Grabber

[OldBawley]

Grabber.

I found a second hand windsurf mast and wanted to build a head sail pole out of it.
The head sail on the end of the bowsprit needs to be boomed out in following winds. The old boom is made from a cypress, strong but heavy.
Made hardwood top en bottom ends, placed the hardware on them.
This morning I wanted to build the boom together, found the mast on the bottom some 30 feet deep.
A freak wave from a ferry rolled the boat, mast must have slipped over the side.

I can see the mast in the sand, too deep for me to dive. Is there a way to snorkel over the mast and grab it with something to lift it to the surface ?

Hollow fibreglass tube , 14 feet long, about 1” at smallest diameter.

 

[prv]

A smooth fibreglass tube? Going to be very difficult to grapple with anything, I fear. Easy enough to hook it, but it will then slide off the end.

As a teenager I once free-dived to 13 metres (on the depth-sounder) to retrieve a watch. Couldn't do it now, but it shows that diving is a possibility. Any healthy young neighbours who might be persuaded to have a try? Alternatively, could you get down there yourself by holding onto a weight (anchor etc)? Will get you down quick and without exertion, so you'll have more breath left to grab the tube and pop to the surface. Then haul the weight back up on a line. Obviously don't tie yourself to the weight, just hold it at arm's length in front of you and then let go when it hits the bottom.

Otherwise you're going to need to build a very sophisticated grabber, with grippy rubber-lined jaws that squeeze inwards, clipped apart on the way down with some mechanism to remotely spring them shut.

Pete

 

[ribrage]

Ask a local dive school ? I had to cut free an anchor some years ago when it got fouled in deep water , I gave the local dive school the lat and long , they used it as a training exercise , I paid £50 to them when I picked it up from their shop.

cant see any easy way to recover a slippery pole from 30 ft depth , even hitting it with any accuracy would be tough

 

[OldBawley]

Last year I dived to 8 m ( without flippers ) to retrieve a bathing towel. It hurt.
The tube lies just to deep, and there is nobody here.
There is a construction site on land, with a long bent piece of rebar I could have a try at diving but I am reluctant, at that depth my movements become somehow spastic. Could never fit the rebar in the tube.
No dive school around, and the pole is not worth the money for a diver. Just an other DIY project.

Other ideas ?