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Hi Joe.
I also live in Hudson, Florida and the wife and I
are hunkering down just like you are. I have an old swiss helmet and a U.S.
kevlar helmet set out for us in case our roof comes off. Flashlights, 45 pistol,
rifle, (for potential looters) raincoats,
medical gear, two gas masks already adjusted for
our individual faces (no kidding!), sturdy clothing ready to jump into that we
might have to wear for days, both bathtubs filled with water to flush toilets if
the electricity goes off. Like you,
we are as ready as we can be. Let's hope the
damage will not be too bad. But we are ready for
the worst. Good luck to you and your family.
I'm basically a wetsub man myself. Total wetsub,
open cockpit type. So I don't know how much help I can be to you information
wise on the ambient design you want to build, but I will try. It is my
understanding that in theory an ambient sub
does not have to worry too much about the thickness
of its hull because in theory the water pressure outside is cancelled out by the
air pressure inside and as long as you stay within normal recreational scuba
depths and adhere to dive table
limits, (like you, I'm a diver) in theory your
walls could actually be very thin. I would make them strong enough to take a hit
on an underwater reef though if it was me. I have read articles about other
people making wooden ambient subs. I do not
have the links at this moment but I have read them,
so you are not the only one wanting to build an ambient sub out of wood and
it does not sound strange to me at all to use wood, fiberglass and epoxy for an
ambient design. I do have a link
for a 1atm sub made out of wood. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcis_Monturiol_i_Estarriol
Also Simon Lake built the 1 atm Argonaut jr out of
wood. There were many other early 1 atm designs throughout history too. The
Turtle being one. Also the confederate Davids, even though they were really only
semi submersibles.
Here is a link for reading about and seeing
drawings and pics of early submarines with some being made out of wood. It is an
Italian site translated badly to English, but you can understand most of the
text.
You will need a pressure sensitive valve that will
sense when the outside pressure is exceeding the internal air pressure and that
valve will then open and allow compressed air to enter the interior so the
inside always stays equalized to the outside.
I do not know exactly where to get it or what that
valve is called but I may have to find out if I decide to equalize my wetsub's
motor with air instead of oil. I if decide on motor equalization using air
instead of oil, basically the same thing will
be going on inside my motor's housing as would be
going on inside your ambient hull. They both need to be constantly adjusted for
equalization of outside water pressure. One other option is to use a modified
scuba regulator that functions the same as the
valve I spoke of. But some members here have felt
that is not the best or safest way and have suggested using a regular valve
instead. Be sure and make it redundant for safety! I include several links
showing drawings of pressure equalizing.
http://www.prismnet.com/~moki/20050606.223332/air_supply.jpg
http://www.prismnet.com/~moki/20050606.053338/pressureXsystem.JPG http://www.prismnet.com/~moki/20050606.003402/AutoXpressureXcompensatorXusingXairXandXleakXdetector.jpg
Many of the members here are a LOT more
knowledgeable than me and should be able to help you more than I can, but I hope
this help you some.
Bill.
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