system selection

[Alex Kerr]

In the process of buying a new system for inspection and low level intervention ,have sort of narrowed the selection down to Seaeye cougar or panther plus, but I believe the Sub-Atlantic range have become more reliable in recent times, can’t say personally as, of theirs, I have only flown an ageing Cherokee, does anyone have any info or other suggestions out there.

[LukeD]

The Sub atlantic vehicles are rubbish 👿
The Cougar is good though and powerful too 🙂

[Andy Shiers]

Not sure about the Subatlantic vehicles as I hav’na worked with them but I have heard scary stories 😯
I have heard that the SubAtlantic TMS is alot more clanky and easy to work on .
I have seen a few Sub Atlantic vehicles that have Hydrolek Manips’ but SubAtlantic valve packs 😕
The Panther Plus is a powerful beast for it’s size and recommended .
The cougar is ok but what spoils it is the Hydraulics comes in the form of Underside skid , this to me then defeats the reason for having a certain sized ROV in the first place 🙄
The panther has proven it self many times .

[Martin Wareham]

I’m a little bit biased (I work for Sub-Atlantic in the Electronics and Software Dept.) but I think the Sub-Atlantic vehicles are pretty decent. We’re up to Comanche 10 (in just over 18 months) and our Super Mohawks and Mohicans are selling pretty well too.

In the new year we’ll be introducing a new control system Sub-CAN which is based upon the very reliable CAN (Controller Area Network) Protocol used in a lot of high/mid end cars. It’s increased diagnostics capabilities, modularity, protection and inherent reliability should enable the operator to increase their up time significantly.

http://www.sub-atlantic.co.uk/userfiles/file/ROV_Comanche_12_Sept_2007.pdf

If you need any more info. please feel free to contact myself or the sales dept. here.

martin.wareham@sub-atlantic.co.uk

😀

[Martin Wareham]

BTW

We’re up to around 100 valve packs in the last 18 months too 😉

http://www.sub-atlantic.co.uk/userfiles/file/HYD_GFVP_12_JUne_2007.pdf

So ends the sales pitch 😆

[Alex Kerr]

Cheers guys, (almost)all input is appreciated!

[LukeD]

Seaeye vehicles are more simplistic to work on 😀
Hydrolek hydraulics are by far better than Subatlantics.
Circuit boards should be kept seperate to oil resevoirs 😯

[Scott Beveridge]

Seaeye vehicles are more simplistic to work on 😀
Hydrolek hydraulics are by far better than Subatlantics.
Circuit boards should be kept seperate to oil resevoirs 😯

An ROV is an ROV, whether its held together w/tyraps and devcon or state of the art titanium bolts. Whether it’s TTL / CMOS or all done by one effin’ processor, whethter the electric motors (thrusters) are filled with Florinert or freakin’ diesel, whether they’re 63 shp or 138. Who gives a flyin’ FARQ what they are and what all these gaseous bloody threads and the daft carnts that have written them say!!!???

Lads, just get on with the job and shut thy cakeholes!!! And oh yeah just to be anal for a moment… Lot’s of you guys really do need a very large dictionary. There, that’s my blowout done and dusted for awhile…. 🙄

[Savante]

Hey Scot,

But it’s like everything, some ROVs are better than others. And some support packages are better than others.

I have a preference for Seaeye, but it’s because I’m a left hooker (no jokes) and can hold the controller for it without looking like a number-crunching accountant. 😆 (Sub-atlantic controller -ahem!). In addition, I can phone up Nick or Karl at pretty much any notice and they are able to answer most questions quickly (without sending you to another desk) and can email schematics out quickly when our cad diagrams get lost in the wind.

I’m working with one of the early panthers at the moment and it’s still going strong – the thing is many many years old. Fair enough, mainlift, tether reterms, 2 new thrusters, new side panels, and all new cabling this last month. (But it’s still the same panther?!?!). We work in tidal currents all the time and she’s got enough grunt to deal with a TSS 350 or TSS 440- which gives you flexibility for operations. We run hydrolek manips on aswell and they’re pish-easy to install. There are heaps of expansion ports on the panther spool piece so you can keep on adding sensors. Also easy to incorporate optical fibre coms.

Also I like the split DC1/DC2/DCTMS lims arrangement on seaeye – one goes down properly, you can shut down one and limp back to your TMS on the other or at least throw her in the garage and recover to deck. TMS is also easy to maintain due to common use of circuit boards and common thruster components.

Get a panther plus and she should be enough- anyone here flown one? How are the LIMS arranged?

Double ring of horizontal thrusters- double the thrust – would be very good. I hear it has the acceleration characteristics of a tiger which is good for muckin around xmas trees.

Right, where’s my commision Pyle?

Now if I could get a decent LARS??

The only thing I don’t like about seaeye is their mickey mouse compass-controlled autohead. 😯

[Alex Kerr]

Right guys!
Getting a few queries from our office about Sub-atlantic ‘s Super Mohawk, any views on how this compares with the comparable seaeye systems- LARS ease of maintenance etc- Discuss?

sanity is madness put to good use!

[Alex Kerr]

C’mon guys, the replies have dried up just when I need them most!!

Have fallen down on the side of the Panther(plus), but am being asked to budget for yearly maintenance. I know there are a lot of low level work class systems around, any ideas on average annual maintenance "budgets"???. 🙄

I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy

[Savante]

Go in heavy on spares and your supervisors will think you’re a hero, you’re accountant/bank manager will think you’re an idiot! Loose 3-4 shifts on down time a month for a year and figure which one you’d rather listen to!!! 😆 😆 Be prepared.

I don’t know what seaeye supply as part of their standard kit, but the following is a sort of ramble/rant as to what we had in 6 months with a panther (about 15 year old I think – so they last!). It’s late so I’ve chucked in other bits n bobs too.

Are you sitting comfortably????

Trying to get a replacement thruster is a pain in the arse at the moment out of seaeye – took me 12 weeks and then two came along at once! at the time they were really pushed for staff in their production line. for a while we ran with only 1 vert and/or 3 lats. fun fun fun 👿 Go for a spare SM4 too for your TMS – that one burnt out when we lost the tension in the TMS bailing arm.

also, go for enough components for a complete mainlift or soft tether reterm and feature a "bad scenario" of 1 of either every 12 weeks if you are doing high-currents work in winter north sea and using a 440 and less than ideal launching conditions and up/down like brides nighty!!

Make sure you have TMS junction box plugs (feed mainlift through it!)- very difficult to get a hold of at short notice – we split ours in situ and had to get one made – not ideal-DOWNTIME 👿 . Also quad rings for the pplus jb.

Low value consumeables that probably add up with time;

complete set of every type of connector, kellums, electrical tape, scotch kote/cast, big boxes of nuts, bolts, heat guns, heat shrink, video tapes, silicone oil, newton meters (need it for the TMS setup), power tools, multimeters, soldering irons, invertible air dusters, meggars, teng tools are nice, angle grinders, big friggin mallets for "maintenance via attrition" 😯 Go for quality and not B&Q. GAS AXE>!!! figure on loosing a clear-coms headset at least once a mobilisation cos some muppet will ALWAYS leave it in the rain! 😯 Grease guns for sheaves and working joints on the LARS, blue steel primer, finnegans wax oil for lubricating your mainlift umbilical, washing materials, brushes, PPE, – keep that lars clean! 😆
inspection costs associated with load testing your mainlifts, costs associated with mobilisation -weld inspection via the old magnetic particle inspectorate brigades……..

go for a good optical fibre splicing kit- 3M are quite good at hot-melts!
You shouldn’t loose a slip ring within 12 months-should be redundancy there anyway. ours is 15 years old and still no problems.

Go for two/three replacement thrusters bare minimum! I lost two in the last 6 months but they were really old, (but my back to back was also extra special and was pretty much using nails as protection fuses so little wonder!).

Go for a complete replacement pan-tilt unit (better to share around a couple of systems I guess!)- you can repair in field, but you’ll end up with diala EVERYWHERE – really long job and also a critical path component. Ours failed to tilt unit mode and we got away with that for over 5 months but your contract may specify pan too.

Sonars tend to be fairly robust- never lost one yet. Had one stolen though from the vehicle! Cameras – are you going for rear view?

Lots of tyraps, fuses, bulbs – considered using LEDs?, scotch cast, oil goes with the territory, you’d need a good barrel or four. anodes should last a while. computer for plugging in an ADAM, watching intellectually stimulating DVDs? 😯 replacement

Go for proper log books – handwritten and duplicate books and costs therein. Computer-based logs suck – go old school! Wireless adapter and wireless printer so that you can get internet in the shack (where permitted).

Whips and cabling should last 12 months at least – they’ll last longer for sure. The brass fittings on seaeye connectors are good, but with constant on/off, they get wrecked up good.

Lights- go for a couple of spare housings (seaeye standard spares package??) – if you’re having probs with having to dry em out, better to just replace than add the downtime.

Spare cards – carry enough to replace out the entire internals (think seaeye supply this as per norm!). The topside unit sometimes has problems with compass overlay.

I think that’s the major cost components- shed loads of tellus 32, diala, go for the pumping/vacuum kits and teach your chaps how to oil change the thrusters!

go for a complete replacement tether

Have you considered reading materials for your crew? 😯

It all adds up!

Critical path elements of the panther plus……….baron, lostboy – you’ve known the beast since I was a wain??

Have you considered regular staff – figure this’ll be your biggest cost? Good ones who don’t ramble are hard to find. 😉

[marley]

Ha spark, I havent worked with the seaeye systems but I have used the sub atlantic super mohawk and enjoyed it. Had so issues during initial mob up and first wet test but once that issue was straighten out had a pretty eventless job. One thing to watch on the system is thethruster comp system. The tubing has to be installed properly or it can give you a world of hurt. The thrusters are not that hard to rebuild as the stationary winding pop right out with a little heat. The manip was a hydralek and was well suited in capability to match the vehicle. Cage system and tether drum worked perfect. The tether drum motor is actually a thruster motor. Just keep a few more thruster cards on hand as they serve as thruster and light dimmer boards. The prizm mm2 system worked great as long as their was no supply boats around with a radar on. ( Funky troubles)
If you got any specific questions PM me.

[Savante]

Marley- good man. We had similar issues with micro/short-wave comms from a sister ship working with us (they insisted their radars were shut down!)- noise built up with heading and range!!! It was actually on a second system installed on the boat so I didn’t actually see it directly.

Are you sure it was noise generated in the slip ring rather than conducted along the 15-20m of umbilical? What gave the game away?

[Alex Kerr]

Cheers guys, will go away and attempt some "creative accounting", the closing date for final selection of a system is 12th Dec, will post more on the subject when I get a decision,

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