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[PSUBS-MAILIST] Re: KEN MARTINDALE (was Big Motor..)



Captain Nemo wrote:
> "I looked back in my annotated "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," to get the
> numbers Verne used.  In Prof. Aronnax's first private interview,
> Captain Nemo privides all the number in metric.  That Nautilius displaced
> 1500 tons, was 228 feet long and cruised at 15 knots.  Quite a respectable
> psub."
> 
> Sounds like the one Carsten's building now!  ;-)

That was exactly my thought.
 
> " What I see in my exploration is that most smaller boats would not  benefit
> from too much mathmatics.  Five horsepower is quite enough."
> 
> Generally, I agree.  Unless the objective is a high performance minisub,
> most small boats all seem to share similarly slow speeds and limited ranges
> of operation when using most common propulsion systems; so, for my purposes,
> knowing precisely whether it was going to go 3 or 4 mph at full power wasn't
> an immediate concern.  But then again, the abiity to accurately calculate
> performance would be really important when designing a bigger sub with
> greater intended range capabilities; so yeah, I'd like to know how that's
> done.

Busby says that somewhere, I think.  Thinking too much about the
power system doesn't seem to be worth it, for most practical 
applications.
 
> " I have three-views and sections of Disney's Nautilus.  It must be seen as
> a work of engineering art.  Working up the numbers on that shape would be
> daunting."
> 
> Yep!  That's how it looked to me, too.

I used to look at Disney's boat and shudder.  Verne's Nemo was  lucky
no one thought of hydrophones.  But it really is beautiful, kinda 
like a Lamborghini.

> "That's exactly it.  I've just not been able to work out how to relate the
> elements.  I'm hampered by training that conentrates on accounting and
> computers, education that centers on the mind of man and old textbooks which
> were not written a reference books."
> 
> Begins to look like a wind tunnel or the like might be necessary to really
> know for sure; but calculations should be able to provide a fair
> guesstimation of performance, even in the case of an unusually shaped hull,
> no?  

Some sort of experimentation is expected, by the writers of the books
I have.  Most of them require model testing, actually.  I don't
have room for a wind tunnel.  To do that would require a bicycle shop,
traditionally.  Weston Farmer explains his plans for a model-testing 
rig, in his book "From My Old Boat Shop."   

I think, between careful duplication of the math and referring to
similar
boats, we can work out a pattern for horsepower estimation.


Mike