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Well Hugh, It's only a guess on my part, but in a PDF
brochure I'll send you off list, I've seen a cut away CAD rendering of one of
there models, showing what looks like to me four separate ballast tanks, and
then in other pictures of the newest models I see a cone shaped vent above each
of those tanks. Take a look at the PDF and pictures I sent you, and let me know
what you think.
I've been working on a CAD assembly that blends some
elements of Jay's vent assembly with some elements of mine, I was thinking might
work well together for a vent valve that can be mounted in a soft ballast tank
with a basically flat top and enough room directly below
it.
Do you make a pneumatic valve, that we can use in
saltwater? Or can we modify one of yours to do just that?
Brent
From: Hugh Fulton
Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2009 9:46 PM
Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Sub Operation at the Discretion of the
U.S Coast Guard Brent, Didn?t
look too closely at them I?m afraid. Where are they shown? Chs
Hugh From: owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
[mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] On Behalf Of Brent
Hartwig Hugh, Did you take a look at
U-boat Worx ballast tank vent valves when you were there? They look like
they are using some sort of mushroom vent. It seems like I keep finding
that when it comes to competition, people tend to go to one extreme or the
other. I was pleasantly surprised when I got into the commercial parakeet
farming business in Oregon, that all the other parakeet farms in the are worked
together in one way or another. We could order larger bulk feed orders, and keep
are customers supplied with others birds when are production was down. I like
it when people compete with quality, style, price, and service. Not
put others down, to push your self up. Bruce made a stab at SeaMagine, Hawkes
and Phil in that brochure as
well. Subs have so many
different uses, that while one configuration of designs will work great in one
or more niches, it's not going to be the best in all
niches. " There are
sub vendors out there at yacht shows selling inexpensive, shallow diving sub
that have not been properly engineered and certified, and if you use one, in our
opinion, you are taking your life in your
hands. The Triton
represents the only deep submersible design in the world today that was
developed specifically to meet the requirements of yacht based use. Every
competitive submersible offered has at least one fatal flaw when it come to
yacht based operations." Do I need to say any
thing here? I'll have to call his bluff on that
one. " One even
puts a very large metal mating flange at eye level around the passenger
compartment."
The SeaMagines have are
a lot easier to get out of and have more surface flotation then a Triton 1000 as
well as some acrylic sphere protection. " The 3300
foot version of the Triton allows even more versatility in diving depth and is
popular among marine archeologist of
wreck-hunters.? He's not even built one
yet, and he's saying there popular. "Other
classification societies of other countries also class submersibles but non have
the rigorous requirements of ABS and some are simply chosen for their regulatory
loopholes. For instance, ABS would never award class to a submersible where
opening the hatch in the water would sink the
vehicle."
~ Bruce Jones What about the
inflatable systems for emergency surface egress that the Deep Flight Super
Falcon and Deep Flight Aviator is supposed to have, and that they cannot open
the hatch from the inside as far as I can
see. Some Deepworker subs
are ABS classed if I understand Phil
correctly. Regards, Brent From: Hugh Fulton Sent: Sunday, August 16,
2009 3:55 PM Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST]
Sub Operation at the Discretion of the U.S Coast Guard
U-boat
Worx are in Breda, Holland not Dubai. I visited them and they are quite
professional and have a GL classification equal to ABS and acceptance in Europe
so Yes Triton brochure comments are misleading and rather pointed. The new
Seaquester is 3 man and quite roomy inside and well built. They are using
Li-ion batteries. I
think that Triton have the edge but they are much more costly. Competition
brings out the best and the worst in people. Chs
Hugh From:
owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
[mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] On Behalf Of Jay K.
Jeffries Brent, From my discussions with the US
Coast Guard while assisting with making plans for the Maine trip, the issue of
?classed? never came up. The USCG can stop you from operating on any
navigable waters if they think that you present a threat or a safety issue
(whether to yourself or to others). Well it looks like Jones finally
has subs in the water?it has taken him close to 20 years (and they are the large
luxury yacht submersibles that he keeps pushing but just a copy of Link?s
original concept). Haven?t spoken with him in years but it looks like he
hasn?t changed. Wasn?t U-Boat Worx building out
of Dubai? If so, they are under indictment for embezzlement as I posted a
while back. R/Jay From:
owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
[mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] On Behalf Of Brent
Hartwig I had a phone
conversation with Bruce Jones a while back, and he tried to make it sound like
only classed sub are allowed to operate in the U.S. waters. Of course we
know that unclassed subs have a range to currently work in. But he
didn't want to hear that. I guess some just want subbing to be a very
very exclusive club. I had also heard that in some busy harbors the Coast
Guard wants you to file a dive plan, and get clearance. Like was done when the
S101 was diving in the Seattle area. Have you guys heard about the below data,
and is there a statute I can reference? "In
most countries, including the United States, it is illegal to commercially
operate a sub not built to classification standards and operated without a valid
class certificate. In the U.S. it is at the discretion of the U.S. Coast Guard
Captain of the Port at so whether to allow private home-built or non classed
subs to operate without paying passengers in U.S
waters. Submersibles that are not classed by any
classification society cannot be insured and they cannot legally carry
passengers for hire. Small, inexpensive submersibles like those sold by U-Boat
Worx fall into this category."
For more info on Triton: http://www.tritonsubs.com/files/triton-brochure.pdf There is also quite a bit of
data on the Triton subs in this new PDF brochure that is interesting. I found
the U-Boat Worx comments to be a bit rude. But maybe that's just me. As is turns
out Bruce Jones lives just minutes from me. How crazy is
that. Regards, Brent
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