saturation diver...

[Dangerous Dan]

Originally Posted by Digger

You can still earn £1K a day sat diving in the North Sea? I hadn't heard that.

Who are you off to work for Dan? And what are they getting you doing?

Digs.

the last SAT diver i was speaking to was making 1K a day, thats what they got from the payrise.

I'm guna be working for a company called BridgeZone Ltd, based in Tiverton.

Working on the underwater inspection team, they have a lot of contracts for the railways and do all the railway bridges. They are also putting me through rope access and confined space training, and possibly my HSE Surface Supply if im lucky. The reason its good money is because i'll be going to them with a Civil Engineering degree as well.

HTH
Dan

[Digger]

Good stuff. Good luck with the new job. Though once you're paying tax your opinion of a decent wage might change a bit

Digs.

[A. Berk]

Originally Posted by Digger

Oh, and did I mention that many of the job s a sat diver might do are now being replaced by robots? SO you are in an increasingly competitive market.

Robots... obllox... sorry Digger but they tried the ROV thing 15 years back and we all feared for our livelyhood. But hey, it turns out the Rarely Operational Vehicles can't replace a man in the water on construction jobs so right now sat divers are having the best time since the '70's in both work and dosh.

This from an offshore superindendent - working fulltime.

You were probably/possibly right about the age thing, though that is a grey area now with the amount of work around and as someone pointed out sat divers average out at betwwen 40 and 50+ these days - don't ya 'Buster'?

Regards,

Berko

[Digger]

Just seems to me that if they were going to replace anyone with robots then sat divers would be some of the first to go, what with them being more expensive than the shallow and easy stuff. I can't imagine in 20 years time we will be sending people underwater to test and fix things, that's all. It seems to be something that every time I talk to commies about they tell me there's something else companies are looking at getting ROVs to do.

Do sat divers average as old as that? Surely with £1K a day on offer there's thousands of 20-somethings out there from all over the world looking for a living? I don't think I'd want to have a 50 year-old on the end of the line working hard at depth if it were me, their bodies surely aren't going to handle it all that well?

Digs.

[A. Berk]

The problem is Diggs... there's a fcuking big hole behind the 'old hands'. Before hurricane Katrina - the lovely little girl (I'm aware of the deaths in Louisiana folks so don't have a go) - there was little work around and plenty of divers, old-ish and very experienced - more than enough of em. Post Katrina with 100+ oil platforms destroyed in the Gulf of Mexico (yes hundreds) there aren't anywhere near enough experienced or semi-experienced personnel around. So, diving companies world-wide are in a wage war to get the divers to complete their contracts - eee, lovely!

The above story is why that fcukwit A. Berk 1st posted around a year ago - to let guys who really had the 'passion' to do it, to let them know that now was the time... there may never be a purple patch like this again. Not for me thats for sure another 2 years and I'm out!
DON'T COPY THAT LAST STATEMENT!

[David Pye]

So there's a short-term high-demand for sat divers? Which will presumably subside again in a couple of years once Katrina's damage has been repaired.

So while it might make a few fast bucks, you're then left with a bunch of expensive qualifications, and no career.

Stunning!

[Dangerous Dan]

Yep as I understand it there is a massive labour shortage of young(ish) sat divers especially in the N. Sea.
Once the old hands retire this shortage will become noticeable and I can see wages going up even further,

Supply and Demand and all that jazz

Once again only going on what i've bin told and a bit of my own grey matter

[A. Berk]

Originally Posted by David Pye

So there's a short-term high-demand for sat divers? Which will presumably subside again in a couple of years once Katrina's damage has been repaired.

So while it might make a few fast bucks, you're then left with a bunch of expensive qualifications, and no career.

Stunning!

Thats just about what my old dad said to me when I left the Navy in '75 and I hadn't a real argument at the time I just 'needed' to do what I always wanted. And what-do-you-know... I'm at the tail-end of a carrer that should've ended years ago!

Still here - still doing it

[A. Berk]

Originally Posted by Dangerous Dan

Before you become a SAT diver it is common for you to do a couple years of inland civils work. Then if you have the hours and experience you can go do your sat course.

Sorry Dan, but another post about sat diving that is way off target. You need 'offshore' experience to get sat work mate - that's offshore air-diving - civils doesn't help you learn about the oilfield.

And as regards conditions well, although there are some odd places in this world when you are offshore, in India say - you'd not know the difference between it and offshore Brazil - lots of sea and big boats steaming around. So offshore Thailand is like offshore Cameroon/Tunisia/Trinadad.

[Dangerous Dan]

Originally Posted by A. Berk

Sorry Dan, but another post about sat diving that is way off target. You need 'offshore' experience to get sat work mate - that's offshore air-diving - civils doesn't help you learn about the oilfield.

And as regards conditions well, although there are some odd places in this world when you are offshore, in India say - you'd not know the difference between it and offshore Brazil - lots of sea and big boats steaming around. So offshore Thailand is like offshore Cameroon/Tunisia/Trinadad.

Yep my bad, you need your Part 1 and 50 hours and 50 dives of offshore air diving (wet bell and all that) to do your sat course. But the norm seems to be that before you go offshore at all you need some civils, as far as I am aware. Is this right Berk?

Dan