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Hi Jon. The dishes are 84 inch diameter and 3/8 inch thick. They weigh 747
lbs each and will be mated to a 6 inch tube section to give me an inside height
of 52 inches. The smaller dome is the hatch lid and is 20 inches in diameter. I
would like to be able to get to 300 feet deep, but probably will never get below
150 or so. The windows are the weak spot, and I'm putting in an 18
inch window directly in front with at least 2 additional windows at 12 inch
diameter. one above, and one below. I may put one on each side as well.
For stiffeners, I will be using 1/4 inch by 4 inch with a "T" shape
running from the top center hatch to the bottom, alongside the window tubes. I
did a rough calculation of finished weight and came up with 8400
lbs. including drop weight and 2 passengers.
I will be sizing the ballast tanks to displace enough water to
give me as much free board as possible. I hope to have 24 inches of the hull
above water when surfaced.
I'm working on a design to add a concealed tractor innertube to the
bottom, so that when I reach the surface, I can inflate the tube ( 72 inch
doughnut ) and give it more lift.( Maybe get to 30 inches above water
.) That will take some trial and error after the sub is wet to see if it
can be done without destabilizing it. It will definitely lower the
center of buoyancy, and may be prone to tipping ( and sinking!!!) OUCH!
The triangular ballast tanks will be stainless, and again, will be sized to
get me out of the water as much as possible. I can use the plasma cutter at work
to cut the blanks, and then mig weld the 4 tanks.
I considered using propane tanks as ballast tanks, but it creates too many
places for things to get hung up on. My goal is to keep it as smooth as
possible. I favor the round shape because I can spin it on it's own axis, and
sit side by side with my passenger. I did some modeling with different shapes,
and the squashed sphere is not much "less sleek" than the propane
tank shape. The sketch on frappr shows a pontoon section, but I'll probably
go with a full size pontoon boat so I can have more deck space. ( need room for
the BBQ !) I'd like to add video inside too, but the electronics are another
phase I haven't gotten to yet. Should be receiving more steel soon, and then I
can post a picture of the two halves welded together and the hatch tube going
in. Frank D.
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