What would your response be if someone asked you to recover something

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Littlerayray

Contributor
Messages
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Location
Cornwall, Ontario, Canada
# of dives
100 - 199
A couple years ago a local boater lost his outboard in the river and went to the lds here to see if we can recover it for him so after a few phone calls and 2 hrs later myself and 2 other volunteers went on a hunt it took us fifteen minutes to find it we did not ask for compensation and when he offered a reward we told him to donate what was fair to the dive boat operator
So my question to all recreational divers how would you have handled the situation
 
Probably the same as you.


Although I probably would have taken whatever money he offered and donated it myself to the dive boat operator (or tips for DMs, etc). That way I knew exactly how much as given and where it went.
 
Finding it after 15 minutes sounds great. In my experience, those who've lost something (even marina operators and lake owners) often do not know the precise whereabouts, regardless of their statements.

I've located things as a favor (car keys, rings, and the like) and larger things for a fee (anchors, for instance), and done underwater repairs (but now we're not talking recreational). Just depends on the object, the people, and the water conditions. Sometimes it's the end of a dive day and my fee is "a beer."

-Bryan

PS. How did you recover it? Lift bags? A line to a boat?
 
Prior to becoming a DM I probably would not ask for payment. Since then I view my time as more valuable--plus all that physics we had to do (which specifically addressed raising lost outboards--who's losing all these motors anyway?) in the "old" PADI DM course and the accompanying costs of the course.
 
I was in this exact scenario a few months ago. My wife and I were up at a cottage near Georgian Bay and we were asked to help find/retrieve a lost outboard motor. We ended up having to leave early anyway, but I had considered it partly because the conditions seemed good. The area where it fell in was 15' to 20' deep according to a map, and the vis/temp (based on diving a nearby section of the lake earlier) were similar to what we're used to at home.
The thing is though, I had absolutely no intention of trying to lift the motor out of the water. I'm ok with lending a hand and would have certainly taken a look for it, but the most I'd do is tie a rope to it and bring the rope to the surface. I have no lift bags nor do I have any experience with them. I'm not about to use my BCD to try to swim a motor anywhere...
 
For most things lost near me, ie less than an hour drive. $100 to look for it, $100 to recover it depending on what it is. I recovered a tractor from a lake last year, he was happy as hell to pay $200.
 
A boater lost his glasses overboard in his slip and asked me to recover them. It took five minutes to find them. He insisted on giving me $60. I refused, but he left the money on the counter and walked out. I figured for $720 an hour I was in the wrong line of work. :)
 
I've done quite a number of search and recovery operations for gear, and like eponym, it depends. For me it starts with how much time I have to waste, the demeanor of the person asking, and how tough a job it will wind up being. I'll take a reward but is has to be more in line with the amount of work or inconvenience rather than the value of the item, 'cause I'd just as soon be underwater anyway. Motors and anchors are the easiest, as the owner has a good idea where they are and they don't drift much on the way down.

The luckiest I ever got was looking for a wedding ring in a lake for a very distraught guy, who I told that there was a snowball's chance in h*ll that I'd find it, but I'd look. It was all pretty shallow so I was down quite a while and at the end of the tank, getting ready to surface, I saw a flash so I went for my last look, figuring yet another piece of shiny crap on the bottom, and found the ring. He offered a big reward but I took just enough for the air and a couple of beers and told him to use the rest to get the ring sized right, since the chance of finding it again would be astronomical.

I went looking for a lost commercial crawdad trap in Lake Paulina, Oregon. I did a search past recreational limits since there is a steep down slope but never found the trap after two dives. From the results of the search they figured that the trap was stolen rather than lost. They insisted on giving me a reward of a couple or three of gallons of crawdads, so the family ate like Cajuns that night.

I guess I like an adventure and you never know how it will turn out, but there is always a story, and sometimes a good one.



Bob
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... you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
Harry Calahan
 
Got a buddy and I a 100$, we spent quite some time to recover an anchor that had slipped overboard, plus half a tank (so that kind of screwed a dive). We had some fun though, so it wasn't that bad. I'd probably always ask for some compensation depending what it is, at least to cover my expenses for that dive.
 
I do a lot of this. I get $100/hour whether I find it or not. The only thing I haven't found in 20 years was a diamond ring.

I once recovered the same 25 horsepower outboard motor 3 weekends in a row.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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