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Hi Carsten.
Thanks very much for taking the time to analyze my
questions and respond. Mine was a long post
and I know it took a bit of your time.
Thank you for confirming for me that the
system would work. After your advice on my questions
at least we know it CAN be done.
I understand why you asked "why build an
ambient". I know exactly what you mean Carsten.
I thought about the same thing. I also thought,
wouldn't it be better to just build a thicker hull and make it a
typical 1 atm sub? I thought to myself, "Sure it
would", but then I thought.....But not everyone has access
to, or the funds to rent marina or metal working
space and might not even know how to weld good enough
to trust themselves so they have to hire out the
welding, indeed to hire out almost everything. So, I was
thinking of a sub that could go deeper than a
typical ambient, with a maximum depth of 100 ft, the hull could be
built from much thinner steel, or even possibly
other materials than steel, that could be built as a project by an average
person who was going to build an ambient sub anyway
so decides to build an ambient/1atm so they can go deeper.
That was my thinking on "WHY?. Your answers made me
question myself again. I was thinking of a design
in my mind, of what was mostly an ambient sub, that
would convert to a sealed atm for a little better depth.
Your opinion on having to be very alert and
watching gauges, working valves, and having to juggle things to
make
everything work, makes a good point. Your opinion
on why not make the hull a bit thicker and forget the ambient
completely makes a good point. Even in my mind I
saw the hull in steel and you would have to have steel work
done anyway unless you could figure out another
material that would withstand 2 to 3 atm external hull pressure that you
could
construct at home. So my primary thinking was
of the average guy who was going to build an ambient project
anyway,
and just decided to modify their design to safely
go much deeper, and longer, than they normaly could by allowing their
bodies
to accept some pressure that was within diving
table safety limits. At least we know it is possible to do, but I am
also
wondering if after the project was all done, would
a person wish they had built it thicker and 1 atm for much deeper
depths?
The more I think about it, I think yes, I believe I
would regret not going ahead and just building a 1 atm sub instead of
the
ambient sub that LIMITEDLY became a sealed atm sub
with limited depth capability. Which brings
me to a new way of
thinking of this hybrid sub design
idea.
Although we know it would work, instead of
approaching this from the aspect of a MOSTLY ambient sub, that switches between
ambient and a sealed
atmosphere, why not approach it as a MOSTLY 1 atm sub that can become ambient so
it also can dive deeper than it
normally could? In other words, why not go
ahead then and build a 1 atm that could go deep, and make her switchable to
ambient so
you could dive even your 1 atm sub deeper than you
normally would? Would that work? Has anyone tried or ever done that? To increase
a
1 atm sub's depth capability within safe limits so
it could dive deeper if necessary, with a pressurized hull atm than it normally
could.
Thanks again Carsten for your helpful
advice.
Bill.
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