Fantastic video of a pipe lay vessel if you fancy a bit of heavy engineering for your Thursday morning – gcaptain had this on their blog.

[video]http://youtu.be/IH-ulO0YhHc[/video]

😀 good video

Cool!

Clever stuff! Particularly the pipeline payingout/tensioning system and the “floating” work platforms that can move with the pipe and not the ship 😉

Anyone know what the large screw actuators are moving @1.52 in the vid?

Good video, thanks.
It looks like a great career to be in, but only when the weather’s nice.

Do wonder how it manages to not stress the pipe when laying in and being buffeted by waves etc. What do they do if a storm moves in mid laying?

If the weather is forecast to be over lay limits they will attach an abandonment head and lay the pipeline on seabed till weather improves once weather is better they will pick it back up and continue the lay process.
Not sure about the big screw actuators I presume they are something to do with raising and lowering the stinger, the big long bit that hangs off the aft of the vessel where the pipe sits before it enters the water.

Those massive conrods are well sexy

I love how the stinger is shaped to minimise stress in the line as it goes over the stern! Sorta like “prejumping” drops on your mtb….. 😉

Those massive conrods are well sexy

Not actually that big by marine propulsion standards… also they weren’t just con-rods but crosshead and then conrod; the stroke of the engines is such that the intermediate crosshead is needed before the connection to crankshaft.

(Each of the eight cylinders on the turbo-charged slow speed marine propulsion engine I was briefly familiar with, in a past life, had a bore of 900mm, stroke of 1550mm and in total developed 23,300shp at a mere 104rpm…)

“Mighty Ships” on Quest, if you like that sort of thing 😉

Fascinating.

Brilliant, thank you. 😀

Watermen on bbc 2 is quite intresting if you like sewers, underground pipes and pooh, this week down the aquaduct that runs from the lake district to manchester, Hawswater aquaduct, 10 blokes driving down it in a airport aircraft tug.

Also there are 2 jack up ships used for wind turbine installations parked up at cammel lairds , a41 site and near duke street bridges site.

I have absolutely no idea what you’re all talking about, and feel all the more stupid for it.

down the aquaduct that runs from the lake district to manchester,

*one of* the aqueducts. 😉

It is good stuff. I love big engineering.

Guys on the blowtorches seem to spend a lot of time sat on their hoop.

To stop mid lay surely you crimp it off. Or was that when laying a cable?

Wow!
Didn’t expect that to be going on below deck 😛