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Greetings Brian, Your the second person to suspect that the large thru hull behind the conning tower is a viewport. It is actually a plate with four old plastic SeaCon electrical thru hulls in it. In my subs configuration, it is very hard to lay down enough to get your head under the conning tower reinforcement ring and look up through that large thru hull tube. I would put a viewport in your metal hatch, if at all possible. I'm planning on building a light, all SS metal hatch similar to what Paul Moorhouse used on the Alicia sub, but rotate the three locking means so I can install a small viewport in the forward area of the hatch like on Doug Privitt's sub Delta. That way I can look up through easily. Don't get turned around like I did for some time when looking at the Deltas viewport side guards. They are not part of a hinge. The hatch hinge is on the other side, and quite small, making it hard to see in the low quality pictures I have. http://k-250-submarine-refit.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!5085D10EB6AFE47C!123/ This will allow me to have a light hatch locking means that can be opened from inside and out. Here are some pictures of the Alicia's hatch, and the Delta's Hatch. I wish I had better pictures of both subs hatches. http://www.frappr.com/?a=viewphoto&id=4001713&pid=10255616 http://www.frappr.com/?a=viewphoto&id=4001713&pid=7567969 http://www.deltaoceanographics.com/xmascoral.html http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/1479/dougbiodeltacw5.jpg http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/6779/cominginve4.gif http://www.bubbleology.com/seeps/images/Delta_Image.jpg My metal hatch will be installed above a 1.5" thick cylinder of acrylic that is 25" OD and 12" high. I'm purchasing the cylinder from the Captain. He had planned to put it on one of his subs, and never got around to it. It will significantly raise my freeboard hatch land height, and give me a great 360 degree view. http://www.frappr.com/?a=viewphoto&id=4001713&pid=10255638 When I spoke with George the other day, he didn't recall installing the large thru hull behind the conning tower. So it very well might of been done by Dr. LeSchack. So when referring to the temporary wooden plugs that were used by Dr. LeSchack for the first unmanned depth test, they were likely used on the thruster thru hulls. I'm working on another configuration with will allow me to have a larger viewport in the middle of a metal hatch. That can also be open from the inside and out with only one handle on the outside and one on the inside. I'll show you guys the 3D CAD work when it is done. I regards to the plastic thru hulls that were on my K-250, when I spoke to George he said he wanted to use stainless steel EnviroCon electrical thru hulls on my sub, since he worried that if there was a short in the plastic ones, that might melt the plastic. I'm not sure exactly what kind of plastic was used for the thruster electrical thru hulls. It looks much like UHMW type plastic to me. They didn't use solid wire. Here are pictures of one of them. http://k-250-submarine-refit.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!5085D10EB6AFE47C!123/ The electrical thru hulls installed into the large plate behind the conning tower, are a old plastic SeaCon type. I was not impressed with these at all. You will see why in the pictures. The large thru hull plate has a O-ring installed into it, and it's land and tube support are different components welded together, Likely before it was welded to the hull. This way they could turn it flat if need be, like Carsten did on his larger main hull flanges on Euronaut. The little front light electrical thru hull, was constructed of a plain steel 1/2" cap, with two tight fitting holes drilled into it to receive the two stranded type electrical wires. Then they filled the cap, and the nipple, that is welded into the hull, full of silicone, and called it a day. It looks like it worked, but it was a rusty mess as you can see. Regards, Brent Hartwig From: ojaivalleybeefarm@dslextreme.com To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] The Ugly Duckling Submarine Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:52:46 -0700 Brent,
Is that a viewport behind the conning tower? If it is, that is what I am planning on doing instead of putting a viewport in the hatch. It looks like they added a extra thick piece of steel around the collar area, I wonder how the formed that piece?
Brian
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