Dan,
I've had my own experiences with park "officials" who think they are
experts and owners. I would have liked to have been there with you. We
would have dived there that day.
Adam
----- Original Message -----
From: Dan H. <mailto:jmachine@adelphia.net>
To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
<mailto:personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2004 9:15 PM
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Last Launch and Trials
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