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Saltfree Pontoon Renovations

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

samdive

Mermaid, Musician and Marketer
Nov 12, 2002
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As those of you who dive with us know too well, the Saltfree pontoon is in desperate need of some TLC. We need to replace the entire deck and to do that is going to cost us around £2000 (yes we've had lots of quotes, yes we've negotiated heavily). So far we have around £600 which leaves us quite a bit short.

If you dive with us you should have had a begging email from me already asking for any contribution you can make - but of course, ANYONE is more than welcome to help, we need every penny we can get.

If you would like to support Saltfree so we can continue to dive, train and host competitions next year - you can make donations via paypal on

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=681154

and see the progress towards the £2k we need on www.saltfreedivers.com

If you know us you'll know we're not really a commercial enterprise. This year 272 people have enjoyed a days diving with us of which only about 30 were paying students. Basically we do it for the love - we love doing it - and we won't be able to if our pontoon is allowed to fall apart.

ANYTHING gratefully received - thanks in advance

Sam
 
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Thank you everyone for the donations! only £800 to go - soooo grateful!
 
Folks - thanks for the AMAZING response. We're now up to £1830 - only £170 to go!

If you haven't contributed yet and would like to - please go ahead. It would be fab to hit the target in time to order the wood before Christmas

love and thanks to everyone who has worked so hard to raise the cash

You can still donate at
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...tton_id=681154

Thanks

Sam
 
Thanks to everyone but particularly to the BFA for a very generous donation - we have not only raised £2000 but also a little bit extra that should allow us to put in an extra counterweight and get some new ropes.

It has been amazing to see the response and I'd like to thank everyone for their donations of every size, offers of help (which we may well take you up on) and for your continued support of Saltfree. I have literally been worrying about how we would do this for about two years - and it took less than two weeks to raise the money!

We will be starting the work in January and hope to have everything in place by the time the lake warms up enough for us to want to get in it!

If you haven't donated yet and would still like to - you still can - and it might mean we can pay for somewhere for Dave to stay while he does all the work. Camping in January ain't gonna be fun!

THANK YOU!!!

Sam xxxxxxx
 
Glad to hear it :)

Can you lends us northerners a fivoh for a new garden real please :)

The bfa wouldnt even get us an O2 kit, tight gits. LOL
 
Just a quick update from a cold and chilly Mr Crocs who has been working tirelessly on his own, in the rain, at Chepstow for the last 2 1/2 days and will be there for the rest of the week....

Shortly after everyone left on Sunday (taking their crowbars and wrecking skills with them), Dave decided that actually we needed to remove EVERY bit of wood from the pontoons - not just the rotten plywood. Thankfully he did not suggest that I assist with that task and has spent the last couple of days doing it himself, getting soaked and knackered in the process.

He has also paid a visit to a local timber yard and bought even more wood - to build a frame for the decking to sit on - and is today, I hope, precariously balancing himself on what's left of the metal framework to start the process of rebuilding. He's measured out and included space for a second moon pool which means 2 DEEP LINES next season.

We're going to catch up on the phone tonight and if it's taking longer than he planned, I'm going back up this weekend to help finish off.

Either way - we all owe him a LOT of toblerones.

My camera died in the cold at the weekend so Dave has said he'll take pictures with his phone as he goes along. I'll post them as soon as I get them.

Thanks to everyone who helped heave wood around and wreck stuff on Sunday. He's found it a lot harder on his own!

S
xx
 

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Good man, it must be back breaking! If i had no work this week i would of got my arse down there to help. Dave we salute you and will feed you toblerone's until you say stop! (which might be a while by the sounds of it)

Well done.

Also i have had my local ITV Meridian evening news contact me and i am on the news tomorrow. I have got no saltfree t-shirt but am trying to get one of the NDC t-shirts embroided with SaltFree on for my interview. I'll give it a big plug!!!
 

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Wow it looks fantastic guys!!! Well done Dave and his lackies!

Cheerio,
Ben
 
Dave, Sam, it looks fantasic. What can i say? An amazing job and you should be so proud of what you have.

Thanks...
 
Dave and I are going back up next weekend just for a day to finish off - and get the pontoon moored back in place. We're also sorting out dates while we're there for pool hire/courses which will mean I can send out the schedule for the year some time next week.

First meet probably some time late March - it will still be cold but I can't wait to try out the new playground! Watch this space.

S
 
It's finished - all set up, decked to perfection, new table, new moonpools on both sides so we have two deep lines, new set of counterweights for second moonpool....

all that remains to do is buy, stretch, mark a couple of new ropes and we're ready to rock

The big launch party (aka first dive of the season) will be in March - dates for the year's sessions coming up in a day or two, watch this space

More images on ning and flickr
Saltfree Pontoon Renovations - a set on Flickr

Sam
 

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