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Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Newbie

At 18:05 -0700 12/1/00, Stuart wrote:
>I am a Newbie to this sub stuff so bear with me. My friends and I were thinking of building a sub to go 20ft or so. We thought of making it out of one of those galvanized drainage pipes 4ft tall and 10ft long. If someone could tell me if this would work I would appreciate it and how I could seal stuff and ideas on how to sink it. If I am going to kill myself I want to know.

...So you can see it coming at least? ;-) Doesn't mean you won't do it anyway, you just want to know in advance? I like a man who bravely looks death in the eye!

You will probably get several responses telling you to forget about it because it's too dangerous, and to get SCUBA certification to boot. They're probably right, and after listening to this a lot, I'll compromise my natural stubbornness by suggesting:

1. Make it "ambient pressure", that is somehow pressure-compensated or open to the water underneath (so it makes basically a big elongated "diving bell" containing a bubble of air). This way the pressure inside is always matching the pressure outside and you don't have to wonder if it's strong enough to not get squished or your windows are going to pop in and conk you in the head.

2. There's no sure way to GUARANTEE it's only going to go to "20 ft. or so." One of the things I'm luckiest to have learned from this List BEFORE building anything is just how many ways you can end up with an uncontrolled and unexpected descent or ascent - and just how seriously that could wreck your plans for the weekend. UNLESS, that is, you follow the "AquaSub" scheme, in which part of your boat always stays on the surface, and the submergy part hangs down beneath on some kind of hinged wings, or cables, or something.
-- 
David
Osage MN USA
buchner@wcta.net - http://customer.wcta.net/buchner