It could be great if we could share different deployment strategies for our vehicles. I hope that the community find it useful.
In my case is a bluerov without underwater position system. When we deploy it from a boat that can´t be anchor to the bottom the ship captain is always nervous about the chance to get stuck the rov cable with the boat propellers. So we us the deployment strategy of the sketch. It´s not perfect cause you have to manage a buoy, a rope and the tether, but at least we are more or less confident that the rov cable is deeper that the propellers.
That’s an interesting approach that I’ve not seen or tried before!
It’s definitely important to manage the vehicle tether to avoid it fouling with the boat propulsion. I typically keep the cable going off the bow or side like you, and dedicate a person to managing the tether. This means 3 people are required if “live-boating” - one to drive boat, one to manage tether, and one to drive ROV. Close coordination is required! Here is some example footage of this approach - I’ve only ever had issues if the person managing the tether forgets to!
Do you feed more ROV tether out along your vertical buoy line? Do you have pictures of how your setup is rigged?
We usually use currents so that the tether streams away from the propulsion on a large vessel. with DP, we’ll deploy off the upcurrent side. As long as we can see the tether streaming away we know we’re safe. Smaller boats is probably harder. We have a two man boat that we use and it is difficult to manage the tether - especially with a USBL pole down which creates something else to wrap the tether around. It is an industry problem so I’d be keen to try out something new. The buoy appears to add a little complication so I’m curious to know how it works or how you keep it a distance off the bow. Is there something to be said for a weighted ring guide on a line deployed from the bow that sits clear of the props. Tether runs over the bow, down to the ring and then towards ROV. Theres still a risk if the ROV surfaces and the disadvantage is you won’t really know where the tether is or if it’s slack. This may be similar to what OP suggests but without the buoy. Would a camera feed on the boats prop work? In good vis you might see if the tether is getting close. Some people use clump weights on their tether for operating in high currents. It might also help address this issue.
