Interesting design, so I have a question. If you were to drop the emergency weight (like in an emergency), wouldn't the sub become unbalanced (top heavy) and roll over?
Stan
In a message dated 2/16/2004 8:40:36 AM Eastern Standard Time, Asmyth@changepoint.com writes:
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
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