While visiting George in the winter of 1978-79, I had the opportunity to review this submersible and meet the two gentlemen for whom it was commissioned. The sub was purpose built with a lengthened, flanged hull sealed with a rubber gasket and numerous bolts to aid in maintenance of the diesel. The sub was headed to Alaska for commercial and salvage work. As there was much ice out on the local waterways, the owners were able to practice submersible ops with a K-250 in a large tank next to George’s sub construction barn. I also was able to play in the K-250 towards the end of the day. I received no instruction at all, George figured since I had spent time on subs that I would be safe (almost did not make it up on my last surfacing effort as the scuba tanks were running dry J). Crashed with the owners at a motel in Rocklin where we consumed a fair amount of beer swapping sub stories.
A few years later, met up with the sub owners once again. While they wouldn’t speak poorly of their expensive investment, there were issues with extreme noise, exhaust fumes, and diesel fumes that made operating the sub to its fullest capabilities impossible. Shortly after the sub was listed for sale and must not have sold readily as the ads were listed for quite some time. Seems to me the asking price was $450K. Believe it was finally sold but don’t know for how much.
While I would love to have a sub like this have learned that it isn’t really practical in the typical PSUB. Reading operational accounts of some of the early Nordenfeld (SP?), Holland, and others along with the Japanese small submersibles leads me to believe it takes a larger sub to safely mount a diesel. Even the X-craft had many troubles related to diesels in their small confines.
R/Jay
Respectfully,
Jay K. Jeffries
Andros Is., Bahamas
Natura nihil fit in frustra
- Nature does nothing in vain
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org [mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] On Behalf Of Smyth, Alec
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 12:01 PM
To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Subject: RE: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] newbie questions
I've heard George cut the hull towards the stern and put flanges on each
of the two parts to bolt it together, but I have no idea if he had to
lengthen it -- in a photo it looks the same as a normal K-350. He had a
snorkel that looks about 3-4 feet tall behind the coning tower. The
snorkel had a poppet valve at the top to shut it off upon submerging,
but also of course a hull stop on the inside. The snorkel was not piped
to the engine, it simply allowed air into the cabin and the diesel took
air from the cabin atmosphere. Cooling was via sea water. Exhaust was
into the water. Transmission via a standard marine gearbox with forward
and reverse. I have only seen a photo, and spoken to George about it
briefly, so that's the sum total of what I know about the diesel
electric K-350. Do we have anyone on the list who has actually seen it
in person?
Thanks,
Alec