Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] new photos

["Problah" <problah@zonenet.net>]

Welcome aboard Phil,
   I don't think anyone has any complaints about opinions and ideas from 
someone as experienced as yourself. Just keep in mind, a lot of people are 
building these subs, trying out future and past trends in the tech to see if 
thay can build something efficient, yetinteresting. I think it's great that 
more people are joining up here, and it's great to see everyones ideas. It's 
kind of a mix and match effort. But anyways, I'm a DMT/RAM from UTMB. I just 
need 5 hours so I can get my CHT cert. I'm a commerial diver living back up 
in the Northwest doing minor dive work, and figured in my spare time to start 
working this out, so it'll definately be interesting sharing conversation 
with you in the next few years, as well as everyone else. The project 
proposals, and the currently in work I've seen are all great, and I look 
forward to seeing them completed. You all have safe days, and keep your lungs 
dry,

Dafydd

Support your local zonenet


---------- Original Message -----------
From: Ppjanca@aol.com
To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Sent: Thu, 29 Aug 2002 19:25:14 EDT
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] new photos

> I am new to the list and was hoping for some meaningful discussions. 
> Since the subject matter today seems to be volatile gasses I would 
> like to point out that all of the scrubbers that I have used in my 
> submersibles have had provisions for layer of an inert filtration 
> media (PURAFIL as an example) upstream of the lithium hydroxide. 
> This layer does not need to be any thicker than 1" and does a great 
> job of neutralizing offensive odors. For protracted scientific dives 
> (up to 16/18 hours) it has been a blessing, especially when everyone 
> breaks out the H.E.R.E. bags after an evening snack of PB&J washed 
> down with Dr. Pepper! By way of introduction I have built nine fully 
> classed manned submersibles and presently own an ASME / PVHO 
> operation in Texas. I founded Research Submersibles, Ltd. (RSL) in 
> Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Turks & Caicos in 1980 and have been out 
> of the pilot's seat since 1998. As many of you know, RSL pioneered 
> cost effective scientific research and later was the first modern 
> company (with all due respect to the Swiss) to make submersibles 
> available to the tourist industry. I am pleased to say that we see a 
> major increase in demand the manned submersible market and our 
> company has made the decision to reenter the field. We will soon 
> begin construction of NEOS 3000 which will be a 1000 meter fully 
> classed manned submersible. I will be glad to share photos of the 
> boat as she progresses. I am in no way being judgmental when I look 
> at some of the boats under construction/ consideration by list 
> members. I started many years ago with a scrap hull and clearly have 
> not killed myself (or any one else) over the years, but some of the 
> concepts that I see give me cause for concern. Aside from the safety 
> issues I will site dive planes as an example.  Modern submersibles 
> simply don't use dive planes. Propulsion, attitude, and steering,
>  are accomplished with thrusters (often very small) and I can't 
> fathom (no pun intended) penetrating the pressure envelope with a 
> dynamic shaft for main propulsion, the risks are much to great. One 
> of the recurring themes in designers outlining the specifications of 
> their submersible is "how fast it can go" when in fact we want to 
> know "how slow can it go, and for how long." Anyone who has ever 
> seen the bottom go by at anything over 1.5 knots realizes that 
> slowing down is the first order of business. Certainly, the ability 
> to overcome strong currents is an important asset and perhaps I am 
> overlooking the designers intentions. Years ago a wonderful man (an 
> M.D.,actually) came to Cayman from the Midwestern USA and did a 
> series of dives with RSL (19 in all I think); I was fortunate enough 
> to pilot for him on most of those dives. About half way through the 
> series of dives (which ranged from 800 fsw to 3,200 fsw) he made a 
> confession to me. In truth, I had let him begin to manipulate some 
> of the controls, thrusters and simple hard and soft ballast 
> adjustments (for the thermo/haloclines)...anyway, almost in tears, 
> he showed me photos of the submersible that he had been working on 
> for years (I won't mention any names)..and he told me that he was 
> going back home and scrap the entire vehicle, because he learned how 
> impractical his design assumptions were. He made the analogy of a 
> man who might undertake the design and construction of an aircraft 
> without the experience of ever having flown in one! Anyway, if any 
> of you serious submersible builders would like to join us after sea 
> trials and see our approach (based on 33 years of nonmilitary manned 
> submersible experience) we would welcome the opportunity to humbly 
> share our ideas with you in depth, and perhaps, at depth. I 
> sincerely apologize for the length of this posting and hope that my 
> injections have not alienated any reader, that was certainly not my 
> intention. I applaud the site designer and simply want to stay off 
> of the "DISASTERS" page!
> 
> Best Regards:
> Phillip Janca
> Chairman
> HyperTec, Inc.
> World Leader in Hyperbaric Technologies
> 800-218-3588
> 940-564-5600
> 940-564-5609 Fax
> <A HREF="http://www.hypertec.ws">http://www.hypertec.ws</A>
------- End of Original Message -------