[PSUBS-MAILIST] Stachiw and Nemo's Acrylic Sphere Hull

Jay,

I think that sounds reasonable as long as we are dealing with knowledgeable USCG Captains with a good dose of common sense. We also need to work on being knowledgeable, with a good dose of common sense, if it can be had. That of course means I have my work cut out for me. ;}

When I mentioned to Bruce that I had a private (unclassed) sub, he tried to make it sound like I wouldn't be allowed to play in the water with it at all. I wasn't calling about that issue, so I was a little surprised how aggressive he took to the issue. I was just calling to see if I could get involved in the underwater hotel project that I had heard was being built in Portland, Oregon. That is on hold for now, with talks of doing it in Belize.

Yep it's basically a Link original concept. As far as I c an gather, the Triton yacht subs are Paul Moorhouse designed. With Marlin Submarines producing at least the first one. Now it looks like the production is in Vero Beach, Florida with Patric Layhey as the lead in charge. Last I heard, Marlin Submarines was busy building the S202 and S203 for Promare. I've seen Patric Layhey on the Nova show making sure the crew was ready for the Alicia subs sea trials, and later on Karl's View From Below film saying Karl's sub, was currently the only deep diving tourist sub. He seemed like a nice subdude in those clips.

I like the idea of being in water with a great view, but not getting wet, like you have in the clear acrylic sphere pressure hulls. But the snell's effect does mess with the reality of what your seeing in those designs as they are currently configured. I've heard a few stories of how Karl Stanley will have some passengers come and look at the six gill sharks from the conning tower with it's flat view ports. So they can see the actual size of the sharks, since the 4 inch think spherical sector dome up front enlarges every thing a fair bit. That I admit can increase the thrill factor. But then again, even a gold fish, can be made to look huge, with the right optics.

Cheers,

Brent

From: Jay K. Jeffries

Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2009 3:36 PM

To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org

Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Sub Operation at the Discretion of the U.S Coast Guard

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’s20original 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
Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2009 6:12 PM
To: PSUBSorg
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Sub Operation at the Discretion of the U.S Coast Guard

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."

Page 13

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