|
Hi All,
I apologize for not posting sooner. I was hoping to
have more to post.
I took my sub, Persistence, to the lake where I
first launched it for a day of diving. Although not a great dive location,
it's close to home and has a nice launch ramp. There are also two docks on
it, about 800 feet apart, where I planned to do timed runs to determine it's
speed.
Since the lake is located within a state
park, it's patrolled by park rangers. The part time "rent a ranger" that
was there on Sunday had some issues with my safety. Like HE was going to save me
from my own demise by not letting me in the water that day. He insisted
that I would need a "surface boat and a scuba diver in the water to be safe to
go in that thing." After discussing the situation for twenty minuets, I
could see that his mind was made up.
I did launch that day in another lake about an hour
away but the location didn't lend itself to testing the subs speed and we
already spent a lot of daylight.
I got to test my fish finder / sonar more and found
it pretty difficult to tell much with. Maybe with more practice I'll learn
how to find more information in the squiggly lines. It's great for
determining depth and watching as I'm approaching the bottom. It counts
down until I touch down. I turned the pickup facing upward but it won't
read the distance to the surface when sitting on the bottom. I guess it
can't detect the boundary between the water and the air.
Another thing I tried out was a mirror I located on
the top of my hatch cover on the outside of the up looking viewport. When
the sub is on the surface, but still at neutral buoyancy, none of it actually
sticks above the surface. I can only glimpse out of the up looking
viewport. Seeing the sky isn't much of a help when trying to get a fix on
a direction or proximity to an object. It takes time and air to inflate
the MBT's enough to get the conning tower viewports out of the
water. With a small mirror, fixed at 45 degrees, located
above half of the hatch viewport, I can look up and see forward just enough to
scan the surface. I know it's no periscope, but it's simple and doesn't
have the hazards of a periscope in a small sub.
I recently posted a request for help in choosing a
method of keep on course under water. I thank each of you who posted
suggestions. After reading your postings and considering my options, I've
decided to try to find a liquid filled dash board compass to mount
outside the pressure hull as a first try. They're hard to find now with
electronic ones on the market.
My second choice would be an electronic compass
made in two parts. If I can find such a unit, I'd encapsulate the sensor
in epoxy and mount it under my fiberglass MBT, pass the wires through a thruhull
and mount the readout inside. I've found some one piece electronic units
and some sensors but I don't have the electronic skills to separate the one
piece units or marry together a sensor and readout. I don't want
a whole computer in the sub.
If anyone knows of an off the shelf unit or could
give me explicit instructions, I'd like to try an electronic compass with remote
located sensor.
My last choice, probably the most expensive, is to
install a 28 volt aviation gyro compass. The biggest draw backs are
it needs to be set each time, it's noisy and an electronic gyro is
expensive. They are a nice, easy to install and use, one piece unit that
will work well in a sub.
That's it from Persistence! If I get a chance
to test speed or a guidance system before the lakes freeze over, I'll post my
progress.
Cheers to all, Dan
H
|