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Dear Vance and all.
One thing I forgot to mention is that I have
actually been kicking around the idea of having my water transport system for my
wetsub
be part of the sub itself and submersible. Here is
my thoughts on how this might be accomplished.
Picture several hobie cat style pontoons with the
sub permanently attached between them and the pontoons brought in
closer to the body of the sub but out maybe a foot
or two from the sub body. The top of the pontoons
could be utilized to hold extra strapped in tanks and also serve as a kind of
step for getting into the sub. The pontoons would flood and
also fill with air from these same tanks and might
even have storage capacity for dive gear built within them.
Now you may be thinking that this is not
good because the buoyancy in the pontoons would be below the center of gravity
since the weight of the battery pod and the sub
would be ABOVE the pontoons. This is true,
BUT....if I used the air bladders in the nose and tail of the wetsub to raise it
and ONLY inflated the pontoons once I had reached the surface
so that the sub would be above water, then it might
work. Since the sub would be awash on the surface BEFORE I inflated the pontoons
there would not be any problem with turning over as there
would be if I inflated them while submerged. Then a
small outboard motor and gas tank could be attached to the rear of the pontoons
and the sub could go out to the dive site, transfer the motor/gas tank over
to
another boat, submerge and perform, then surface,
inflate the pontoons, reacquire the motor/gas tank from the attending boat
and clamp it back on the pontoon's rear and motor back into port.
Of course this would necessitate having either
quick detachable or submersible/corrision proof outboard motor controls
rigged up either just out of the cockpit within hands reach or within the
cockpit of the
wetsub itself.
Some might say... "why not just have the sub towed
to the site by the other boat and not worry about having an outboard motor/gas
tank attached to the pontoons of the sub and just use those permanently
attached
to the sub pontoons to get the sub up and out of
the water so it doesn't drag and can be towed easier?"
This is another option I have considered. Of course
it would be cheaper and easier to just have the permanent pontoons attached to
the sub and inflate them ONCE ON THE SURFACE ONLY, and then be towed in and
out
by another boat. it certainly would be an
easier and cheaper route to go, no outboard motor to buy, no controls for the
motor to construct, etc.
I was thinking of this other option only
because my sub can not take the pounding other boats hardly feel when
hitting waves. The problem is the boat operator has no idea he is rattling your
teeth and practically
rupturing your back's disks not to mention damaging
your sub because his boat is so thick and heavy he hardly feels the waves that
are pounding you to pieces as he tows you into the same waves he hardly feels.
Of course
you could tell him to take it easy and if you had
waterproof communication between the wetsub and the boat while it was being
towed this would eliminate this problem, but by having your own outboard motor
to get to and from the dive site you
wouldn't have to worry about any problems that
might arise from being towed.
Just options here my friends.
I came up with this idea so as to preclude having
to worry about waterproofing an internal combustion motor and diving with
it. But it entails always having a boat go out with you to transfer the outboard
motor
to while the sub is submerged which is not a bad
idea anyway since having another boat with you increases safety and enables more
storage for gear and other divers.
But unless I modify an existing pontoon boat with
its own outboard engine, or buy new pontoons and create my own custom built
pontoon boat with a new or used outboard engine($$$$!) that would sling carry my
sub, launch it and
retrieve it, I could attach small hobie cat
STYLE pontoons permanently to my wetsub and just let another boat tow me and
have communications wire incorporated into the tow line where I can talk with
the boat operator
to be able to tell him to slow down if need be.
Another option to this is to just have my sub's
pontoons attached to the sub temporarily while it is being towed and then detach
the hobie cat style pontoons on launching the sub and reattach
them again once the sub surfaces, and then be towed
by the boat. This is good too and would decrease drag and weight
underwater. This would just be a detachable wetsub carrier made from an old
hobie cat sailboat.
This might be the best, cheapest and easiest to
constuct method of transport. Just an old hobie cat set
of pontoons with a horseshoe cradle between the
pontoons where the sub can be sling raised just above the water line and then be
towed by another boat. An operator could still be in the sub operating a rudder
attached to the pontoons to steer the
sub as it was being towed via a handle located just
outside the sub cockpit that would stay on the pontoons when the sub was
detached. If the operator in the sub wore a full face scuba mask while being
towed he could utilize the radio communications
equipment available for fullface scuba masks and
communicate with the tow boat without wires. The more I think about it, the more
this option seems the easiest, cheapest, and most practical to me for
transporting my wetsub.
Anyone have a comment about my design thoughts or
thoughts of their own regarding transporting a wetsub to and from the
divesite?
Kindest Regards,
Bill Akins.
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