RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] More youthful wetsub experiences

["Gregory Snyder" <gsnyder@mn.rr.com>]

For crying out loud -
Submit the polaroid to the webpage!
Thanks-
greg

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
[mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] On Behalf Of
tmsmalley@usinternet.com
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2002 9:37 AM
To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] More youthful wetsub experiences

A few years earlier (1964-65, I was 14 or 15 at the time) I did build a
simple wooden tow behind-the-boat "wetsub" that you laid down on plans
gleaned from another Pop Mech (Mech Illus?) article. I looked like I was
lying on a cross - only face down. 

The cross' arms had diving planes hinged on the trailing edges. I ran an
airhose (from a gas-powered aircompressor I made from a $5 lawn mower
motor and an old air compressor) down the tow rope to a hotwater bottle
air reservior and mouthpiece that I had pulled the idea from another
Popular Mechanics story. A diving faceplate and fins to help steer
completed my ensemble.

Dad ran our 12 foot duckboat with a 9.5 HP motor (very slowly) and
pulled me along about 30 feet astern. I pushed the plane controls
forward and down I went, right into a weed bed of lilly pads! Ecchh. 

The sub came to a screaming halt - and of course so did the boat. Mom,
who was watching out the front door of the cabin, thought "the old man"
was going to drown me for sure. I was fine, but the "sub" got put away
after her first dive. But subs were in my blood after that - plus a
little CO from the lawn mower engine!

I still have an old black and white Polaroid photo of me standing on the
dock with my homemade hookah diving rig. A very proud moment!