Signage and second hand

Nothing too exciting today, added a few more its to the second hand section and sorted out some signs. The road side sign will go up tomorrow and the Business Park signs have been ordered.

The regulator servicing room has been prepared and the regulator specific tools hung on racks. The cylinder testing area has been cleared and is now ready to be laid out in an efficient manor :)

Stocking the second hand display has been fun, lots of clips, caps, whistles and lanyards.

So much more second hand diving equipment to sort out and display, there's a bag of knives somewhere!

New staff member with second hand kit.

Today a new staff member arrived, she's a bit of a dummy or mannequin to be precise :)

She is modelling some second hand kit we have for sale, except the Kirby Morgan Exo 26. We have a wide range of second hand kit that we are sorting out and gradually introducing into the shop.

Our range of second hand kit includes:-

• BCD's - mainly basic Seaquest but with some other makes.
• Semi Dry Wetsuits - a mixture of 2-piece suits including Oceanic Shadows
• Regulators - Apeks DST 1st stages with TX40 or TX50 2nd stages
• Cylinders - 3L to 15L sizes available
• Masks - assorted makes and sizes
• Fins - assorted makes and sizes
• Snorkels - assorted
• Hoods, Gloves & Boots - assorted
• Clips - various
• Weightbelts
• Lead weights
• Lights & strobes

Occasionally we have second hand dry suits and undersuits, we normally fit new seals if required.

Poseidon and Sopras Sub regulators are sold serviced, cylinders have new tests but all other second hand equipment is checked that it is functional but not serviced. It is demonstrated in store and sold with no guarentees.

All equipment should be serviced before use.

Official Poseidon Stockist

Today we received the first part of our Poseidon stock range. The initial order was quite large and has been broken into several parts, some of which doesn't become available until March 2012.

Phantom Mask

 Cyklon regulators

 Xstream Deep regulators

 Besea W50 complete wing

We have the Phantom mask in 4 different colour combinations as well as 5mm Flexi Gloves and deluxe regulator bags.

We also have service kits for Cyklon, Jetstream and Xstream regulators.

Shop progress, week 2.

Well it's been nearly 2 weeks since we moved into our new premises. The finishing touches are being finished :)

Today the workshop dividing wall was finished, hangers for the BCD's and bag were hung. Supports for the hanging rails were introduced to stop the excessive bending. An 'Atlantic Scuba' banner was fixed to the front of the shop until we get the 'proper signage' sorted out.

Ben & Josh cleared the area for the shed base and the shuttering was put in place. They also removed some more rust from the Dive-Pool container, hopefully they'll be painting it tomorrow. The concrete for the shed base is coming Wednesday lunchtime, so tomorrow will be the finishing touches to the shop plus a dive hopefully.

New Shop - Latest Pics

We've been working hard getting the shop looking right. It's a major work in progress and will look better once the Poseidon range arrives.

A sample of our second hand stock for sale, a range of semi-dry suits, BCD's and regulators to start.

We will soon be adding a second hand range of fins. masks, snorkels, slates and even lead weights.

Setting up the cylinder testing Work Benches.

An uneventful day, went to get the workbench and some of the storage bank cylinders out of the lock-up. Then spent the rest of the day installing the bench and some worktops for the cylinder testing.

UB-128, THE Castle Beach U-Boat?

Around Falmouth bay there are the remains of three German WWI U-Boats. Looking at the records the most likely remaining subs are the UB-128 on Castle Beach and the UB-86 & UB-97 on Pendennis Point.

Trying to identify the remains of a U-Boat will be almost impossible but we'll try.

UB-128 was a type UB III submarine, as was UB-86 and UB-97.

Displacement: (tons)	516 (sf) 651 (sm) 730 (total)
Length: (m)	55,30 oa 40,10 ph
Beam: (m)	5,80 oa 3,90 ph
Draught: (draft)	3,68 m
Height:	8,25 m
Power: (hp)	1100 (sf) 788 (sm)

Speed: (knots)	13,6 (sf) 8,0 (sm)
Range: (miles / knots)	9040/6 (sf) 55/4 (sm)
Torpedoes:	10 - 4/1 (bow / stern tubes)
Mines:	No mines carried
Deck gun:	88mm 160 rounds
Crew:	34 men
Max depth:	ca. 75 m (246 feet)

The plans below are of type UB II not UB III

UB-128 and UB-86 were built by A.G. Weser, Bremen whereas UB-97 was built by Vulcan, Hamburg.

UB-86 can be seen on the side of the conning tower on the photo below, UB-97's number isn't visible.

The above photo came with the following description - Two German U-Boats grounded near Falmouth in 1921. The one nearer to the camera is UB 86, a UB III-class submarine that was commissioned on 10 November 1917, and made five patrols during the First World War . It was surrendered to Great Britain on 24 November 1918. It was broken up in situ near Falmouth after 1921 after grounding, together with UB 97, UB 106, UB 112, UB 128, and UC 92. The original texts tells that these U-Boats were washed ashore after having been sunk during the war (like U 118 at Hastings in 1919), but the lack of deck guns and periscopes shows that these boats were on the way to the breakers.
Original text: "A most remarkable post-war incident was the washing up on the rocks at Falmouth, England, of two German U-boats. They were cast up but a few feet apart; both had been sunk during the war."

We have recovered a number of small items from the UB-128 in an attempt to identify it, hopefully there will be a marking somewhere. U-Boats are usually identified by the numbers stamped between the propellor blades, these props went a long time ago.

Coffee and Brass

This morning we installed our new coffee machine, it does a range of coffees and hot chocolate. The machine does charge for drinks, only 50p, all profits will go to the RNLI in Falmouth.

Then this afternoon we went for a little shore dive. The U-Boat on Castle Beach is becoming more exposed as the sand shifts. Little brass bits that fell off during it's salvage are becoming exposed too, we found a brass drain tap, some brass washers and a brass theraded plug with an eye on the end. We also recovered a cast iron ballast block weighing about 50kg, we'll clean it up and see if there are any markings. It may hold a clue to exactly which U-Boat this one is. The visibility wasn't too bad either, just a little too much swell to be comfortable.

More Sartek HD Buddy Sport camera underwater photo's from todays dive.

RIB or RHIB

We operate a catamaran hulled RHIB, many people comment that is should say RIB. The correct definition of a fibreglass hulled boat with an inflatable tube around it is : a Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boat (RHIB). The term RIB came from people, when hearing it pronounced, not realising that it was RHIB. The term RIB can also be used to hide the fact that the boat is just an inflatable boat without a rigid hull, i.e. a 'floppy' as they are called.

So, when booking a RIB, just make sure it is a RHIB and not a 'floppy'.

Budehaven Sub Aqua Club

Popped along to a try-dive day run by Budehaven Sub Aqua Club yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. They had organised the event to encourage new people into the diving world. It started off with a presentation at the scout hut, followed by diving in the Holsworthy pool. A lot of the existing club members turned out to help both in and out of the pool, I was there in case anyone wanted to find out what happens in the non-club environment. This sort of event should be more commonplace, especially within clubs. It benefits all divers as it creates more divers. More divers means more diving and more chances of finding someone to go diving with.

Well done to all at Bude BSAC for organising it.

International Shipwreck Conference

Saturday 4th February - The 30th International Shipwreck Conference.

We arrived at the Robbins conference centre in Plymouth around 9am. A quick cup of tea, a chat with Mark Dunkley from English Heritage and into the auditorium.

An intro from Richard Larn first then a talk from Rex Cowan. Rex talked about the new MMO legislation and how it will affect divers. Next was Mark Ellyatt and a talk about the HMS Victoria and how it has changed since it was found in 2004, mainly through bad fishing methods. Very entertaining and interesting.

Tea Break and a chat with Kevin Camidge about becoming the nominated archaeologist for the two wrecks I am licensee of.

Next talk was by Sean Fisher and he talked about changes in technology and the Atocha wreck. The atocha was found by Sean grandfather, Mel Fisher, after years of hard work and searching. Anothe interesting and entertaining talk.

Lunch Break and a chat with some people I did the NAS Intro and NAS Part 1 courses with.

Neville Oldham once again introduced the next speaker, Richard Larn OBE. Richard talked about some of the wrecks found around Devon and Cornwall over the last 30 years.

Brett Phaneuf talked about shipwreck discoveries in Norway, which was very interesting and entertaining too.

Tea Break and a chat with Mark Ellyatt about my recent expansion and things in general.

Andy Seddon then talked about the BSAC Expedition diving scheme, introducing divers of all levels to expedition archaeology. Mike Williams talked about the MMO's legislation and how there is no guidance for it yet. Mark Dunkley talked about EH's positions regarding the MMO and other projects. Finally Peter Holt gave a quick chat on the SHIPS projects around Plymouth.

Altogether a very interesting and entertaining day. Great to catch up with some old friends and acquaintances during the day.

Boat Steering Bracket

A friend has made a replacement bracket for our steering ram. The last one was lost and there was no response from the U.K. dealer. This little 6" bracket has been holding us up!

Transformation of the shop

Well, it's a transformation from a carpenters workshop to a dive shop. Before photos.

After photos.

There is still a lot to do but at least it's starting to look like a shop. Some Poseidon stock is due in next week, that'll help fill it out a bit.

Shop fitting

Spent the day running around. Picked up a glass diaplay cabinet for the shinier bits to be displayed, nice ebay purchase. Then went shopping for carpet, managed to find something suitable.

Tomorrows job, carpet laying.

Sea Survival Course

Today I went to do my Sea Survival Course refresher. I spent a few hours in front of a powerpoint presentation then off to the pool. The pool session was different from the last one I did, it was more involved. We had to jump off of the 3m diving board with a lifejacket on, swim across the pool and turn the liferaft over. Quite a few simple drills & skills and back for more powerpoint presentations.

Nothing new learnt but it's good to use safety equipment to remind us of how it works.

The Sea Survival Course is a must for anyone who ever gets on a boat, do you know how to launch a liferaft?