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Bill,
Take a look around the PSUBS site and you'll only
find one home built sub big enough to have a divers lockout
chamber, Carstens sub. Most actual personal subs are really
small. There is only ONE chamber, the one your in, and anything else would
pretty much double the size of the sub.
There is much more of a possibility that a sub
pilot wound end up in an emergency situation at the bottom then getting
there. If my sub is rated for 350 feet I wouldn't likely be
diving where the bottom is 600 feet down. In most cases,
it's the bottom that your want to visit. Why even go in deeper
water?
There could be entanglement hazards any where in
the water, but most likely near the bottom where lines and nets settle
to. There are several systems you could use to bring up a sub in case
of a system failure but entanglement may render them all useless. Leaving
your sub and swimming to the surface may be a futile effort if your down deep,
but what if the bottom is only 60 feet down. If stuck there and you've
waited as long as you think you can and help hasn't shown up to cut you free,
your going to want to, TRY anyway, to exit the sub.
I know there are those that say flood valves are a
waste of time, and even a bad thing to have in a sub, but if you already ran
through your emergency procedure check list, also your life support
system time and your still sitting in the dark at the bottom, wouldn't you
feel it was worth the hundred dollars for a few fittings and a ball valve?
You know you can't push the hatch open once your
down more then a foot. After that you have to bleed off your HP
air into the hull to increase the pressure but if that doesn't bring it up to
ambient, all you can do is let in water and compress the cabin air more.
Remember you most likely already used most of your HP air blowing ballast tanks
at depth to break free. Eventually you can get out. If you
compress the cabin air fast enough and your not down to deep, you
might live to tell the tale. Might, is still better then dying at the
bottom.
I would rather return to the surface any other way
if possible, but in a small P-sub, $100 worth of plumbing fittings and that
one more item on the checklist may someday be the difference in living or
not. It's a VERY VERY last resort, after you used all your upward
thrust, blew all your ballast, dropped your drop leads and waited for
help.
I'll flood and throw away my sub anytime, for
even the chance, to live another day.
Dan H.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2005 4:16
PM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Stupid Idea
was Burst Valve
Hi forum.
Why not have a diver lock out chamber as an
escape device instead of a burst/scuttle valve for the main hull? The only
reason I can think of that someone would
have a valve to let water into the subs main
hull, is so the pressure inside would equal the outside so you could open
the hatch to bail out. That means the sub would be dropping like a
rock at that point and you probably wouldn't make
it to the surface anyway by the time the sub flooded enough for you to open
the hatch and bail out. But with a
diver lockout chamber you wouldn't need to flood
the sub, just get into the lockout chamber and flood it and then open the
lockout chamber exterior hatch to escape.
Of course you would be lucky to escape anyway in
a situation where you might have to use the lockout chamber because if you
were going down by the time you made the decision
to bail out via the lockout you might be so deep
your body may not be able to stand the exterior water pressure. Also you
probably would only get one person out since there would
not be enough time to blow out the lockout
chamber for another person to use before the sub imploded if you were going
down fast. Totally depends on your depth of course.
Has anyone built a p sub that has an escape pod
built into it that could
jettison from the main sub and has its own
adjustable buoyancy? Just an egg, tube, or sphere that has no motor and a
simple breathing air and buoyancy system, for emergency bailout built to hold
the entire crew capicity of your p sub.
Kind of like an adjustable buoyancy non line
tethered version of the emergency McCann resuce chamber diving bell that
recovered submariners invented and built by Commander Charles B."Swede" Momsen the inventor of the momsen
lung,
Only much more streamline and actually built into
the sub so it doesn't stick out and can be jettisoned. Definately would
increase the size of the sub though to have this. I like this idea much better
than flooding the hull and breathing thru a
regulator while hoping the main hatch will open
and having to endure hypothermia and extreme outside water pressure.
Kindest Regards,
Bill Akins.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2005 12:02
PM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Stupid
Idea was Burst Valve
I agree that the Burst valve isn't a good idea, which
could end up killing
people.
The flood valve (AKA scuttle valve)
is NO JOKE and is going to save lifes.
That is unless you're spending so
much time and money that you would prefer
to die rather than get your sub
wet and live. Of course this is the VERY
VERY LAST OPTION (well
second last if you count dying as an option). You'd
have to be a fool not
spend the few $$ on way out of your sub in an
emergency.
For those
who choose to death over a flood valve, make sure you have
enough CO2
absober to out last your O2 supply, otherwise it's going to
end with a
very painful headache.
Captain goes down with his
ship?
Ian.
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