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Nice drawings Brent. I've seen quite a few subs with the side thrust set-up
where the motor is mounted in a tube perpendicular to the hull, and I assume
that the motors are reversible.
I don't know if the doors are needed to close the opening, as it seems like
that would only add more complexity to the side thrust mechanism. Would the open
tube cause a lot of extra drag ?
My plan is to use two motors that can rotate from horizontal to vertical
while the motors are reversible.
I haven't spent enough time investigating just what will position the motor
mount yet, ( still welding the hull together ) but I am leaning toward a
hydraulic or pneumatic piston acting against a spring. If the piston/positioner
fails, the spring will return it to vertical so I can power up to the
surface.
I did some sketching etc. for a concept and it looks like it will work. The
next step will be to make a mock-up and test it to determine what kind of
spring, how strong, and how the linkages will work.
I also plan to put a small dive plane on each motor mount.
Steering will be mostly done by rudders on the two rear motors, with added
steering from the side motors.
A simple dive plane at the rear working independently from the steering
rudders should give me some attitude control while moving.
I have a lot of this stuff on paper, but my computer skills are pretty
limited. I have the old model I built for flow testing, and will be using it to
test the rudders, dive planes, and ballast tank designs before I commit to a
final design.
Anyway, what I'm getting at here is, the simpler it is, the more reliable
it should be, not to mention fab time and ultimately cost savings.
It's pretty interesting to see how the model reacts when the water flows
and I add things to the outside like ballast tanks and dive planes. Really very
much a trial and error thing but small enough to be almost free except for time
spent.
Keep up the great pictures, some are very inspiring! Frank
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