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Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] PC-1402 Conning Tower Dimensional Drawings Uploaded
Jon, Vance,
I can add a little note here we turned PRV-2 upside down and the lockout is
now where the conning tower will sit. The acrylic conning tower for PRV-2 is
26" ID x 34" OD by 18 " high . It will be mounted like Vista Ranger. Mike
from SST is who did the numbers for it said 3600 ft I think , I will find
the file and confirm. But 18 inch of 360 degree visiblity with a little
distortion is far better than 4 -6 " viewports He did say any less than
this and the optics would be bad. Any hotel yet for Vancouver.
Mike Caudle
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Wallace" <jonw@psubs.org>
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 4:24 PM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] PC-1402 Conning Tower Dimensional Drawings
Uploaded
Vance,
According to Stachiw the cylindrical acrylic performs worse than disc or
spherical in terms of optical, but he doesn't really give a description of
how bad it is. The larger the diameter, the less optical distortion is
perceived. He states that a diameter of 42 inches, 4inch thick, has
acceptable optical qualities. The fabrication of an acrylic conning tower
however appears to be much less involved than a steel conning tower with
multiple disc viewports.
Jon
vbra676539@aol.com wrote:
Steve and James,
If you go to the Submersible Systems Technologies web site and look at
the Vista Ranger, you will see a good picture of Steve's hatch, or at
least of the PC-1402's hatch, which they used on the new acrylic cylinder
conning tower. I do like the idea (the acrylic conning tower) but wonder
about distortion and crash protection. I have, in fact, seen some used in
pretty rugged circumstances, so I may be just hanging with what I know.
For instance, Vickers built the LRs based on Perry's PC-15 dimensions.
The hulls were spun fiberglass and the conning towers were all acrylic
like you see on the Ranger. The crews ran the hell out of them (we were
all in direct competition in those days, and we ALL ran the hell out of
whatever we had). In any case, Vickers never had any trouble with the LRs
that I heard of aside from the fact that they were tubby as all get out
and hard to manage in cross currents and the like. The subs had crash
guards on deck to help protect the acrylic, and they were monumentally
heavy. To be fair, they did have the spare payload, so I guess it worked
out. Just on the face of it, the acrylic tube looks to me like simpler
construction, and maybe even cheaper than the Perry's as you don't have
all the multiple bits and pieces to build and weld and machine and clad
and paint and...well, and so on.
Mind you, the PC-12 class from Perry has continued in service (in the
tourist industry mostly), and they have done, literally, tens of
thousands of dives without incident. That's a hard record to beat for
sheer toughness. Keep in mind, you don't wear dress shoes when you're
working. You wear steel toed brogans or work boots--heavier, more
expensive perhaps, but very hard to beat when you drop a hammer on your
toe. The steel conning towers are kind of like that, I think. Sort of a
Wolverine safety boot with viewports.
Vance
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