A new job title.

Ain't that right. Try running up and down the stairs on a drilling rig all day from plus ten level to as far as the heliport. About fifteen stories. Most times carrying something, always heavy. One of the drill hands made an offhand remark to one of my roustabouts about what an easy job the roustabout/crane operator crew had, and he shot back, "Follow me around for a day. I'll make a real man out of you." Those bar grate stairs are a booger on feet, soles, ankles, knees, hips, back, and the body in general.

I'm paying for it now.

Steve

We were on a job in Timbalier Bay, Louisiana, inspecting for the Weeks Island Salt Dome Strategic Oil Pipeline. We were on a small workboat, and conditions were Spartan. The food was terrible. We ate potted meat, bread, and fig newtons one time for two days. Mutiny was on the discussion table. A phone call was made.

We were then allowed to go to the Brown and Root BAR 282, then the largest ocean going lay barge in the world, for chow. It was like a Vegas hotel buffet. They even had laundry service. A theater. Self serve ice cream.

We were happy workers, and followed them out to 300' of water where the job ended.

Chow can be a deal maker or breaker.

Steve

That's why our submariners get fed some of the best food in all the DOD.

I was told once, by the head honcho (don't know the rank) of the galley to forget tigging on the damned locker foundations in the engine room and get busy putting his damned pie-rack together. After all, the crap back there only exists to push his kitchen around the world.

Guess what? After a very brief discussion amongst officers, I welded the pie rack together before returning to the engine room.

I left DIT 5 weeks ago. On my terms at a time of my choosing, with a small severance package.

I don't know if I am going to be only a pipe fitter. More likely it is just going to be one more way to connect the dots of my income.

Sorry to hear that. If I may ask, what is the tuition now for diving school? In 1974, I paid $2,000 for a 16 week course. We had antiquated equipment, but a good chamber to train on/in. We had a 40' vertical 20' diameter tank. At that time, IIRC, there were only a few others in the country. That one was in Houston. It was a buffet - you took from it what you wanted, and made the best of it. It gave me some basics, but it took about two years of actual on the job experiences to become a full fledged "diver", regardless of what your certificate says. What is it now?

Steve

This one?

Oh, a ship name! I thought you were riding a motorcycle.

Paul

DIT is around $20,000 for 7 months. You will enter the industry as a "dive tender". It can take 2 - 3 years to "break out" and become a full diver. It is based on cumulative hours making shallow water dives.

Yep that's the one.

"Ernie Leimkuhler" wrote

In our day, there was such demand that there was little oversight or regulation. Each company had their own dive tables for deeper or extended exposure dives, and they all used the standard Navy Dive Tables for anything under that.

We all started as tender, then diver/tender, then diver. A tender only tends, a diver/tender gets to dive occasionally if they show they are a good tender, and a diver dives all the time if they show they are good at the other two.

It was a numbers game for many of the jobs, though, and one of the fastest ways to advance was to go ahead and buy a helmet and be available. There were quite a bit of divers that weren't very good at it, and natural culling, attrition, accidents, and personalities took care of them. Many times the selection of the divers was based on who had a hat as primary criterion, and performance second.

I am sure the technology today is light years ahead of what we had, and therefore the training would have to be more intense. The light superhelmet hats have replaced the band masks on most jobs per safety rules. I have no idea just how much it would cost a guy today for a new Kirby Morgan 27 or

1. The band masks were around ,300 in our day. Wetsuit, drysuit, harness, weights, boots, bailout bottle, and all the stuff could easily come to k, and I'm guessing those 27's and 37's are up in the k range now, probably more. Used they are around k. I can only guess on the SS KM 77. What a hat! A whole setup could easily run k.

The 70's was an era of transition, both for the diving community, diving companies, decompression charts, and diving equipment manufacturers. What we used as top of the line would be considered unsafe today. All the chambers were USN surplus. Then, the only attachment to a band mask was a football shaped thing that went over the top of one's head and didn't provide a lot of protection. But we managed to git'r'done, and without losing too many people.

It was quite an adventure, and I'd like to dive one of these new hats before I check out. I would never ever like to do it as a job again. It's a bear living 24/7 where you can die anywhere on deck, and even in your bunk. I still deal with it today.

Steve

Ernie Leimkuhler wrote in news:100520112309531503% snipped-for-privacy@stagesmith.com:

Ernie, or anyone,

Are you a diver too? I think my testicles just shriveled up. -oww ow ow -

--Is American Triumph a drilling rig or a ship?

Never was a diver, and no plans to ever be a diver. It was the main reason the director of DIT never really approved of me being a teacher there. I did however learn a LOT about the commercial diving industry.

Commercial fishing ship.

The Navy Dive Tables are still the ultimate reference

The top dive hats today are all around $7000 A band mask is around $3500. Band masks are still used quite a lot for ships husbandry, hull inspections, and inland diving (piers, locks, dams, bridges, docks, water treatment plants, water towers, power plants, reservoirs...)

"Sano" wrote

I was a diver for the better part of six years, with the usual time off for injuries. I would compare it to being a professional athlete, logger, ironworker, engineer, and diplomat, all rolled into one.

Steve

"Steve B" wrote

And I surely do appreciate what you contribute here. You have helped me more times than I can count.

Steve

Brain fart where I failed to preface with: Note to Ernie ..............

Ernie Leimkuhler wrote in news:120520112306186942% snipped-for-privacy@stagesmith.com:

Thanks for the reply, it seemed to take longer to appear (than a day), for some reason or another.