Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] World's Smallest Submarine?

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

Ahhhh, that was refreshing!  Now, for something completely electronic....


----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Nuytten" <72020.572@compuserve.com>
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2001 2:15 AM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] World's Smallest Submarine?


> Hi, Pat:
>         Hmmmm, photo of 'Sea Urchin 1' - in that video I sent you (that
has
> the build cycle for Deepworker 2000) in the first part where it shows some
> of the early stuff - Wasp, Sea Otter, Newtsuit, Deep Rover, etc., the
> sequence of me sitting in the white micro-sub making notes - with David
> Doubilet and John McKenny shooting outside . . .that be 'Sea Urchin 1 ' !

OK, I think I know which one you mean.  Will check it out....

> I didn't realize that there wasn't a shot of this sub in our website - we
> have a nice cover - shot from 'Diver' mag that I guess I should post for
> historical purposes- or . . .we also have a 3 page 'Playboy' spread (
> forget the pun)

nerk-nerk!  ;-)

on Sea Urchin 1 - not the 'Newtsub/ DeepWorker'  one that
> was just in the German 'Playboy' but one with a nude lady pwessing herself
> into the dome . .( sowwy, I lisp when I get agitated) it was slot  .
> .sowwy,  . .'shot'  at Catalina Island - right in Avalon harbor - in 1995.

And I'll bet NOBODY even noticed the submarine!  (Wow!  Check dem ballast
tanks!)

> Oh, yes speaking of Sea Urchin, there is a shot of Sea Urchin 1 in
National
> Geographic - a two page shot - I think it was January 1993 - it had a
> Dinosaur on the cover ( didn't everything, in 1993!)

Hmmmmm, lessee....where did I leave my collection of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC?
Oh yeah!  Down at the County Library!

 Article is called
> 'Money from the Sea' and is about the ancient 1st Nations people's harvest
> of  Dentalium and the pre-contact  trade from this area down into the
Great
> Plains, to the Mound Builders, the Pueblos and up across the Bering Strait
> to Siberia . . .whoa! getting carried away ,again . .that damn Avalon
shoot

But wait!  I think I know about this!  Dentalium's the stuff they were
"harvesting" underwater from a canoe with that clever long-handled wooden
grabber thingie, right?
> . . ,
>         Re: "Green pic"  - that be the famous "Emerald  Sea " of British
> Columbia ( probably only famous to us who live here!) That was shot by
Neil
> McDaniel - Wet Films - about ten miles from our office - at a place called
> Whytecliff Park. The water depth 200 feet offshore is 750 feet . . .nice
> wall dive!

750 feet? Yuh-huh!  In a NEWTSUIT mebbe!  I get stupid (er) at 100FSW on
air.  Oh BTW: remember that old DRAEGER NORMALAIR from the guy in England on
eBay?  Came with two regulators.  Works good!  Nice, comfy face seal.
Thanks for the lead!


>         Re: Jet fighter canopy . . .yeah, I've looked at several
'concepts'
> in the last year or so . .mostly from possible investors asking 'is this
> thing real - will it work?' - and have to remind myself that it's not
> polite to throw cold urine on wistful fantasies spun by those who wish
> nothing more than to follow their dreams -  on some-one else's nickel. I'm
> not terminally cynical - only depressed, since it seems that I always have
> to use my own nickels when it comes to way-out stuff- Rats!!.
> Phil Nuytten
>

Yeah, I hear ya, bud.  Everybody's got ideas.  Too bad subs couldn't be
built from mental-floss; everybody'd have one.  Everything I've done so far
has been on "our dime", and always after paying the bills, too.  It's tough.
But what I'm shortest of is time.  Fate seems to want me to have a career
that keeps me from doing what I really like to do, which is "messin' around
in boats" (that go underwater).  Me and Mr. Toad have a lot in common.

I know you aint gonna shee-shee on anybody's dreams because you've always
pursued your own, and you know what it's like.  But a guy's got to find his
own way to make it all come true; I know that's part of it.

About fighter plane canopies: like I was saying, I've got a blank hull for a
hi-perf project downstairs, and would really like to find some kind of
acrylic canopy.  I'd be willing to pay for the thing, if I could just find
somebody who would sell me one or build it for me, as that's one side of all
this I don't have any experience in: forming acrylic.

I could make an adaptation that would look something like the pilot's canopy
on the X-15 rocketplane: all steel with little slit windows; and if I can't
find any other way to go, I guess that's what I'll end up doing.  But a
canopy would sure give a lot better visibility; and look cooler, too.

I guess I'll take Tom's advice and check out TEXSTAR, which I tried maybe a
year ago, but the website came up with something totally unrelated.  Musta
done something wrong...

I talked to Greg C. a while back; he made the dome for some K-subs.  A 24"
hemi was about $800 back then.

What I need now is kind of like half a teardrop, split longitudinally.
About 18" wide by 48" long in 3/4" would be nice.  (Visualize the glass on
an F-86 or a P-51D, but all one piece and minus the metal framing.)  I could
provide drawings; and like I said, I'd pay for it.  Can you think of anyone
who could make a canopy shaped like that?

I know everybody thinks this high-speed submarine idea is cracked; but they
said that about my NAUTILUS, too.  I've got most of the hull downstairs; a
couple drive trains that would work, depending on whether I want to go
moderately or unreasonably fast; I'm sure I can build it, and I really do
want to do it.  Aint asking for nobody's acceptance or understanding; and I
aint looking for a loan; just a lead to a good acrylic-man, or directions to
a place where I can buy a surplus canopy I can modify to do the job.

Well, shoot.  Lynn just got home, and she's got a plate of smoked oyster
hors-deorves (sp?) and a couple SMIRNOFF's sitting there.  Wonder what SHE's
got in mind for tonight?  ;-)

Maybe I'll check out that drag-boat website tomorrow.......   ;-)

Pat