I have only ever been on a rig when divers were used twice in 16 years, I’m sure others have worked with divers a lot more though. It depends on the task.
August 19, 2010 at 4:17 pm #29031ROV_Monkey
ParticipantHi,
I was recently on a job with a work class ROV doing an NDT inspection of vertical members at a depth of @ 12 meters. Bear in mind this was a work class with top hat TMS.
This was apparently standard ops for Shell….The main thing I think to bear in mind is that once you put a diver in the water the insurence costs skyrocket as opposed to an ROV. If they can do it with an ROV nowadays, they will
Cheers
Monkey
August 20, 2010 at 3:27 am #29032Robert Black
Participant"If the answer is ‘a diver’, you haven’t understood the question."
Quote from Ian Harvey, Tooling Manager, Rovtech Ltd, circa 1998.
August 20, 2010 at 7:34 am #29033James McLauchlan
ParticipantMany clients will do what they can to avoid putting a diver in the water simply because of the safety/ safety record issue (read into that what you will). In such cases if you come up with a diver only solution, verses other companies offering an ROV only solution, you may lose out on the work.
I agree Ray.. if it’s general visual Inspection stuff then an ROV is most likely the preferred method of choice. If there is a lot of member/weld cleaning and a CVI or fiddly construction then using divers would most likely be more costs effective method.
If it’s shallow water construction air divers will win every time.
For work in near zero vis water an ROV will be next to useless when it comes to actually doing the job. A diver may take longer to get to the job site but once there, they can feel their way around to get the job done.
In the 0-50m range a mix of the two, Inspection ROV combined with an air Dive spread, can cover many angles on an inspection or construction job. This gives you and the client various options at any given time in say bad vis, bad weather, etc. The ROV can be handy for site location/surveys, watching gear down, pre dive planning (for the divers) and saving on diver in water time. The last point will not be missed by the client.
On the diving front, steer well away from Mix Gas surface diving. It’s one of the surest ways to run the risk of bending someone and is banned in a number of parts of the world, North Sea included. Many clients will not allow it it on their work site either.
October 23, 2010 at 1:26 pm #29034Daniel Dolson
ParticipantHi,
The main thing I think to bear in mind is that once you put a diver in the water the insurence costs skyrocket as opposed to an ROV. If they can do it with an ROV nowadays, they will
I second that. The insurance for divers is outrageous. We have it and pay it, but try to use the ROV where ever we can.
-d
October 23, 2010 at 3:26 pm #29035piedpiper
ParticipantHi,
The main thing I think to bear in mind is that once you put a diver in the water the insurence costs skyrocket as opposed to an ROV. If they can do it with an ROV nowadays, they will
I second that. The insurance for divers is outrageous. We have it and pay it, but try to use the ROV where ever we can.
-d
if they are anything like the ones we seen working in the GOM on UK TV last week (Deep sea divers on channel 5) Its a wonder those cowboys can even GET insurance. It was like going back in time 25 years.
piedpiper
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