Scuba Shack's Boat Get Wet Sinks in Key Largo

[Brendon]

Pneumothorax usually leads to subcutaneous emphysema. And It's not really related to DCS. More like barotrauma. I have never heard of Mediastinal emphysema. I have heard of a pneumomediastinal. Perhaps that's what you meant.

No you are wrong, pulmonary interstitial emphysema is the prequel to AGE, M/E, S/E and Pneumothorax... I meant exactly what I said & Mediastinal emphysema / pneumomediastinal are the same thing... Your right, POIS and DCS are not the same thing thx for catching that.

 

[spoolin01]

The term you are looking for is reserve buoyancy, and that is the critical term, not freeboard. Freeboard can be thought of as the manifestation of reserve bouyancy in height above waterline, can't it? Look, a submarine sinks but doesn't kill it's crew because it has reserve buoyancy. A vessel can easily be designed to have reserve buoyancy and have decks awash in through the transom all day long as long as there is reserve buoyancy to keep the vessel floating. Even in the story you relate about the Albion 27, the issue was not buoyancy or freeboard, it was maintenance. The owner let a leak go that wasn't designed into the boat, yet he was able to overcome the leak on normal days with the bilge pump. On the day the bilge pump didn't act right, the boat was in trouble, because it lost it's reserve buoyancy. It's reserve buoyancy was lost to excess water in the bilge.

In Coast Guard jargon, vessels don't founder, they lose their reserve buoyancy.



Let me see if I got this right. Are you saying that the only hatch that allowed water in the deck was the engine hatch/cover/bench? There were no other secured or unsecured oval hatches in the deck for access to the lazarette or somewhere else that came loose as the vessel sank? I'm not questioning you, I'm trying to get it right in my head.

I guess I don't understand the formal definition of reserve bouyancy then, since the submarine sinks when water ballast is taken on. Maybe the term I'm looking for is whatever 'tonnage' defines at what point water starts coming aboard to reduce flotation. The smaller that number relative to the dry weight of the vessel, the less margin of safety. That number is made MUCH smaller when the water can come through drains/hawse cuts/transom doors than if the water has to come over the gunwales. On most boats that I've seen, the ingress points into the bilge are well below those gunwales. And once the deck is awash, the volume of the vessel remaining above water and providing the remaining reserve bouyancy is dramatically reduced over that represented by the outer hull profile when watertight - the profile of displacement vs remaining freeboard plunges, rather than virtuously increasing, as a flared hull form otherwise provides.

Breaching the hull even by design, is a compromise trading (mostly) convenience for reserve bouyancy/tonnage. In a small boat, that can make things go bad very quickly, and a leak that might be easily managed or solved in a 60 ft boat sinks a 25 footer like the Get Wet. That was (one of) the lesson I got from the near-sinking of the Albin 27 - absent the transom door it would have taken much more water, likely several multiples of what had come aboard at that point, to put us near that threshold.

 

[cjsiris]

As a friend of Aimee's family, I have to say that all the knowledge shared here has helped me better understand how the boat could have sank so quickly. And I thought it spoke volumes when it re-sank after the salvage crew brought it back to the surface. It seems like there were multiple things contributing to the accident that day. I now know more about boats than I ever thought I would, thank you!

I realize that this is a long, long, long shot but... Aimee's wedding ring seems to be missing. If any of you happen to be in the area, I know it would mean a lot if you could take a moment to look around. A description of Aimee's ring and where it might be, can be found on Pat's Blog. Maybe some things were left on the boat that assisted with the rescue, or washed up on a nearby reef? How far could a pair of shorts travel or in which direction based on the currents in the area?

 

[The Chairman]

Let me see if I got this right. Are you saying that the only hatch that allowed water in the deck was the engine hatch/cover/bench? There were no other secured or unsecured oval hatches in the deck for access to the lazarette or somewhere else that came loose as the vessel sank? I'm not questioning you, I'm trying to get it right in my head.

I did not say that nor did I mean to infer it. The main hatch becoming detached does not appear to be the reason for the sinking of the vessel. It was detached during the sinking process and was closed prior to sinking.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

cjsiris,That would be nice if there in shorts, and the hospital did not have when they gave belongings, maybe look in bag they give to the family again.

 

[DandyDon]

I realize that this is a long, long, long shot but... Aimee's wedding ring seems to be missing. If any of you happen to be in the area, I know it would mean a lot if you could take a moment to look around. A description of Aimee's ring and where it might be, can be found on Pat's Blog. Maybe some things were left on the boat that assisted with the rescue, or washed up on a nearby reef? How far could a pair of shorts travel or in which direction based on the currents in the area?

I think a free floating pair of shorts could be in The Bahamas by now or headed for New Jersey, but it might be around the reef - which is dived frequently by many.

Just in case it may be found there and someone comes here looking for the owner, I posted a notice in our Lost & Found: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/lost-found-stolen/407265-wedding-ring-molasses-reef-key-largo.html

 

[Tanked]

No you are wrong, pulmonary interstitial emphysema is the prequel to AGE, M/E, S/E and Pneumothorax... I meant exactly what I said & Mediastinal emphysema / pneumomediastinal are the same thing... Your right, POIS and DCS are not the same thing thx for catching that.

Um no. SubQ emphyzema is caused by a pneumo. Not the other way around.And P.I.E. is a condition commonly seen in neonates.

 

[kendallpg]

I have a question that I hope is not off topic.
I told my wife, we are both newbies, about this incident and her first question was..."where was the instructor when this happened?"
My question is this...I am assuming that during a discover scuba dive the instructor is somewhat responsible for the students safety because the student is not a certified scuba diver. So is the instructor also somewhat responsible for the safety of the students while on the boat going to and from the dive site?
To the instructors out there...please do not flame me if the answer to this question is no...I am just wondering!

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Kendall, That is a very good ? and the Instructor Will get sued and prosecuted along with the captain and dive OP. What it comes down to is they new the boat was full of water and they tried to make it to shore, so clearly has no right operating a boat, it is obvious the water will go to one end and sink.

On Discover scuba the instructor is responsible if you live or not and should go to prison and if amit was a discover that is two students he did not take care of. Also it might have been a divemaster, and if not current on insurance or certified they will be held guilty right along with dive op.

You sign a waiver and it wont hold up if everyone you paid has been proved wrong doing.

 

[japan-diver]

Not as lawyer but I think the instructor would not be directly liable for this accident (assuming he is not also the captain). A boat sinking and any injuries sustained from that would be the "fault" of the captain of the vessel not the dive instructor who happened to be riding on the vessel. The instructor would be responsible for conducting the dive. Since the accident happened after the dive was finished the instructor would not be liable for this accident.
The captain and the vessels insurance would be the ones on the hook for this one. Although I am sure the lawyers will be naming everyone on board in the lawsuits that are sure to follow. Since in this case the instructor was working for the dive shop which owned the boat also the insurance company is probably one in the same for instruction and boat operations.