Underwater Welding?

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I am looking to get into commercial diving, I am a welder by trade but looking to go to dive school and looking for someone within the industry that I can speak with, is there anybody on this forum that can help me out?
Reply:Get PADI cert... check on PADI by seach in Internet... stick to rebreather with lithium filter... stay longer below... beware of the outfit... check what u need... dangerous job but high pay.Unit in my fab shop dept:my good hand and team that trust me...A lone welder make art... a village full of welder make Miracles...
Reply:Originally Posted by westlawn5554xGet PADI cert... check on PADI by seach in Internet... stick to rebreather with lithium filter... stay longer below... beware of the outfit... check what u need... dangerous job but high pay.
Reply:opps... sori... here they take PADI..., most work in underwater welding are done by Indian, imported welder...I could have mistaken... I will recheck... thanks for the correction. They have additional trainning after the norm cert for safety and welding proceedure. To handle the vaccum and other things...Most of them started with basic diving technique... It is based on Asian condition...PADI offer different level of professional diving...Unit in my fab shop dept:my good hand and team that trust me...A lone welder make art... a village full of welder make Miracles...
Reply:recreational diving and commercial diving are two different things iam certified padi advanced open water and when i looked into it the counselor said that wouldnt help me at allComplete Fabrication Shop specializing in pipe fabrication. Also offering heavy steel fabrication and sheet metal work.
Reply:The one in my area lead me to marine corp facilities... in Jakarta... so the trainning is in big cities... yes at least you try swimming before settling the fact you like to work in a wet environment... you cant run that fast in water if **** happen... Thanks again for the info.Unit in my fab shop dept:my good hand and team that trust me...A lone welder make art... a village full of welder make Miracles...
Reply:DSW,I am going to visit The Ocean Corp in Houston next month and I am looking to visit CDA in Jacksonville.  I also purchased and read the book The Simple Guide To Commercial Diving and also went to a bookstore to look for commercial diving magazines but was unable to find any, do you have the names of those you have?  I just want to get as much knowledge I can before I sell my house and move 1200 miles away.
Reply:Actually most of my mags are for recreational/ technical diving. I don't specificly have any commercial ones. The info above was from those, sorry I didn't realise I was unclear. Make sence to me now that I think about it. the only one I know of is http://offshorediver.com/odm/index.htmHeres another one that was suggested to me by some one http://www.dsmedialtd.com/ I don't know any thing about it but it might help.Ask at the schools they may have some other suggestions.Glad to see you are going to make a try for it. Basic commercial diving is relatively similar to working topside but with limited visibility. You mostly walk/float around. Welding will probably be just a small part of what you learn. Decompression chamber operations, rigging and lifting, inspections, machanical fastening, welding, Remote operated vehicles, are just a few of the things you'll probably learn.Ask at the schools if they know people / graduates in the area you can speak to to get info from people in the industry.Let me know how things work out for you. I'd love to learn to cut and weld underwater just for the heck of it and maybe one day I'll find some where to learn PT. PM me with your email address and keep in touch once you get into school. As I said I work Pt at Mar-Vel and know alot of the techs there so maybe I can help you out at some time if you have a question on equipment and sugget who you can talk to.
Reply:I talked to a couple of the underwater welding schools a while back.  They said that, no matter what welding ability, certifications, and experience, I'd have to start at gound level....even with the welding classes.  I told them sorry..but I've got way too many years to start over again.  They also said that underwater welders spend about 80%+ of their time turning wrenches.  They're basically mechanics that can weld when needed.
Reply:Very true, it isn't hard to teach most divers to weld, but its not as easy to teach welders to dive. You will learn everything in commercial diving at school, not just welding. We often patch leaks with plates and bolts. Burn holes in the leaking compartment, insert threaded rods attached to a plate and pull the plate with a gasket tight to the hull. The compartment can then be pumped out and either patched inside or the vessel can be moved and then pulled out of the water and patched. Epoxy is often used as temp "weld" material to patch small leaks. Try to "dry" weld as much as posible.
Reply:Engloid, I have seen your work on this and other forums and have much respect for what you do and I do not blame you for not want to "throw away" all your experiencce to start over but if diving doesnt work out I can always weld full time but looking for a little change, some guys at work have been there for 40+ years and I just dont know if that is for mealso as a welder I dont weld 100% of the time, NDT, grinding, beveling, boxing, packaging, fixtures, tacking, layout, rigging, rounding up, safety meetings so no matter what you do, chances are you are not doing that all day everydayLast edited by TiFreak; 03-18-2008 at 06:31 PM.
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWVery true, it isn't hard to teach most divers to weld, but its not as easy to teach welders to dive.
Reply:Originally Posted by EngloidIf I was 18 again, I might consider it, but not now.
Reply:underwater environment is like space walk with additional HD gear like the one with an compress air feeder and weight... I sure some one with clusterphobia will enjoy the perfect water confine spaceUnit in my fab shop dept:my good hand and team that trust me...A lone welder make art... a village full of welder make Miracles...