Salvage a VW?

[divermasterB]

Bob3 once bubbled...
In that case, take a 1/2" nylon line & sling it through the doors, put the barrels UP at the end of the rope. 1/2" poly will still be within working strength, but watch out for sharp corners.
You'll be able to rig for lifting in shallower water & probably eliminate any deco.
Use less air to fill the barrels too.

How deep is the water you want to put it in?

I would probably take an 8 foot section of 4x4 and run it from one side to the other, then secure the lift to that. I would also tie the 4x4 to the frame so that any uneven lift would not cause the car to slide around on the 4x4.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I agree with the idea to rig things in shallow water. If it is at 140 ft, it will take a bunch of air to fill the bags, barrels, what ever. If you plan to put it in 80 ft of water, you could rig the barrels/bags at 60 ft, which will leave the bug at 80 ft when they surface. Then just tow the car until it grounds (assuming a sloping bottom) Altrnatively, you can rig it 10 ft deeper so you can tow the car at 70 ft. and only have to drop the car 10 ft or so if you need to move it over a lot of 80 ft bottom to reach the site first.

Be sure to use a strong enough cable to ensure the working load is not exceeded. Bags and barells can pick up a lot of steam with a 60 ft run to the surface and can be very dangerous once they are launched out of the water.

I would not rig a bag or barrel per side as it is nearly impossible to keep the air evenly distributed even on the bottom. And even a slight diference in rate of ascent per side at depth will result in the whole thing rolling over as it gets shallower. Instead I would consider rigging a four point type of harness to the bumper attach points (assuming they are strong enough to support the weight of the car) and then lift from a single point in the center near the estimated CG. You could also try a single pillow bag inside the car. This would exert the lifting force on the roof only and preclude any assymetric lift problems.

Filling the lift bags from well above the car has the advantage of keeping you out from under it in case something breaks but it also has the complication of requiring you to get out of the way of the ascending car, lines, etc.

I would not advise doing this type of heavy lifting without having someone with some experience along.

 

[etype]

Divemaster:
Reading your last posts made me remember something that could be a great idea for you. When i was a kid (and one of the draws that got me to start diving) the local dive club held raffles to buy a car, usually a used RollsRoyce (they are cheap and common around here) or a Jag or Mercedes, one year it was a volkswagen bug, and they would load it on a raft and float it out to the middle of a quarry during a large party....and then push it over the edge and let it sink to the bottom.

During the rest of the year the clubs members would dive down with tools and take the auto apart piece by piece and bring it to the surface, and they or somebody would clean and restore the part. This sometime took a year, sometimes more, and the whole time they sold raffle tickets with the prize being the running car. By the time the car was completely dissassembled, brought to the surface,cleaned and reassembled...they had sold enough tickets to pay for any professional work to restore the car to running status AND pay the heat, electricity and rent for the club, plus mulitple kegs of beers for all the parties associated with the car salvage (the reason they bought used RollsRoyses was also to spur ticket sales) and they usually signed many new members as a result of the publicity and the parties where they sold tickets and beer, t-shirts and etc.
Nearly every year the submergable car raffle went on...the motive being that it was profitable and keep the sport and the club in the daily newspaper and people aware of what they were doing.

So, with your volkswagen....design some raffle tickets and start selling them with a prize the restored bug. The date of the draw, leave open ended...with the explanation who can tell when the thing will be done. I’ve restored many volkswagens and i can tell you...it’s not a huge deal to completely restore one, or find parts used or aftermarket, nor is it a big deal to do $5000 or better sitting in malls and supermarkets selling raffle tickets when you have the members of the club to use as underwater harekhrishnas. And don’t forget to contact the media and do posters...this will draw out divers who havn’t dove in awhile and keep putting it off but would love to do some diving...

And so on...i will leave the rest up to you. Just a idea.

 

[etype]

oh another thing i should probaby tell you. After the first year of doing this...the club removed the engine and transmission and hid it in the club house before sinking the car. As for the volkswagen...for the raffled running car....you could throw most of that volkswagen in the trash and just use a new one or used one fixed up with a few of the usable fenders. This would not be illegal of necessarily dishonest, as long as you kept key components such as the steering wheel or stickshift and maybe the decals and resurfaces the sunken car and did your best, but needed more parts than expected to get running..