WorldWide Drilling Resource

21 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® MARCH 2014 Driving on “Hard” Water (Ice) Brings a New Use to Down Hole Video Cameras by Ray Roerick Sales Manager, Well-Vu, Inc. A few years ago, a longtime friend of mine in Northern Minnesota shared with me another use for his camera. Seems Joe is a volunteer on the local dive, search, and rescue team. It never fails, every state that has frozen lakes, also has anxious fishermen who just can’t wait to get out and do a little ice fishing. One day, an overanxious fisherman went out on unsafe ice to test his fishing skills and found a patch of ice that was not thick enough to sup- port the vehicle. The truck broke through the ice and sank to the bottom of the lake. This presented several problems as the truck and victim needed to be recovered and removed from frigid waters. In years gone by, volunteers would dawn their scuba equipment and some- times spend days taking turns going down in the freez- ing water looking for the vehicle, then coming up to rest and replenish their oxygen supply. You see, when a vehicle breaks through, it doesn’t go straight down, it glides and turns in different directions as it settles to its resting place. Since the purchase of his down hole camera, Joe and other volunteers now start a systematic process of drilling holes in the ice, expanding their search pattern, and lowering the camera down to locate the vehicle and/or victim. It makes re- covery a fast and much simpler task, spending considerably less time in the freezing water. On a more pleasant use, a compa- ny trying to recover a sunken boat off the east coast had a hard time trying to understand the communication of the underwater problems their divers were encountering and the types of special tools needed. With the attachment of a tethered down hole camera to their hel- met and the monitor on the surface, the recovery jobs time was cut by 80%, and since then, they have added three more down hole cameras to their in- ventory. Yes, I have been asked many times if the camera works as well for lake fish- ing. Of course the answer is yes, you can not only see the fish app r oach i ng your bait, but will catch a lot more fish when you can see them putting the bait and hook into their mouth, being able to set the hook before the fish can spit it out. HAPPY FISHING! Ray Ray Roerick may be contacted via e-mail at admin@ worldwidedrillingresource.com )0&"%1 "6)&4 ,, ,, 2)&0 -%3120*"+ )0&"%1 "-% 312., )0&"%1 "-3'"$230&0 .' -&02*" !&+%&% 0*++ */& 3"+ !"++ 0*++ */& !*0&+*-& 0*++ .% "1*-( .,/.1*2& !*0&+*-& 0*++ .%1 .-*$ 0*++ */& "1*-( *21 &0$311*.- "1*-( *21 0*++ .++"01 *1)*-( ..+1 3#1 2"02&0 .%1 "-% 2"#*+*7&01 0*++ */& -$ )*0% 2 8 !*-12&% ).-& 8 8 "5 2., %0*++/*/&*-$ $.,