[Coral-List] Subject: Re: Underwater Drill

[Etichscuba at aol.com]

Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Underwater Drill 
In the US ethylene glycol and petroleum products are classified as  hazardous 
materials and therefore appropriate disposal practices must be adhered  
followed. My concern is how do you cleanup these oil soaked drills before reuse  to 
prevent the introduction of contaminants into the coral reef  ecosystem? 
Ed Tichenor
Palm Beach County Reef Rescue
_www.reef-rescue.org_ (http://www.reef-rescue.org) 


Message: 1
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 07:43:26 -0600
From: "Boland,  Gregory" <Gregory.Boland at mms.gov>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Underwater  Drill
To: <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Message-ID:
<82ABF19AC0F67D40A0E2B2F5949BE8E204B6D9B4 at IMSNEXPRI02.service.agency.mms.pri>

Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="US-ASCII"

To  all,

Another good option is to put your drill, bits and tools in a bucket  of
antifreeze and just leave everything there between trips.  Helps to  run
the drill a little after submerged in the antifreeze.  The  ethylene
glycol replaces the seawater.  We had inexpensive drills last  for years
during Flower Garden Banks photo station  installations.

Greg

-----Original Message-----
From:  coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov]  On Behalf Of Tupper,
Mark (WorldFish)
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007  8:24 PM
To: aj.martignette at comcast.net;  coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Underwater  Drill

Dear A.J. and list,

I have used a hand-held drill to mount  eye bolts into dead coral heads.
It was a pneumatic drill from NAPA,  available from any NAPA auto parts
store for about $100 (I purchased a  higher-end drill hoping it would be
a bit more rugged than the cheaper  models). My drill lasted 2 years
rather than 2 days. I found that the trick  was to NOT soak it in
freshwater after each use. Instead, soak it in diesel  (yes, diesel)
overnight, then remove the casing and oil all the internal  parts. One
other advantage of a slightly more expensive drill is that it may  be
more powerful and efficient. I was drilling 1/2 inch holes 6-8  inches
deep, just as Kristen reports, but I could get about 7 or 8  holes
drilled with one 80 cubic foot tank. I think that once dead coral  heads
have been worked over by various boring organisms, they might be  easier
to drill than solid concrete. Just make sure you use a good masonry  bit
- standard drill bits are meant for wood and won't get the job  done.

Cheers,

Mark Tupper
The WorldFish Center
Penang,  Malaysia

<BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now offers free 
email to everyone.  Find out more about what's free from AOL at 
http://www.aol.com.