Input needed on design of large ship artificial reef site

[sea_ledford]

I'm looking for some opinions on artificial reef wreck diving.

The Texas Artificial Reef Program isabout to publish the Request for Proposals for our ship reef project.This is a partially NRDA (Deepwater Horizion) funded project, and assuch we are locked into some of the specs we initially submitted forthe project. We are looking for a 300' plus ship to sink at HI-A-424,which is about 60 miles offshore. Theinitial thread on this ishere:http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/texas/474357-proposed-ship-reef-off-galveston-texas-3.html

The water depth is 135', and we have a 60' clearance approval from the US Coast Guard, which means we can't have any structure shallower than 60'.

Give the size of vessel we are lookingfor, we will likely get two main ready-to-reef configurations:

1. For very large ships (ie ~500' LOA or bigger) we will have the primary bulk of the hull come close to our clearance depth. That would provide a lot of ship to explore at relatively shallow depths. It would also require us to remove most of the superstructure, so no bridge, captains quarters, radio room, etc that are all toward the upper levels of a ship. It could also be a cargo ship, which would end up with a good portion of the dive site being cargo holds, but would have quite a bit of explorable areas at the bow and stern.
2. A smaller ship that we can leave the superstructure attached, but the bulk of the ship would be in the 100' + range. The shallow portion of the ships superstructure would be smallish, and potentially not large enough to keep one entertained on a longer dive that the shallow depths allow. Depending on the overall height of the ship, we may still have to remove the bridge, but not all of the superstructure.

The nice thing is deep and deco diverswill have a great site regardless of which way we go, it's for theshallower group that we are trying to figure out which is the bestway to go.

If it were up to you, whichconfiguration would you prefer? Why?

And just to direct the conversation alittle more, a military vessel is pretty much out of the question.


Thanks for your input!


-Chris

 

[Wookie]

Hey, Chris

We dive a lot of artificial reefs, as well as some excellent real wrecks. Without a doubt, the most well liked and popular reefs are the ones with the superstructure intact and interesting things to see on the outside. The most photographed part of the Vandenberg is the radar antennas. On the Spiegal Grove it's the gun tubs. On the Oriskany it's not the deck. It's the island. Barges are universally boring unless they are loaded with good stuff, and have you ever dived any of the umpteen Texas Liberty ships? Yup, I figured you had. OTOH, the Clipper is an interesting dive even though it's on it's side.

If I were king of the world, I'd get a 300 or so foot coastal freighter with the hold doors removed or locked open. I'd find a d-5 tanker and chop big holes in the tanks to swim through, and I'd maybe get a yacht or something with a lot of superstructure (a frigate would work nicely here, but I understand the limitations you are working with). I'd arrange them in a triangle and fill the middle with granite blocks or flyash blocks or something to attract the young red snapper.

If I were king of the world.

 

[sea_ledford]

Frank,

That is my thought too. We are planning on putting out more ships at the site. It'll just take awhile. We have a line on a couple MODUs, which would be really cool if we can get them clean for less than a mint. But we have to get the big ship in first.

-Chris

 

[tripntx]

Looking forward to a new site

 

[Couv]

Hey, Chris

We dive a lot of artificial reefs, as well as some excellent real wrecks. Without a doubt, the most well liked and popular reefs are the ones with the superstructure intact and interesting things to see on the outside. The most photographed part of the Vandenberg is the radar antennas. On the Spiegal Grove it's the gun tubs. On the Oriskany it's not the deck. It's the island. Barges are universally boring unless they are loaded with good stuff, and have you ever dived any of the umpteen Texas Liberty ships? Yup, I figured you had. OTOH, the Clipper is an interesting dive even though it's on it's side.

If I were king of the world, I'd get a 300 or so foot coastal freighter with the hold doors removed or locked open. I'd find a d-5 tanker and chop big holes in the tanks to swim through, and I'd maybe get a yacht or something with a lot of superstructure (a frigate would work nicely here, but I understand the limitations you are working with). I'd arrange them in a triangle and fill the middle with granite blocks or flyash blocks or something to attract the young red snapper.

If I were king of the world.

I vote for Wookie as King of the World.

 

[tripntx]

Hey, Chris

We dive a lot of artificial reefs, as well as some excellent real wrecks. Without a doubt, the most well liked and popular reefs are the ones with the superstructure intact and interesting things to see on the outside. The most photographed part of the Vandenberg is the radar antennas. On the Spiegal Grove it's the gun tubs. On the Oriskany it's not the deck. It's the island. Barges are universally boring unless they are loaded with good stuff, and have you ever dived any of the umpteen Texas Liberty ships? Yup, I figured you had. OTOH, the Clipper is an interesting dive even though it's on it's side.

If I were king of the world, I'd get a 300 or so foot coastal freighter with the hold doors removed or locked open. I'd find a d-5 tanker and chop big holes in the tanks to swim through, and I'd maybe get a yacht or something with a lot of superstructure (a frigate would work nicely here, but I understand the limitations you are working with). I'd arrange them in a triangle and fill the middle with granite blocks or flyash blocks or something to attract the young red snapper.

If I were king of the world.

Chris,
What Frank said, along with the MODU's you mentioned
https://www.google.com/search?q=mob...X&ved=0ahUKEwiTquzUk9LJAhWJqR4KHcgQD3YQsAQIMA