Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] New to List

Greetings from south Texas. After lurking for about a year, I have decided it was time officially join. My technical background is in mechanical engineering with a bent towards fluid mechanics. I have spent the last 20 years of my life in various research capacities in the oil and gas business and in academia. I retired about a year and a half ago and now am able to focus on a dream I have had since I was a kid, which is to build a personal submersible. I have spent many profitable hours digesting the content in the archives and using the search features. Many thanks to those of you that have contributed over the years. I have spent the last year designing a two-manned, 1 atm. dry submersible rated to 300 fsw. I would estimate that I am about 90% through the detail engineering phase of the project.

I am designing to ABS rules but due to the cost for ABS certification, I am not planning on certifying the boat. I am using Autodesk Mechanical Desktop for part design, documentation, and 3-D weight and buoyancy orientation. I am using Excel for a CG and CB calculations as well as for the material takeoff. The sub is quite a bit smaller than Carsten Standfuss CSSX but larger than his Sgt. Peppers. Come to think of it, I guess this is true for all Psubs! I have designated my sub the R300. It has an overall length of 18 ft and a width, pod to pod of 6.6 ft, a height of 5.6 ft, and a draft of 2.8 ft. FRP is used for the hydrodynamic shell for both the pressure hull and the two external battery pods. The pressure hull is ASTM A516 Grade 70, with a diameter of 3 ft. The hull thickness is 0.25 inch with internal stiffening frames. The surfaced and submerged displacements are 5,264 lbs and 5,859 lbs respectively with an ROB of 12%. Payload capacity is 350 lbs with 433 lbs of drop weight. Normal dive time is 7 hrs with reserve capacity of 72 hours via two externally mounted O2 bottles. There are a total of seven acrylic view ports, one 24-inch hemispherical port, two 20-inch cylindrical view ports and four 10-inch diameter cylindrical view ports all designed to ASME PVHO-1-1997 standards. There are two external soft MBTs located fore and aft as well as two internal soft VBT’s again located fore and aft. MBT’s are blown by air from four scuba tanks, regulated down to 225 psig. The VBT’s are filled/emptied using a PD pump driven off a hydraulic motor. Longitudinal trim is achieved by hydraulically articulating battery boxes in the external pods. There is a dual propulsion system that utilizes a jet ski pump. The jet ski nozzle is used for pitch and yaw control while wing mounted ailerons are used for roll control. Submerged power is directed to a 19 HP, DC series wound motor, connected to ten 12 VDC deep draft marine batteries. The motor is controlled with a MOSFET DC motor controller. Surface power comes from a 110 HP two-stroke Rotax engine with intake and exhaust piping vented on opposite sides of the sail. If there is any interest, I could post a Mechanical Desktop rendering to the discussion group.

Are there any Psub enthusiast in Texas? I am nearing the stage where I need to do a detailed design review before I start part procurement and fabrication.

I was delighted to see the intent of the organization to host it’s first annual convention in Portland. My wife and I are planning on attending. Where better to celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary.