Excavator stuck in the sea..

[Pedro]

This £850k excavator ran out of luck this week. It was trenching for the cables from the Rampion wind farm here in Sussex, UK. I gave a gull a fright at 1:23 in the video..

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[Robbyg]

Nice catch! Some insurance company will be weeping tonight.
Was that out at the Low tide mark??? Wow..

BTW just FYI, you might want to avoid landing with the Camera pitched down like that. We have had a few cases of small rocks breaking the lens.

Rob

 

[Lapeer20m]

that's awesome! Too bad we don't have a video of when he first got stuck.

do you know the story?

 

[Pedro]

Nice catch! Some insurance company will be weeping tonight.
Was that out at the Low tide mark??? Wow..

BTW just FYI, you might want to avoid landing with the Camera pitched down like that. We have had a few cases of small rocks breaking the lens.

Rob

The machine is used for low water excavating but it got stuck so low water isn't that far out. It looks like it tipped and got stuck rather than broke down.

Thanks for the tip about the camera but I never land with it pointing downwards.

 

[Robbyg]

Christ I never knew so much of it was under the water!
I have never seen one of those. Is the wing like hinges in the center mast an extension for making it go higher up in the air or lower?
Thanks for the Pic. Always good to learn something new.

Rob

 

[Lapeer20m]

i just read a few articles, including this one

A massive digger is stuck in the sea and no-one can move it

at least one suggested that it dug a trench, then accidentally drove into said trench. Sounds like pilot error!

You NEED to go back out there during the next "low tide" and film the recovery. I think this would be a million hit video on youtube.

 

[Fluf320]

Hi guys, I might be involved with the recovery of this beast.
I was thinking to take my drone, but as your local then maybe you could film it?

 

[Pedro]

Hi guys, I might be involved with the recovery of this beast.
I was thinking to take my drone, but as your local then maybe you could film it?

Definitely, thanks! Do you know when you're likely to be doing this yet?

 

[Fluf320]

Definitely, thanks! Do you know when you're likely to be doing this yet?

Nothing is confirmed yet, but if you want to send me a PM I keep you posted directly.

 

[bubbledoktor]

This is indeed the crane that is 3.5m up above his tracks .
My dad works in the offshore and this is indeed the crane they ware working with.
Before the water came up they sucked out all the gasoline, the insurrance did came and said all is ok because no gasoline is in the crane.
View media item 580

 

[Lapeer20m]

It must have 50 gallons of hydraulic fluid on board. Is there no risk of this escaping?

Not that this small amount would be catastrophic for the sea, just curious about whether it is expected to leak out or not. There is typically a vent hole in hydraulic systems because air need to enter/escape every time a hydraulic cylinder is retracted/extended.

 

[Pedro]

There's clearly fuel or oil or hydraulic fluid escaping, you only have to look at the surface of the sea from 0:05 to 0:30.. But as you say, I'm sure it's a tiny amount comparatively.

 

[Fluf320]

This is indeed the crane that is 3.5m up above his tracks .
My dad works in the offshore and this is indeed the crane they ware working with.
Before the water came up they sucked out all the gasoline, the insurrance did came and said all is ok because no gasoline is in the crane.
View media item 580

Its not a crane its an excavator.

 

[Fluf320]

It must have 50 gallons of hydraulic fluid on board. Is there no risk of this escaping?

Not that this small amount would be catastrophic for the sea, just curious about whether it is expected to leak out or not. There is typically a vent hole in hydraulic systems because air need to enter/escape every time a hydraulic cylinder is retracted/extended.

yep it will be leaking and exactly for the reasons you state, the system is not a closed circuit so will bleed out.

 

[Mister Lee]

Bummer! [emoji1]

 

[bubbledoktor]

i dont know about the fluids that are still inside like the hydraulic fluid but for the insurrance all was oke.
my first language isnt english so sorry if i make any mistakes

 

[Pedro]

i dont know about the fluids that are still inside like the hydraulic fluid but for the insurrance all was oke.
my first language isnt english so sorry if i make any mistakes

You're doing fine..

Is your father working on the main platform installing the wind turbines? They appear to be cracking on well with them now, maybe one new one gets erected every other day or so now.

 

[bubbledoktor]

thanks
No my dad is working as a coordinator on the ship that is bringing the cable`s on the bottom of the sea.
The welders connect the cable`s, after the welding is done my dad coordinates the cable going from the ship to the bottom of the sea.
I just heard that the excavator is going to be saved/rescued in about 2/3 weeks.
He said: 2 days after the full moon because of the time of the tide.

 

[Pedro]

Cool..

I'm guessing there will be many hundreds of km of cabling so he should be busy for a while yet.

It's full moon at the moment so perhaps they will wait until the next one unless he meant in 2/3 days?

 

[bubbledoktor]

yea he is doing that job for more then 20 years so alot of cabling in the sea
Am no expert in working in the offshore so i have no clue why it has to be done after full moon haha, maybe it has to do with their working schedule or a company will get the excavator out.
I would say: get on the boat, get the **** thing and come back