Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (MS)

Mangaluru, Jan 12: As per the usual method, when the boats face issues in the bottom, they are brought to shore, repaired in dry dock and taken back to water. However, now, for the first time in the state, the owner of a boat has repaired the bottom of a boat while it is still in water by the scuba diving method. Thereby beginning the first underwater garage in Karnataka.

Rajaratna Sanil, resident of the city and owner of a boat, is the man who had done this adventure. Now the underwater garage has started functioning officially from January 9. On the first day itself, the team of Sanil repaired a boat, which was facing technical issues by toiling for seven hours in water. Rajaratna Sanil himself has technical expertise of repairing a boat. Along with him there are two more experts. This team was trained in Mumbai last year.

Representational image

Generally when the boats are brought to shore for repair the cost skyrockets. Nearly Rs 70,000 to Rs one lac needs to be spent. In addition, the repair work may take weeks together. However, in the scuba diving repair method there are no hassles of this nature.

The team of scuba diving experts reaches the bottom of the boat with a scuba diving suit. Mostly the bottom side of the boat becomes hard due to algae and prevents the boat from moving freely in water. In addition, other technical issues also surface. The team gets these issues fixed within two to three hours. The team fixes camera, fan and chukan also on the bottom of the boat that needs to be repaired. However, this is possible only in rivers.