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Hello,
Finally found some time to write a dive report of the sgt.
Pepper's first dive after its rebuilt.
As Casten mentioned it was great. On friday we made a
check and "doing the last things"
On saturday morning we put the craft on the trailer and
want to a lake near Amsterdam where is a good concrete ramp. Carsten had
launched the boat 10 times before thus that was a learn-moment for
me.
In the water everthing worked perfect. Especially the new
trim tank and piping were a great improvement. Wat was really pity was that it
was bow heavy and to heavy in general due to the new dome.
To go on with diving we had to remove the LSS and
emergency battery. This limited diving to 20 minutes. In the evening we replaced
a bow thruster pipe by plastic for a better trim. You cant work on subs day
and night so later in the evening we went to the old city of Alkmaar and have a
beer with our girls.
Next day we went to a place with a better visebility
(still not good in this time and too many divers) And having the boat launched
with a crane.
Because tho poor suface performance and the lack of
freeboard, the surface trip to the dive site was terrible. often the Wake of the
many yachts caused water in the boat.
But we made some nice dives. Best was hoovering in perfect
trim at 9 meter and wave to a unknown diver!
The weekend produced a looong list with repairs and
modifications.
First : going to make it lighter by putting the airtanks
to the outside and make a new hatch from Aluminium; this wil also improve
stability. Also I have to take alook after the thrusters; the seals are bad so
some water has came in the comensation system.
Question; I had to remove lake-water from the lead
acid battery's. What is best for the battery condition? some acid is out but you
are not allowed to ad acid??
groet,
Emile D.L. van Essen
www.AiResearch.nl |