Pierre -
Congratulations!
I'm glad for you and that psub's information exchange is here for all
who will realize their dreams, however large or small. Please give us
details of the cause of the leaks, and what size vent pipe was too small?
Will the propeller protection be a shroud or a cage?
-Peter Korwin
On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 23:10:53 -0400
=?iso-8859-1?Q?Marie-Andr=E9e_et_Pierre?= <poulin.carrier@videotron.ca>
writes:
Hi guys,
Today we launched BIG.
After 2.5 years of design and building, moving to 4 different
workshops,
investing 2500 $ (canadian, but still...) I finaly put BIG in the
water!
What a trill!!!!
When it went down the boat ramp, on it's own tiny wheels, I could
not
refrain myself to think that it would leak so bad, crash, explode or
else.
But nothing happened. I had 2 very small leaks. Nothing a good
scott-towell
could not handle.
I had 2 friends in divers outfits ready to dive so I said BIg was
ready for
next step; Getting me inside it.
At first, the water-line was way lower then I though. We had to use
80
pounds of additional weight to make it as low as it was supposed to
be.
So I jumped inside it, secured the hatch. Everything was still ok. I
engaged
the auto ambient pressure system and... nada... The electronic
circuit
didn't worked (too much humidity i think). So I had to rely on my
manual
back-up to equalize pressure.
The depth where i was was 10 feet. Relaxing my breath and my
hearthbeat, I
made a sign to my divers and opened the ballast vent valve. Nothing
happened. I waited for about 30 secondes and could not tell if I was
going
down. I asked a diver to look if air was going out of the vent and
he said
yes so i waited still longer. It tooked about 2 minutes to get the
sub to go
below the water-line. What a trill!!!! oh my god! I was soooo
nervous!
Looking in the top windows and seeing like 2 inches of water over
the hatch!
I was finaly under-water! I made it! And was still alive!
Some seconds later I hit the bottom and rested there for a couple of
minutes
ajusting the pressure, tripple checking everything. All was good. So
I
decided to make BIG slightly positive. I opened up just a bit the air
valve
for the ballast and I went rocket to the surface! had to wait 2
minutes to
vent the tanks, and back to the bottom I was... That time I was very
gentle
with the valve and managed to get it under control. I was ready to
try those
2 engines. I was very suprised how fast it was! I can easyly go
faster then
a diver.
What a great day!
What was great: BIG is operationnal, it goes very fast! once you get
used to
it, you can adjust bouyancy easyly. Also, very manuverable with the
2
engines set-up. more then i though it was going to be. i can almost
turn on
the spot. Going up or down with motors is also very good.
What must be better: Main thing to check, It is very slow to blow
the 2 back
ballast tank. I think that the holes i made are too small. Also,
trim is not
good. always nose up. I also need to install propeler protection.
One of my
friend fin cough in it with some minor damage to it but it is not
very safe
since I plan to always use BIG with at least 1 diver.
So in all. a very good experience. What a trill! My 2 friends hang
on BIG
and it was going fast. We had a wonderfull time! Even if we only
been to 10
feet deep. I can't wait to put it back in the water again!
I would like to thank you all for your help in helping me realise a
dream!
Special thank to Jon and Ray for making the site in the first place.
With-out you guys, BIG would still be a dream...
Thank you!
Pierre "official owner of a working p-sub" Poulin
P.S. I have a zillion pictures + video. i will post some tomorrow.
Need bed
now :)
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
The personal submersibles mailing list complies with the US Federal
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Your email address appears in our database
because either you, or someone you know, requested you receive
messages
from our organization.
If you want to be removed from this mailing list simply click on
the
link below or send a blank email message to:
removeme-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Removal of your email address from this mailing list occurs by an
automated process and should be complete within five minutes of
our server receiving your request.
PSUBS.ORG
PO Box 311
Weare, NH 03281
603-529-1100
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
The personal submersibles mailing list complies with the US Federal
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Your email address appears in our database
because either you, or someone you know, requested you receive messages
from our organization.
If you want to be removed from this mailing list simply click on the
link below or send a blank email message to:
removeme-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Removal of your email address from this mailing list occurs by an
automated process and should be complete within five minutes of
our server receiving your request.
PSUBS.ORG
PO Box 311
Weare, NH 03281
603-529-1100
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
************************************************************************