Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] 200ton 18meter Live aboard submarine

On 12/23/07, Ian Roxborough <irox@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

Hi guys,

I guess this announcement is a little over due, but every time
I start writing it I end up working on the design...

Anyway, I've managed to get the budget to hire Wilfried to build
a 200ton concrete hull.  I'm very exicited that I get to be one
of first people to experiment with this type of submarine.

Funny, I start out (I like many of us) with grand large submarine
designs 10 years ago, learning more and refining my designs as they
get smaller (10man sub, to 4, to 2 person), then designing around
the K350 hull rather than reinventing the small sub.  It feels
strange to have my first sub be so close to the fanciful designs
I started with.

These are the rough and working specs, everything can change,
if I make this a 370hp water ski towing sub, the range will be
a lot less, if I run out of battery budget or space, then submerged
range will be less, if I end up with more money to spend and more
space, the range will be greater.  Also, so much space, I can add
more fuel, more batteries, more heads, etc. very easily.  These
specs are far higher than my original hopes, so I don't mind if
I have to cut things back because of cost or performance.

The Specs:

Displacement: 200tons
Length: 18meter
Width: 4.3meters
Height: 6.5meters (depending on sail design)

Operational dive depth: 50meters (unmanned 150M test required)
                       100-250meters (after refit/testing)
                       Delivery test is 30meters.

Surface range: 3000+miles
Submerged range: 300miles at slow speed (~1.5knots)
Submerged endurance: 4 people, 1 week (with 3x emergence)
                  or 10 people, 24hours (with 10x emergence)

Interior floor space: 40square meters (430sqft)

1 forward view port, diameter 1 meter
6 - 8 side facing view ports, 3-4 per side diamter (50cms)
1 hatch leading to the sail
1 hatch on the aft deck (for possible docking
  with a small sub, diver lockout unit, loading/unloading
  cargo/equipment/supplies)

Propultion/power:
  diesel engine belt drive 30-100hp
  electric motor belt drive 3-10-30hp
  diesel generator 100hp? (or 2x 50hp)
  ~3tons batteries
  diesel fuel (~3000liters?)
  electric bow truster
  electric stern thruster

Life support:
  12 x 3454 Liters O2 Cylinders (Luxfer Aluminum Oxygen Cylinders M-110-0760)
  Providing 41448 Liters of airs.
  10362 liters for operational supply.
  31086 liters for emergency supply.
  112 man days (16 weeks) of O2.

Ballast:
  Forward and Aft external ballast tanks (maybe external side tanks as well)
  3 ton internal tank with an electrical pump (can be VBT)
  2 ton (1 ton + 2x 0.5ton) internal hard tanks for trim
    and VBT, can be operated with presision electical pump or high pressure
    gas

I've been testing out different CAD packages, I uploaded a couple of
images, so much stuff missing or in the wrong place.  Just
kicking around some ideas.  I'll have some better images ready soon.

http://monkeyview.net/id/2768/substuff/csub200/rough/index.vhtml
http://monkeyview.net/id/2768/substuff/csub200/rough/csub200_2d_000.jpg
http://monkeyview.net/id/2768/substuff/csub200/rough/subc200_3d.jpg

One the main goals I have with this sub is to keep it as flexible
and reconfigurable as possible.  So I want to be able to do things
like detach the luxary yatch sail, and attach the ROV deployment
sail to go and investigate a shipwreck from a safe distance or
that is outside of my operational depth.

The working budget is fairly low for a project of this size.
The hull cost $90K usd, I hope to have the sub fitted out for
$45K, and hoping to keep an another $45K for extras, like ROVs
and plasma TV.  We'll see how this works out, whatever happens,
I'm sure I can get this thing full operation even if I'm missing
the plasma TV.

I'm really looking forward to this adventure.  Please feel free
to share your throughts and ideas about this project.

Thanks,
Ian.

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