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Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Living in other places.. WAS: Underwater tent...



Erik, do you live there?
Carl


Erik Muller wrote:

Hmm, that might be true..
PR still has a kind of 'frontier' feel to it.. but thats another story and is probably politically contentious. However, because of the frontier-ness, it is a little more private (or remote..at least, where I live out in the sticks it is) and building a sub is not a particularly strange thing to do..(you should see some of the other weird things that go on here.. phoning for E.T. is relatively mainstream..) The problem with living here is that it IS remote. Acrylic is not easy to get cheaply. Iron rusts instantly and every job (I really mean every job) that involves cooperation of more than three people takes 5 times longer than it needs to (it goes as the number of people to the 2/3 power.. I swear). Anyhow, the scuba diving at least is quite nice.. Not brilliant, but it is in fact, its the only reason I can really see that anyone would EVER come to puerto rico (except to try to talk to E.T.).

Having said all that.. its cheap as chips to live in PR.

As I said, rent is around $400 a month for a not-too shabby house: 3 bedroom, 2 banos house (Telephone is optional, if its not installed, it can take up to two years - therefore there must be around 19724 people involved - assuming that a phone connection takes a day in the rest of the world..Hmm, need to check my model..)

One thing to note which is relevant here: PR uses metric and imperial interchangably.. miles and km, farenheit and celcius, feet and cm/mm. Typically, they just show a number without units and you have to guess.. (i.e. if you see a road sign which says 'San Juan, 78' - and arrive after about 50Mi, you can probably retro-spectively assume that the sign was in km... - either that or you die from the heat - 78C will kill you really fast!).


Coalbunny wrote:

I'd love to check out PR someday.  How expensive is it to live there?
Carl


Steven Mills wrote:

(warning, living in puerto rico can easily and quickly drive you completely insane....)




We thought you were insane before you moved to PR  : ))

My question would be; if you were considering a serious move
from your homeland, Australia, would Puerto Rico be one of or
'the' choice[s]?
BTW, how about the Land of Oz?   Affordable for living, setting up
a shop, and building a sub?

--Steve


On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 14:16:17 -0400 Erik Muller <emuller@naic.edu> writes:

Try puerto rico too,
They obsess about cars, have nothing better to spend their money on, its an island. My rent is less than $400 a month. You cant get anywhere without a car (every family has at least 2) Futhermore, everything always rusts, so you will ALWAYS have maintinence, repairs and restoration to do.
Just the other day I saw a nice old ford puttering around....
(warning, living in puerto rico can easily and quickly drive you completely insane....)
EM.


Steven Mills wrote:


Geez, eerie...I've done the same thing.  'Got some stuff packed
up ready to leave, but haven't picked the place yet.  Have you
done a demographics of areas on the web? And have you
considered moving outside the States?  There are a series of
books out covering Coastal Surveys of regions and States.
If you're interested I'll try to find the source.  It's worth doing
your homework on areas before moving. I have the feeling you
have done so?

Just for the heck of it do a demog on Costa Rica.

--Steve

On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 09:23:43 -0700 (PDT) Warren Greenway
<opensourcesub@yahoo.com> writes:



That is exactly what I am trying to decide. I know it sounds a



little

crazy to have all of
my belongings in boxes and still not know where I am going, but



that

is the way of it.
You see, I need to find a water-side place to live with a low cost of living that is also suitable for RestoRides. Any recommendations are welcome.

Warren.

Steven Mills <cirtemoeg@juno.com> wrote:
You're right. Mistakes made serve a role as lessons as
much as successes are. Let me think about this. It's
been a while since I had even thought about it. I was
surprised I recalled the few details about the tent at all!
Actually, one of the first 3 still has merit, it was just too
small and even the 4th tent I thought was a bit tight.

Movin' to Oregon?

--Steve

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:40:19 -0700 (PDT) Warren Greenway
writes:
First, I wouldn't mind knowing about the other attempts, which I assume weren't so succesfull. (Forewarned is for-armed, you know.) I certainly will
post my progress as soon as I have something to post.
All of my belongings are boxed up right now...Which
makes projects out of the question for the time being.

Warren.


--- Steven Mills wrote:
Good thing I didn't write about the first three
attempts.

Hopefully, you'll post your ' w.i.p.' on Restorides?
I'd be
interested in how it goes.

--Steve


On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 10:29:07 -0700 (PDT) Warren
Greenway
writes:
Yeah, I cracked a smile! Thanks for sharing that!



I
think that my first "manned tent" will be similar



in
dimensions.
Warren.

--- Steven Mills wrote:
Wow, we're talking a long time ago, but here



goes.
First, I'm assuming that the setting and



morphology
of the pond
aren't significant.
Suffice it to say, , the only problems I



encountered
were in the
construction,
the materials available to me, and my own
inexperience and not so
much the dynamics of the pond.

My tools were pipe benders, hacksaw, pipe



threaders,
and the ol'
Sears craftman's tool set [ the old "good" tool



set
of a time passed ].
The materials were ; conduit and plumbing



fittings,
construction
grade clear visaquene plastic, pitch for



sealant,
rope, string, small
canvas bags used with sand and gravel for weight



and
trim, and
homemade pinch clamps to hold plastic to frame



at
various points
to keep it in place [ without damaging or poking
holes in the plastic.]
Basically, the stock came from a loose



assortment of
parts from
my granddad's barn. The base frame was sized



and
cut from
stock galvinized 1inch diam. conduit, the top



frame
was sized and
cut from half inch galvinized stock. I rammed



and
packed the pipe for
the base with sand using rebar and pieces of



burlap
wadding.
The top frame was left hollow. I made four



tents
the last being
successful at 4feet by 6feet base at 3feet in
height. 3 half round
frame members with a longitudinal supporting



member
and vertical
supports at each end. Despite its weight it was
slightly positive
bouyant. So, I added sand filled canvas bags



lashed
to the bottom
frame. When I needed to replenish the air or



take it
to surface I simply
unlashed the bags and it would rise slowly with



a
little help.
It was crude and it did leak, but there was



always a
good size pocket
of air to enable me to explore a short distance



and
return for air.
I would say it gave me about 20 minutes under



before
I had to surface.
I could sit in it, but the plastic would fog up



a
lot, but a splash of
water
cleared it up. Visaquene is hygroscopic so it



would
opaque and degrade
out of water while being stored. It was fun



while it
lasted. It was
destroyed
when my cousins and a few neighbor kids thought



it
would be fun
playing 'depth charge' with large rocks [ and



with
me in it ! ]

Well, did that help?... or at least crack a



smile?
Shallow, tidal, and near shore dynamics is a
different story compared
to a pond. You've got your work cut out for you
that's for sure.

cheers, --Steve


On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 21:34:22 -0700 (PDT) Warren
Greenway
writes:
That is similar to the proposal by Michael



Savage
in his book Millenial Project. So, what I want



to
know
is this: How large was your electrical conduit
underwater tent? I'm still very interested in collecting data on swell-induced pressure



variations
in such a habitat.

Warren.

--- Steven Mills wrote:
...and, if you feel real ambitious or want



to
add a
split-level
to that underwater tent, may I suggest this



:



http://fun.supereva.it/artificialisle/index.html
Or, perhaps we should all chip in and build



a
pSubs
headquarters
and convention center ?

:- ) --Steve


On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 09:37:53 -0700 (PDT)



Warren
Greenway
writes:
Cool! Thanks! One thing about that link



that
is
interesting is that they are measuring



PAR. I
told
the
company I was working for that underwater



PAR
measurments would become important in the



near
future.
They laughed. Hmmm. I designed a PAR



instrument
once
before!
Warren.

--- Steven Mills



wrote:
This isn't exactly a tent for habitation



or
saturation diving. But it is
similar to something I built as a 14



year
old
kid
quite by accident.



=== message truncated ===





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