Pic of the Day

[SimonC]

I only mention machine polishing between coats, because of this previous pos...

how successful were you in keeping dust out of it?

The gazebos, plus a rest period after the heaters went off, were extremely effective at keeping the dust off. Any tiny particles that did make it onto the paint then came straight off with a machine polish.

I know what it's like - wet paint seems to attract dust and especially bugs!

[conistoncollie]

Will you be keeping the original paint / Union Jack on the tail fin, or will it be refinished?

[Renegadenemo]

Will you be keeping the original paint / Union Jack on the tail fin, or will it be refinished?

We've tried to keep the original paint on the fin but it's just too far gone. Good news is that we can almost certainly save the flags. we're going to have a damn good try anyway.

The machine polishing was done after the third coat of blue.

[midlife]

Brilliant news about the flags Bill, it always sends shivers down my spine watching you wiping away the muck to reveal one.
Cheers
Wayne


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[Renegadenemo]

I wiped the left hand flag on the first ever dive, that was about October 2000. The one you see was staged. It involved sending down about five divers to sit on the bottom and just wait for the visibility to improve. Most were there to provide lighting and one to operate the camera. We were all on some helium mix or another, which causes two problems. One is you can't maintain your body temp and the other is the small molecules seep into bone and cartilage where N2 won't go thus increasing the decompression penalty in freezing water where you can't maintain your body temp. Never been so cold in my life! By the time the viz cleared and we got the shot I couldn't feel my hands. By the time I made the long 6m deco stop they were like blocks of wood and by the time I got aboard the boat it was all I could do to clamber aboard and wrap them in a warm towel. The pain of the circulation returning was excruciating and I was in the wheelhouse almost sobbing with it. So next time you think it's a great event - it bloody wasn't!

[midlife]

Oh dear, now you put it that way Bill....
I’ll have to watch it again when I get home, now I know the grim reality of that sequence, I wonder if it will still get my bottom lip trembling.
Cheers
Wayne


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[midlife]

Sorry Bill, just watched it again, it still makes me blub [.]
Cheers
Wayne


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[mtskull]

I wiped the left hand flag on the first ever dive, that was about October 2000. The one you see was staged. It involved sending down about five divers to sit on the bottom and just wait for the visibility to improve. Most were there to provide lighting and one to operate the camera. We were all on some helium mix or another, which causes two problems. One is you can't maintain your body temp and the other is the small molecules seep into bone and cartilage where N2 won't go thus increasing the decompression penalty in freezing water where you can't maintain your body temp. Never been so cold in my life! By the time the viz cleared and we got the shot I couldn't feel my hands. By the time I made the long 6m deco stop they were like blocks of wood and by the time I got aboard the boat it was all I could do to clamber aboard and wrap them in a warm towel. The pain of the circulation returning was excruciating and I was in the wheelhouse almost sobbing with it. So next time you think it's a great event - it bloody wasn't!

Ah, but was all that discomfort due to the fact that, being a Geordie, you insisted in doing the dive wearing only shorts and vest?

[Richie]

Nah he is crying as he is a regular human.... had it been a Norwegian diver, the hand would not have been gloved, and the diver would still be down there now, without a care in the world for the massive deco penalty that he was incurring.

[Renegadenemo]

Nah he is crying as he is a regular human...

The irony is, I used to dive in Norwegian ice-diving mitts. Ugly, cumbersome things but great for the poor circulation in my hands. I always suffered with Reynaud's Syndrome thanks to my maternal genes and as it worsened over the years it's one of the main reasons I stopped diving in cold water.
But on that day, for the money shot, it was decided I'd wear paper-thin neoprene dive gloves that made my hands look like hands but which may as well have not been there at all. That's why I was crying!