We make a variety of custom Shockles for all sorts of applications – from holding down toxic spill containment booms to dampening the shock while launching RIBs for Navy Seals. These are all fun and interesting projects that remind us of what a useful product the Shockle is.
Our latest project is designing and making custom Shockles for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research institute (quite a mouthful). The Institute (www.mbari.org) has a series of ocean sensors that they deploy in various locations. These consist of a 600# device that needs to be anchored to the ocean floor so that it remains about twenty feet below the surface. Obviously it is subjected to tides and currents that want to move it up and down during it’s month-long stay under water.
To alleviate the potentially damaging shock of having a static tether to this sensor (that would also not allow it to remain at a fairly constant depth), the MBARI scientists came to us to design a system that would solve their problem.
While the sensor pod weighs 600# on the surface, it’s buoyancy is only 200# when submerged. So we had to design a system that held it at a steady twenty feet below the ocean surface, while at the same time allowing it to go up and down at least five feet in either direction – meaning the Shockle is under constant tension yet able to stretch and retract continuously with a 200# force.
More than that, the Shockle needs to be strong. Very strong, since it will also bear the force of lifting the sensor buoy and the anchor (actually a 500# iron railroad wheel that will be buried in the mud after a month on the ocean floor) when it is retrieved. This is where our patented ‘limiter’ technology comes in. Not only does it control the ultimate movement of the buoy by limiting how far the internal shock cord can stretch, but it also serves as a strength member. For this project the limiter is made from 3/8” Dyneema, a polyethylene fiber rated to 19,700# (www.dyneema.com).
We’ve just delivered the first of six units for testing. The MBARI staff is going to hitch the giant Shockle (stretches from 9’ to 18’) to a crane and lift a 5,000# weight with it (equivalent to a Ford F350 diesel truck). That’s going to be one strong Shockle! Then it gets hitched to the sensor, put on a boat and taken out to sea. We’ve been invited to come along on the launch voyage – so there are occasionally perks to this job!
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute Current Projects
When Kiteboarding Magazine editor Aaron Sales and a few friends headed for an epic week-long kite-skiing trip deep into the Sierras (central California) just east of Yosemite National Park, the only way to realistically get them and all their gear in and out was using snow machines.
