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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