Am I the only one who lost a whole tide window trying to free a stuck shackle pin in 40 feet of murky water off Port Fourchon? | Commercial Divers - Free To Speak
Am I the only one who lost a whole tide window trying to free a stuck shackle pin in 40 feet of murky water off Port Fourchon?
Turned what should have been a 10 minute pin swap into a 2 hour fight against a corroded shackle, a lost spud wrench, and zero visibility, so I'm curious what tricks you all use to break free frozen hardware down there without burning the whole slack tide.
Do you have anyone pumping vinegar down there, or just trying to muscle it? Because if the pin is frozen from rust and scale, no wrench is going to win that fight, you are just stripping corners and ruining the tide. The trick that saves me is soaking it first, the same way you would on deck. Drop a funnel or a piece of hose over the shackle and feed it straight vinegar or a cheap rust spray, then go do something else for a bit and come back. That soak does more than any cheater bar ever will.