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Peter
I think that the Titanic’s timber deck would have had plenty of time to obsorb enough water to swell back to its original size or larger and may have been made of a timber other than pine in the first place. As a volunteer many years ago I helped recover some of the timbers from the wreck of HMS Pandora. Oak Timbers from this wreck contracted by as much as 25% after being treated and dried out. They were negatively buoyant at the time of recovery.
Having a fair bit of experience with GRP boats my suggestion is that the major problem with Pine would be it would loose the buoyancy it is there to create if it is allowed to absorb water. It would also swell and damage the GRP it is enclosed in and be subject to rot amongst other things. If you have ever replaced the flooring in an old GRP boat that had a wooden frame, many of the problems I have described are generally present.
Why not just use Glass Micro Spheres and avoid these issues.
BTY: Congrats on the arrival of your new Princess.
Regards
Steve Pearce
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Steve,
At some pressure you would have that problem - definetly. Flotation material comes in many forms - and the cost increses as the efficiency decays with depth. Wood might work nicely down to several hundered meters - and i felt this would cover the needs for a psub. Since most psubers make submarines for moderat depth - i must say that it would be most intresting if someone considered what deep diving really takes. Is it remotly posible that a psub sometime lands next to the grand staircase on the wreck of the RMS Titanic - I don´t know - but he would need somthing stronger than dry pinewood for flotation. And yes - the wooden decks of deap sea wrecks are not crushed. Bismarck´s planking are quite intact. If pressure were to crush paintet wood - ( since the cells cant flood fast ) it would likely be seen on deap sea wooden wrecks ?
Regards,
Peter
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