Doug,
I was thinking you could just use a water pump to clear the snorkel line or have a shut-off higher in the snorkel fin like the Bionic Dolphins.
Brent
From: djackson99@aol.com
Reply-To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Rand Corp sub competition entry
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 22:48:41 -0500
I wonder if the the tail fins act as air intakes when the boat is awash. I was originally planning on ducting air from just being the forward cabin of my sub which will be above the water line while the aft is still awash, but that plan called for purging a large volume of water from the intake before starting the engine. My new plan is to put a big tail fin just over the engine that will act as a snorkel. The alternative would be to use a large volume of precious compressed air to blow the water from the hull.
I am not jealous of their dream, because I am getting to live mine, (God bless the USA); but having their budget and talent would not suck at all :)
--Doug J
www.submarineboat.com
-----Original Message-----
From: paulkreemer@gmail.com
To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Sent: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 2:45 PM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Rand Corp sub competition entry
It's a pretty interesting topic - thanks for the photo links. Yeah, I'm with you on those questions about dry versus wet.
Some more:
* Does the Coast Guard or oil industry want a combination speedboat-submarine?
I can see this being interesting for the SEALs and us recreational underwater types but otherwise it seems like a Tom Swift or Dirk Pitt-inspired business plan.
* What kind of planing performance do you get carrying enough ballast to submerge this baby?
This is really your dry vs. wet question. Is there a lot of horsepower involved? Or are we missing some clever trick, as the article hints at?
* Shouldn't you ditch those vertical tails fins to reduce visibility/radar signature? Granted, it's a prototype...
* And would this minisub be capable of riding piggyback on our attack subs?
And of course I ask these critical questions mostly because I'm jealous that these guys are "living the dream"! :-)
Paul