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Don't worry Dave.........

Posted by Cees on Fri May 10, 2002 06:06:48 AM

In reply top Re: Wrong answer!!!! posted by Dave on Fri May 10, 2002 05:02:05 AM

.....I saw on National Geographic the other day that New Zealand is surrounded by relatively warm water. I always though that it was cold most of the time being so close to Antarctica.

You could say that 99,9 % of the IJsselmere is fresh water. Even in the northern part near the sluices the water is more fresh than salt as I said earlier with a bottom consisting of sand.

We have located an intact Lancaster which lies upside down very close to the Afsluitdyke. Although the bottom consists of sand the parts we recovered were in reasonable condition albeit overgrown with barnacles, but buried wreckage is as good the day it went in. The Packard Merlin 28 we recovered was found lying on top of the sand and as a result some parts suffered but mostly of electrolitic corrosion, for instance the supercharger was very badly corroded but some fittings attached to it were as new as was the paint finish. When we restored it it was in very good condition with the crankshaft, camshafts, valves etc being as new.

In this same northern area there is also a Manchester wreck (as discussed last year on this forum) as well as a possible Stirling or Halifax wreck (a Hercules engine was recovered in the early eighties).

The rest of the IJsselmeer is fresh with a good chance that paintwork and metal will be preserved very well, the mud or clay bottom certainly helps. Trouble is that as soon as oxygen comes in contact with it the paint starts to crack and flake away. Swift action is needed to prevent this. But in theory the many wrecks still present should be very good preserved although mostly smashed up.

Cees

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