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Hi Frank, Sounds like you need a heavier, more powerful tow vehicle then your Harley. I can't even get my Harley to pull his own weight some days. ;} I like the extension bar Dan uses and the full size wheel on the tongue of the trailer, that can be rotated down to keep the trailer heading in the same direction it started at, when the said wheel was lowered. It makes it easier to deal with launching in sand and gravel as well, I would imagine. I have a rear wheel knuckle from a Toyota Camry that has no axle attached to it, that I was thinking might be good for installing in the above manor. The bearing type Dan is using is even simpler, so I'll have to ask him where he acquired it. He doesn't have a telescoping tongue trailer, unless I'm behind the times. For some reason I had it in my head that Cliff had a telescoping trailer tongue installed in a receiver tube that is welded into the longitudinal center of the trailer frame. But I don't see it in the pictures I have or on the clip I just watch of him launching the R300. So well just caulk it up as wishful thinking. At any rate, I was thinking of doing basically what I just described, but with either a acme thread inside to move the telescoping tubular, with a 12 volt sealed motor, pull it out manually, or use a push pull cable winch arrangement like Doug Jackson first had installed on his battery sled. In addition to that, I was thinking of a way to add more buoyancy to the lower areas of the sub, so as to be able to launch it, with out having to push the trailer so far into the water. Especially at boat ramps, or beaches with a very gradual slope. One option for me would be to make the inflatable amas I'm installing, rotate down to the lower sides of the subs hull for launching. In doing so I would need to make sure the sub would be unstable, by checking the change of the metacentric height in the CAD assembly. The other option I was just thinking about, was to add a additional set of inflatable pontoons, by clipping them onto the lower sides of the sub, with clips that can be easily undone when the sub is floating in the water, after the air has been pulled out of those extra buoyancy pontoons. My favorite option currently is to make the whole trailer float when you back it in the water, by having amas on both sides. Then let down the sub into the water with a lift, between the amas. Because of the width of are subs I would need to make the pontoons spread out once the trailer was floating, some what like how one type of Schilling Robotics, Conan arm grabber actuates and keeps the clamping surface parallel during the entire movement. So that basic actuation means would need to be scaled up, and have the amas be to parts that move out in a parallel fashion. Here are some pictures of said Conan arm parallel grabber. http://cid-5085d10eb6afe47c.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Parallel%20Actuating%20Means I've been talking with some people at Aerocet (a local plane float manufacture) about purchasing a set of there composite amphibious floats that are rated for the weight of my K-250, to be used as a large part of my floating sub trailer. Also since the larger middle wheels retract it would make towing the sub on the float trailer very easy with less drag, or install a outboard or two and forget the tow boat all together. I was recently talking with one of the people I purchase my K-250 from, who recover old logs from the bottom of a local Lake. They would like a floating barge trailer with retractable wheels to pull up the logs and then transport them to there private mill with out having to move them an additional time by having a separate barge and trailer. So there are many options to choose from. Regards, Szybowski From: ShellyDalg@aol.com Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2009 10:23:40 -0400 Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] boat trailer question To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org Hi Brian. Ya, boat trailers are just mild steel, often galvanized, then
painted.
I'll be building one too pretty soon I hope.
I thought about putting some ballast tanks on it so it could be partially
floated after the sub floats off, so it would be a little lighter when I try to
pull it up the boat ramp. My sub will weigh about 6700 lbs. so I'll need a
fairly stout trailer and it will be heavy even when empty. I like the video of
Dan's sub launch where he has the telescoping trailer tongue for launch. Very
ingenious.
Your sub will be pretty heavy too, so a strong trailer is bound to be
heavy. Maybe a couple of beer kegs or stainless tubes that could be used as
floats would help get it out of the water. Nothing fancy, and maybe could be
used as storage containers or tool boxes during transport. Frank
D.
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