Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] PSUB Fatalities...

["Captain Nemo" <vulcania@interpac.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: <VBra676539@aol.com>
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 04, 2000 3:11 PM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] PSUB Fatalities...


> As an addendum to what I said the other day to Pat about blow and go
ascents and Navy type escape gear, it seemed that I missed a point. Pat's
sub and Jon's and some others are limited depth vehicles. I forgot that any
accident (well, nearly any) that might require flooding of these hulls would
occur in shallow water ... relatively speaking. Shallow enough to fall into
the sport/air diving categories which would certainly allow egress in a
SCUBA rig, and might even allow time to deploy buoys or lift lines or
something. So for the smaller shallower guys, SCUBA seems like a good
option.


Right on.  I stay shallow, but ya never know; she could, say, bust a window.
Then, my immediate concern will be how to avoid drowning before I can get
out or my dive crew can get to me; that's where the SCUBA comes in.

VIKKING makes a good point about getting hung up on exit: my hatch is REALLY
small (an unavoidable consequence of fitting a working sub inside a scale
fictional design).  I wouldn't be able to get out wearing the rig.  But I'm
pretty relaxed underwater, and I'm betting I can keep my cool long enough to
stay alive while she bottoms out, open the hatch, exit, and pull the tank
out behind me.  At that point, (unless I'm hurt) I don't see myself
immediately breaking for the surface, but rather, working with the dive crew
to get a plan going as to how we're going to salvage my sub.

I think there's been a lot of good safety considerations made in this
thread.  Another one I'd like to suggest is the addition of an EXTERNAL
FLOOD VALVE your rescuers can get to, that will enable them to equalize
pressure inside the boat and get to you in the event you're stuck on the
bottom, incapacitated,  and trapped inside.  I don't have one of these on my
boat yet, but after reading about the German accident, I'm going to install
one.  (That guy was only in about 100 feet of water; I'm wondering why
divers couldn't get him out, and I'm guessing maybe they didn't have a way
to equalize the pressure on the hatch?  Carsten / Anybody know about this
part of the accident?)

I think experimental homebuilt subs are always going to be chancy; but if we
strive for safety, I believe we can operate them within reasonably
acceptable levels of calculated risk.

Pat