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Hi Brent. Ya, I like those ideas. I have done some musing on a '' motor
pod'' that could be isolated manually from diving pressure. If a scuba tank was
part of the pod, it would be possible to pressurize the pod while submerged, and
even have a jettison capability if you had a problem while submerged and only
wanted to raise the occupied hull.
As to the Honda outboard, that seems like it would be possible too. The
shaft and propeller housing are aluminum and it wouldn't be too hard to enclose
the motor section in a pressure envelope with manual valves for surface
running.
I have designed my sub with modular sections around the pressure hull for
just that reason. My sub as it's built can be modified quite easily. As
you saw in the stern section sketch, I can un-bolt the whole back end ( or front
) and attach a completely different shape to the hull. I came up with the shape
as shown by testing my models in water flow and calculating how much ballast
capacity I need to raise the sub out of the water enough so I don't get waves
washing into it when the hatch is open. I really don't want a tower on it
because of the associated drag that adds, so I've got to have large ballast
tanks to raise the hatch 30 inches above the surface. Good job, keep those
ideas flowing and thanks for the hints. Frank D. |