A grinder and paint will make a welder what he ain’t. Slap it on thick boys!

Roman stopped by 4 years ago on his quest to find the safest boat he could find. He has looked at titanium hulls, expedition boats, double hulls, you name it. I know what you are thinking. Why did he stop at my boat? Frankly, I think it was to warn me. That conversation got him nowhere but we became friends anyway. Now he has his “unsinkable boat”, his words, not mine, and he is rigging it for Chinese Junk sails. That part, I just love. I have no idea how this will play out but it’s going to be a great adventure and that is what life is about. –Doug

When FedEx pulled up I started to wonder what I had ordered that required such a big truck. Turns out the truck was empty but the driver, Jim was here to help. Jim was an electrician before he was a driver so he fixed over hauled our cranes that were in serious need of service and also welded, helped with sails, and painting. So when you see a FedEx Custom Critical truck, wave at him, it might be Jim.

Open your doors and some of the most amazing people walk in. Hollis Fitch has stopped by before but this time he had Seeker’s engine room on his brain, so I handed this former Chief Engineer a credit card and he started plumbing the fuel lines for Seeker’s 6 fuel tanks and then sketched up other ideas. He has gone to help another friend, but he’ll be back. I still have his pressure washer. 🙂

We added 13 pounds of positive buoyancy to the ROV with pontoons made from the same 3.5″ ID aluminum pipe used for the main hull. That give us ample flotation, ease of construction, the ability to add more batteries while preserving the 6700 ft, 2000 m operational depth.  Hull Details 

We try out a 4200 psi Dewalt Pressure Washer with a Sandblasting Attachment.

I’ve been looking forward to starting this project for some time now.   Josh and Alexis wanted to help and they are returning in the spring, so we’ve started the ground work.  We have the aluminum.   Now we need a low mileage 2000-2003 Volkswagen 1.9 TDI diesel engine and a Berkeley 12JC Jet Pump.

Details here: Tender web page.    VW 1.9L TDI engine – NO ELECTRONICS

Bart’s putting enough screws in his tiny home to make it hurricane proof. No, we will not test that either. And we paid a visit to Mike to see how he is getting along with his new American Rotary 3-phase convert and electrical system that you good folks gifted to him. Thank You!

Laurens Gijzenberg; a mechanical engineer, stopped in on his way back to Portugal. And Hollis Fitch, a project planner, and chief engineer returned to do some boat work while I got some ROV work done and did my best to stay out of their way.