Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Hydrogen Peroxide

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "D. Blake" <dblake@bright.net>
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2000 5:24 AM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Hydrogen Peroxide


>" Pat:
> Yeah, I think the idea of using liquid O2 would best be left to the larger
> cruising/live-aboard type of sub for emergency backup."

Yep, that's what I think, too.

  "I guess that is
> where my mind has been lately ie. day-dreaming about bigger than usual
subs."

Oh yeah, tell me about it!  The whole thing is having the bucks and the
facilities; if I did, I sure would be building bigger subs.  About 1 to
1-1/2 tons was all I could handle, working by myself.  Moving the thing
around while working on it was the problem; then, how to get it out of the
yard?  I almost couldn't get the trailered NM out of the backyard it was
built in.  Had to build a ramp over the cement step at the side door to the
house.  (Craig Breedlove had a similar problem with the original SPIRIT OF
AMERICA: built it on a shoestring budget in his backyard; had to
sledgehammer the side steps away to get it out with about an inch to spare
on either side.)  A bigger sub would need the facilities of a boatyard:
forklift, crane, etc. But man, if I had em!   Yeah, we all have that dream.
There's these big-honkin' tanks down by the wharf in Hilo: I mean BIG.
Don't know what's in them (and I'm scrupulously trying to avoid the
propane-tank debate here), but man, those suckers would be big enough to
build a dance hall in!  Way bigger than the ATLANTIS.  But how to manipulate
the thing during construction; then how to trailer and launch it?  We'd need
the same facilities the Navy uses.  But that's the dream, for sure.

> "The comment you made about limiting your excursions because of the need
to
> take a pause for the cause was insightful and something I really had not
> considered."

Ha!  Yeah, but for me that's the truth of it.  The NM is about 32 cubic
feet, but a narrow teardrop pressure hull.  It's about like sitting in an
indy car.  Get's old pretty quick.  There's a lot to be said for
functionality over aesthetics, but I was kind of stuck with making something
that would work, while remaining within the parameters demanded by the
Disney design.  Lately I've been thinking more about comfort and utility:
sort of looking into an "underwater pickup truck".  Pressure hull would look
like a couple lenticular endcaps welded to a narrow center section, and
situated on edge, rather than flat to the horizon.  Would move through the
water sideways, like a radial sawblade through wood (not spinning, of
course).  Kind of shaped flat and vertical, like an Angelfish.  Or picture a
flattened out HUGHES 500 ("LOACH") helicopter, minus the tail boom. Wouldn't
be the prettiest thing in the World, but the drag coefficient would be
comparatively low in comparison to the volume; and the occupants could sit
side-by-side, like in a pickup truck, with plenty of room to move around.
Pretty easily made, too.  Try playing with this idea on paper: it opens up
some interesting possibilities.

"It sure make's sense, and really does illustrate the difference
> between someone who has been there/done that, and someone that is still
> trying to get a handle on it all.  I appreciate your feedback.  Oh by the
> way, check out:
> http://kirson.com/liquid.htm   They have systems that will supply O2 for
up
> to 11-days!!"

Going there now.  Thanks, Dave.

Pat