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Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Newbie alert! (me)
I dont know why this stupid email wont put my name as
Dj, but oh well, my name is Dj McCullough. I currently
live in Tracy, Ca. Its about an hour east of san fran.
i just moved down here to be with my bride 2 be.
as for my 13 year old's "submarine", imagine a 50
gallon drum with the side cut out <this was the
bottom, so i could climb in and out while it was under
water>. the front of the oil drum had been removed,
and a inch thick plexiglass window put in it's place.
i forget how we sealed it :). it had a big piece of
steel beam welded to the front and back on the bottom
to keep the thing right side up, as well as a kid's
size lawn chair more or less screwed and glued in just
above the water line. we had 200 feet of garden hose
connected to this thing, with a decient air pump
running on the shore. Propullsion was almost
accomplished by my grandfather's trolling motor and a
couple of , i think 10 ah 12 v batteries. the motor
had a bicycle sprocket welded to it around it, with a
bicycle chain up to .. something , i think it was a
power wheels steering wheel. <and the squeeky horn
still worked :)> the two high mounted balast tanks
werent much more than some kind of metal tube with the
ends welded off. I used garden hose on off spiget
style valve to control the venting of the air, and
another to turn on and off the air to fill the balast
tanks with air. It also featured fins to keep the
rather unstable shape going in a straight line.
I took a 110 camera with me and took pictures of the
.. rather murky water in Siskiyou lake, in siskiyou
county, ca. The sub putted around a bit. My best
friend, grandfather and i kept in contact with these
crappy little radio shack walkytalkies. The hose that
connected me to the air supply had rather prominant
metal ribbing, we ended up using that as a carrier for
the walkytalky signal. I ended up staying down about
15 minutes, got some great pictures. I had one of a
trout that stopped in front of my window and looked at
me like i was an idiot. I remember radioing up to my
best friend, "Hey robin... i think i was just mocked
by a fish." I was just getting ready to bring my
"TubSub" as we named it, back up, when something hit
me.. or i hit something, disabled the balast tank on
my right side. it started slowly loosing its stored
air and the sub started rolling a bit, and sinking. I
tried just pumping air into the tank at full blast,
hoping i could out run the air leak, but, couldnt. I
bailed out after putting my camera in a ziplock baggy
and swam to shore. we dragged the sub back with the
air line. We never figured out what happened, but when
we looked at the balast tank, the infernal thing's
blow valve was missing. all the air in the world
wouldnt stay in the tank if it just let it right back
out. My grandfather and i worked on another sub, but
it ultimatly never got finished as he passed away.
anyone else done something similar?
--- Michael Holt <mholt@richmond.edu> wrote:
> DCI Games wrote:
> >
> > I just wanted to say HI to everyone here. I myself
> am
> > a Computer tech, aspiring submariner :) i also
> have
> > horrible spelling so please bear with me. I am by
> no
> > means an electrical engineer nor am i well versed
> in
> > hydrodynamics, but i do know enough probably just
> to
> > get meself in trouble.
>
> Many of us use that one: "...but I do know enough to
>
> get myself in trouble." You have come to the right
> place.
>
> I've been designing a submarine
> > since i was in the 5th grade and my favoriate
> teacher,
> > my science teacher got me interested. I havent
> really
> > built it, nor do i have the means at the moment. i
> Did
> > built a 50 galon drum submarine (with compresed
> air
> > and other feeds from shore) when i was 13.. i had
> to
> > bail out at about 20 feet when it wouldnt come up
> <was
> > an ambient.. thing>
>
> This marks you as a certain kind of person. You're
> not alone, and some of us have done the same things.
> Please talk more about what you built, so we can
> compare notes.
>
> > Everysince then, i knew i was in
> > love. I have read the archives through, every faq
> i
> > could find, etc, preparing for the day when i have
> > alot of extra cash and someplace i can actually
> build
> > something :) I apologize about being so long
> winded in
> > my intro.
>
> Welcome to the list!
>
> Talk about the sub you want to build. Where are
> you?
>
>
>
> Mike
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