In Curacao, deep-water fads with grp surface buoys were developed and tested. The first fad was deployed in 1993. Up to now, a total of 5 fads were deployed at the following depths: 730, 685, 700, 754 and 574 metres. Changes were made to the surface buoy, resulting in an improved design, the mkii surface buoy. One fad lasted three years and one month. The main features of the design used are: the use of a sparbuoy design with constant tension on the moving chain to avoid slamming and jerking of the surface buoy; liberal use of sacrificial anodes, and maintenance to replace these anodes about once a year; the use of a short anchor chain with depth buoys, that does not touch bottom; a one-piece inverted mushroom anchor. With the grp surface buoy, a reserve... |