Homebuilt ROVs Forum

Check this out. https://www.bluerobotics.com/new-product-fathom-tether/
I'm hoping they come out with a salt water version too.

This was their reply on Facebook.



Nice. A salt water version would be good for us coastals.

Reply · 2 hrs
BlueRobotics Hi Ian, this one will work great in saltwater too. It's very slightly positively buoyant in saltwater (about 2 lb per 1000 ft of tether). It's nearly negligible.

I've discussed their tether with Blue Robotics at length. The choice they faced was to either make the tether perfectly neutral in saltwater and slightly negatively buoyant in fresh, or slightly positively buoyant in saltwater and neutral in freshwater. The choice they made is really the best compromise you can ask for and is pretty common amongst ROV manufacturers. The slightly positively buoyant tether has virtually no effect on the ROV whatsoever and is far preferred over having a negatively buoyant tether (in fresh water).

One other thing about this tether: to my knowledge, Blue Robotics is the only manufacturer to publicly demonstrate the breaking strength of their tether.

Hi All,

I have 75 meters of the BR Tether and you can see it being potted into a BR cable penetrator here: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1707&start=90

Regards,
SSN626B/TCIII