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Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] New and needing early advice
Hello Paul, and welcome.
It makes sense to investigate the issues you've raised before investing
resources. Ultimately only you can decide whether building a sub is a
sensible choice for you or not. You might start by deciding up front
how much money you are willing to invest in this project. Second, I
would do enough research in your anticipated dive sites to determine if
visibility is an issue or not. Poor visibility the one time you were
there may, or may not, indicate consistent poor visibility. Talk to
more people or do some practical testing to satisfy yourself. You
could, for example, build or buy a video camera housing and attach a
rope to it, then simply "dip" it in various places to multiple depths
and review the results after pulling it back up. Over a period of a few
months you could probably come up with a pretty good profile of
visibility.
You'll need to get welding experience before building a 1ATM sub. While
you can hire out the welding to a qualified welder, it will
significantly increase your budget. You might compare that cost to just
purchasing an existing sub that has a proven dive record. In my
opinion, welding is as much an inherent talent as it is an acquired
skill. I just finished a welding course at a local community college
and I found it to be a good experience, however I was surprised that
about 1/3 of the class just couldn't "get it" and their welds (and
brazing) looked horrible. So after doing your visibility research, I
recommend you either take an introductory course in stick welding or
find a local certified welder who you can practice with, then honestly
assess your welding skills (to thine on self, be true).
The popularity of the K-350 (and K-250) is based in the proven track
record of the design when the vessel is fabricated correctly. Forty
years ago the plans were certified which makes them very valuable even
though they would not pass certification today due to changes in ABS and
ASME requirements. For example, the K-sub plans do not specify a means
of opening the hatch from outside the sub which is now required by ABS.
To my knowledge, none of the ABS/ASME changes affect the basic hull
design however. Again, when fabricated correctly (welds for example) it
is a proven design. Your own design will consume much more of your
time. Since you are "new to the whole subject of personal submersibles"
you've got a learning curve to deal with. If your goal is to have a
working submersible next year, I would recommend you purchase K-350
plans as a starting base. If you're goal is to have the sub within 10
years, then you have plenty of time to follow the list, come to some
conventions, ask lots of questions, and do a lot of research to learn
about a proper sub design before actually deciding if you want to use
existing plans or design your own. If designing a sub is not the most
important thing to you, and your dive limits fit within 350 feet, the
K-350 plans represent about 1.5% (or less) of your overall investment
and a lot less ramp up time to get started. Don't discount the
importance of a good design. While you have mechanical experience in a
number of areas, fabricating a submersible is going to be the biggest
challenge you've faced. A serious mistake with a violin or engine
usually just means throwing more money at it to fix the problem, or at
worst, starting over from the beginning. With a submersible, a serious
mistake could mean much more serious consequences.
Alan's suggestion of an ambient design is a good one that you might also
want to consider. While ambients have their own design issues to deal
with, they are typically less complex (overall) than a 1ATM design.
Jon
Paul Lassen wrote:
Hello All,
I am a new member to this discussion group and, being new to the whole
subject of personal submersibles, have a few questions for the rest of
you to help me decide if the whole idea of building my own submersible
is a sensible choice for me. I do NOT want to go further down the road
of resource, financial and emotional investment if its an unrealistic
venture.
I’ll tell you a bit about me, my intended submersible and also the
area where I intend to use it.
My name is Paul Lassen and am 46. I live in Rosebud, Alberta, Canada
(about as land locked as you can get) near Calgary. I have a masters
degree in Industrial Design and currently work as an acoustician who
assesses and designs solutions for industrial noise. I have spent my
life building virtually anything that strikes my fancy. Including
everything from violin family instruments, rally cars, engines, boats,
product models, homes, tools, stereo equipment electronics, on and on.
I have also been an instrumentation mechanic / technician in the oil
and gas sector.
I have good confidence in my ability to build a submersible with one
exception. Welding. I have virtually no experience welding and I can
only imagine the importance of a high quality weld to the building of
a safe PSUB. Can the necessary welding skills be gained through adult
education courses, some additional reading and practice? I get the
sense that at least some of you have done just that. Am I right? If
you know of good resources for welding education then please pass
their titles / URLs / whatever along. What kind of welding is
appropriate / necessary for our kind of welding (stick, MIG, TIG)? Is
there an exceptionally well suited model of welder that people know
of? Are there welder models to avoid?
My hope is to build a K-350 with my own little modes. I intend to use
it in Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British
Columbia, Canada where I now boat regularly. On the surface its a
stunningly beautiful area of intersecting fjords and inlets but below
the water I just don't know much. Neither does anyone I've spoken
with. I have oceanfront recreational property there which can act as a
good base and the invertebrate speciation there is really second to
none. Depths are between 30 to 60 metres for perhaps 50% of the
various inlets of Clayoquot Sound while the remainder is 60 metres
down to 170 metres. Visibility was poor the one time I’ve bothered to
dive there (I far prefer more tropical destinations for SCUBA) and
surface observation of visibility seems to indicate that this is the
norm. Water is typically 11º C (52º F) without much seasonal variation.
The idea of building and operating a PSUB has really captured my
imagination. I just need to know what it will take to get to a skill
level where I can make welds that will result in a safe and reliable
submersible. I also want to know if cool mirky waters (at shallow
diving depths) will allow any kind of observational enjoyment or if
I’ll be consistently disappointed in what I am unable to see down
there. Does visibility ever improve at depth? Finally, explain to me
the reasons that the K-350 has become such an apparently popular PSUB?
I'll be grateful for any responses.
Cheers,
Paul Lassen
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