Summary of Trips

Three trips were made during the fiscal month of February, 1990. An initial trip was made on February 11 to replace the buoy on the Deep Liberty Ships (FH-6) and inspect the mooring of the Bill Walker (FH-2) buoy for the cause of failure. The buoy placement efforts failed but the inspection was successful. Another trip was made on February 25 to retrieve the buoy that washed ashore on Horn Island. The final trip was made on March 3 to place the retrieved buoy on the Deep Ship site (FH-6).

Details of the Trips

Urethane Technologies in Port Allen, Louisiana was contacted concerning the buoy we purchased from them for the Bill Walker site (FH-2). They were notified that the buoy did not last two weeks. They expressed concern for the mode of failure and said they would certainly make us another if we could show that there was some type of manufacturing flaw. It was concluded in the conversation that the Fishing Banks needed to first determine the reason for failure and get back with them. Since I was planning to set the Deep Ships buoy over the weekend I decided to investigate this problem on the way in.

On February 11 the boat was loaded in preparation for the trip. As the buoy that was to placed on the Deep Ship site was being loaded, it broke. Apparently severe rust had set in at a coupling at the base of the buoy. This was one of the large yellow foam buoys. Since the boat was loaded and information was needed on the Bill Walker buoy mooring, it was decided to proceed with that part of the project. The mooring was successfully located and it was determined that the bolts had merely worked loose. A temporary red long line buoy was tied to the mooring with 1/2" nylon rope. This would facilitate easier replacement when the buoy is replaced. On the March 3 trip the temporary buoy was checked and found to be still in place.

Urethane Technologies was contacted again with the new information. They stated that they have never had a failure of such when the bolts are torqued to their specifications (150 ft-lbs). Since Steiner Shipyards tightened the bolts it is not known what method they used. I requested a redesign on part of the buoy to enclose the radar reflector in foam since the Horn Island barge buoy had its radar reflector torn off. They did the redesign and gave a quote of $1871, which is $181 more than the previous design. They also stated it would take four months to manufacture. Because of the time frame involved, I decided to poll the Fishing Banks Board of Directors for approval of the purchase which was successful.

On February 25 a trip was made to Horn Island to recover the buoy that was reported washed ashore so that it could be inspected and appropriate mooring hardware secured. This trip was successful thanks to the help of the resident ranger who used a tractor to carry the buoy across the island to our boat. After some difficulty the buoy was cleaned of barnacles and finally loaded into the boat. The buoy was the large yellow, double cone, skull and cross bones that Dr. Coe had built. There was evidence that the buoy had been tied to and the rope entangled the tackle. The swivel was no longer effective as the stainless cable wrapped up into the rope and eventually frayed into two pieces.

The buoy was going to require about 300 lbs. of counterweight to float it effectively upright. After careful studies of the problem it was decided that the most effective way to moor it securely would be to use 100 feet of 3/4" Anchor Chain which would provide the necessary counterweight and leave enough chain on the bottom to act as a shock absorber in heavy seas. The biggest problem was finding a supplier of such. No local sources stocked the chain and time was becoming critical to make the March 8 deadline set by the Coast Guard. A source of used 3/4" chain was located in New Orleans. Efforts were made with my friend Steve Davis to obtain it (He was going to be in New Orleans anyway). When he showed up, however, the man did not have any 3/4" chain. All he had was 1" chain which weighed almost twice that of the 3/4". After some phone calls, Weaver Supply advised me that they had 5/8" chain in stock. I told Steve to get 30 feet of the 1" chain and I would use 5/8" the rest of the way. Upon receiving the 1" chain I went to get the rest of the mooring tackle at Weaver Supply. It turned out that Weaver's did not have any 5/8" chain so I was forced to use 1/2". Since the 1/2" was so expensive I used 3/8" chain to secure the 1" chain to the wreck. So after all this confusion I ended up with, starting from the buoy, 30 feet of 1/2" galvanized, 30 feet of 1" black, and 30 feet of 3/8" black. The necessary shackles were obtained to secure it all as well.

On March 3 the buoy was loaded and successfully deployed. It was anchored to the cleat on the center of the south end of the barge (Target "D"). This is the same location as the previous buoy. The old stainless cable was noted to be frayed in two.

Some Conclusions on Buoy Mooring

In dealing with these buoys I believe we can come up with an effective buoy system. Below are some guidelines I think we should follow.

1. The mooring should be made up of heavy chain for the entire

distance, top to bottom (5/8"-3/4" seems appropriate).

2. The buoy should have its own separate anchor rather than be

attached to a wreck. This eliminates premature failure from

abrasion and prevents entanglement with the wreck.

3. There should be plenty of heavy chain left on the bottom to

act as a shock absorber in heavy seas. As the buoy is pulled

up by the seas the extra weight slows it down before the

terminal tackle receives the shock.