Shawn, Because Solo is intended as a "flying" sub, it's designed to have a very small self-righting moment. One of the heavier weights is an emergency drop-weight under the bow. To counteract the "lowness" of the drop weight, internal items are mounted as high as possible inside the cabin. So the batteries, for example, are "suspended" from the cabin ceiling rather than sitting on the floor. This is exactly the opposite of what you would shoot for in a conventional design, which is to carry the batteries as low as possible in order to make the boat more stable. If Solo had conventional stability, she could never roll or fly inverted. Given the batteries are snug against the hull "ceiling", I can't reach the lugs to connect the cables unless they are upside down. Plus, I don't want the lugs shorting out against the hull. If they cannot go upside down, I'll probably have to lower everything by about 3". Plus, all the cables will now be a few inches too short. Alec -----Original Message----- From: NeophyteSG@aol.com [mailto:NeophyteSG@aol.com] Sent: Mon 2/16/2004 12:59 AM To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org Cc: Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] battery acid? In a message dated 2/15/04 7:37:09 PM Pacific Standard Time, Asmyth@changepoint.com writes: That would be even worse, because if the batteries can't be upside down as previously thought, I'm going to have to move them and it's going to affect the boat's center of gravity. Alec, Sorry if I missed this earlier in the thread but why exactly is it that they have to be mounted upside down? I know I have to be missing part of this story. Warm Regards Shawn ***** "Call nothing thy own except thy soul. Love not what thou art, but only what thou may become. Do not pursue pleasure, for thou may have the misfortune to overtake it... Live in the vision of that one for whom great deeds are done ..." Man of LaMancha, D. Wasserman
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