1) The Reef Ball Foundation, Inc. has developed new mold systems
specifically for students, prison labor, or other groups that desire the
ultimate in ease to create a modified 'Reef Ball." The design creates
Reef Balls with a bell shape rather than a dome shape to insure that
design criteria for stability are exactly the same as regular Reef Balls.
The bell shape offers more surface area on the bottom to insure less
sinking when deployed on soft sand bottoms. The molds are simple two
piece units that don't require any bases to be built or even the inflation
of a center bladder (in fact, the center bladder that can be used for
floating deployment is not even used in casting!). The molds can be set
up in just a few minutes and taken apart just as quickly. These molds are
designed for the amateur or beginning Reef Builders, they are not as
flexible as regular Reef Balls so that errors cannot be made in building.
They are also capable of being used in mass production to produce large
quantities of designed artificial reefs at an absolute minimum of cost.
Units produced by this system are partially stackable for ease of
transportation. They utilize Reef Ball proprietary concrete which not
only is pH adjusted for creation of a balanced fouling community but which
also does not require re-bar so the units will last over 500 years rather
than just a few decades. Patented Reef Ball features are utilized within
these new designs including swiss cheese hole patterns, roughened surface
texture and 80% of the weight being in the bottom 20% of the units. These
molds will not be available for public sale until they have been utilized
by the Reef Ball Coalition in an educational environment and they will be
available to a select few beta testers so that we can fine-tune the
designs for mass production. We expect the beta phase to last about a
year before the molds will be available for broad use. Preliminary tests
indicate that these units, particularly on sandy bottoms, are even more
stable that regular Reef Balls! These new molds are covered by Reef Ball
Patents, Reef Ball Copyrights and patents pending.
2) Reef Ball will be giving presentation classes to the Sarasota based
"Classroom on Wheels" program for Seniors. Presentations will be given on
October 6th, November 29 and November 30th. Each presentation will start
in the classroom (tentatively the Old Sarasota High School) and conclude
at the Southdown Concrete Plant to see how Reef Balls are built. Class
periods are 9:45-11:15. Seniors interested in attending should contact
the Classroom on Wheels program (Brenda) at (area code 941) 921-9392 or
922-0817.
3) At lake Zurich, Switzerland next week the tentative schedule is as
follows:
9/2 Saturday: General briefing, Checking all materials and get organised
on location we'll build the balls. Start prepare the moulds. ( For this we
have a group of divemasters who help.)
Saturday Evening Dinner with Jack Lavanchy and some VIP's at the DU LAC
Hotel.
9/3 Sunday: Continue preparing Reefballs,
9/4 Monday: Arrival of the concrete truck and casting of 26 Reef Balls of
all sizes.
9/8 Friday: Transporting the Reef Balls to the location on the lake.
9/9 Saturday: 10am to 12am, press meeting on location. Rest of the day
sinking Reefballs. (For this work we have a group of dive masters and
instructors who will help).
9/10 Sunday: Continue sinking Reefballs.
From Sept. 1-11, Reef Ball staff will be on location in Switzerland and
the Offices in Sarasota and Atlanta will be closed.
4) A Reef Ball mold was ordered from a client in Scotland and will be used
for enhancement of lobster habitat.
5) Reef Innovations sold 100 Ultra sized Reef Balls in North Carolina this
week.
Have a great week.
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