Reply With QuoteI was going post the same question.... Pump out the haz. fluids, patch (weld) the big-ol hole in the side, airbags to refloat?
I'm sure you all have seen it in the news. What's your thoughts on righting and recovering the Concordia?
Ron
I was going post the same question.... Pump out the haz. fluids, patch (weld) the big-ol hole in the side, airbags to refloat?
My grandfather always used to tell me, "Boy, when you're up to your *** in alligators, drain the swamp."
I'm sure he knew what he was talking about, but for the life of me, I can't see this advice applying to this situation.
Ron
Saw it done many years ago. No doubt not quite as big a ship as this one, but they patched the hole, and five tugs positioned along the length pulled it towards upright and held it while they pumped then pulled some more. Repeat many times.
Getting the thing back floating is the real issue. If they are not sure they can get a high enough tide, they may chop it up there.
The good thing is that it still sometimes moves, that indicates some hope for floating.
I always heard it as "When you're up to your ass in alligators, its difficult to remember that your original objective was to drain the swamp." That way makes more sense to me - but still not really applicable to this situation.Originally Posted by CCR5600Design
My grandfather always used to tell me, "Boy, when you're up to your *** in alligators, drain the swamp."
I'm sure he knew what he was talking about, but for the life of me, I can't see this advice applying to this situation.
Ron
If the boat had only sunk in really deep water....
I don't think the boat can be economically refit and put back into service because of the saltwater. I suppose is can be chopped up in place and toted off.
Hey - the Italians are a creative people. They will come up with some way to salvage this thing, or turn it into a positive. Hmmmm...
How about a theme park? Just two weeks ago I took the family to a really interesting attraction near Gatlinburg based on the Titanic.
Maybe this one could be "The Poseidon Adventure"?? Half the work is already done. They have the ship!
And there is precedent for it: they already draw millions of tourist dollars in to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, right? Why not a leaning ship?
Just sayin...
It'll be out on the high seas agaian for sure. Probably not as a cruise ship but it'll be back to work I'm sure. There will be plenty of bidders for a ship that size. Gut it fix it and a quick tune up and voila!! A ship at a fraction of the cost of new.
I'm thinking this'd be easy enough to scale and test lift. Bags cradeling each end at the sides and a bag in the flooded areas and slow controlled fill?
JB, that reminds of when I was working in London in the early 70s and I took a two week skiing vacation to Italy over Christmas and New Year. I was staying in a small town Sauze d'Oulx, in the mid foorhills of the Dolomites. It had a population of about 400 people other than the ski season.
On the 29th of December around 8:00pm, I was sitting in a little pub eating wood-oven-fired pizza and drinking wine that I think was only days old and some fireworks started up on the facing ski slopes. They went on for about 15 minutes or so and were very spectacular. I asked one of the waiters what it was all about and he didn't know.
Next day, I was at the local bread shop and I recognized the Mayor so I asked him about last night's fireworks. I swear, I quote this verbatim, well as best I can remember, "It was such a lovely night we thought we would let off the New Years eve fireworks instead of waiting for the 31st."
The Italians can make the best of everything or anything, so an under-water/above-water theme park of the stranded ship would not be a stretch for them.
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