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Hi, Frank , Glenn & Vance.
My sub will be about 25" in diameter in a semi spherical shape around my
upper body
& transitions down to about 14" around my legs. The
hulls about 6 ft long with external battery
pods out the back. So it's not much more than a kayak. My program
shows that the shell
only needs to be .5" thick at the most on the 25" dimension to get a crush
depth of over 1000ft.
Some reinforcement will need to be 2" thick. I only need to go to 250 ft to
match my dome.
So for my design in epoxy & fiberglass ( not wound carbon fiber) it
doesn't seem too prohibitively expensive.
I agree it would be stupid to use it for a big sub, but how many kayaks are
made out of steel?
Alan
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 4:50
AM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Fiberglass
hulls
I like some of the benefits of a fiberglass hull like no rust and the
ability to make complex shapes. As for the cost though, It's not cheap. The
fiberglass fairings and dive planes I made cost almost a thousand dollars
just in material. They are a minimum of 3/8 inch thick with some small areas
up to 1-1/2 inch. If a guy was to be making a 5 inch thick pressure hull from
fiberglass, I can't imagine what the cost will be. ( LOTS $$$ )
Now I know there are places to get FRP materials cheaper than where I
went but the cost savings isn't all that much. It's not only the resin and
cloth. There's all kinds of stuff needed. It's the little things that add up.
Brushes, buckets, acetone, tools, tape, glue, paints, mold materials, dyes,
mold release, sand paper, rasps, and that list just goes on and on. And
another note.....Fiberglass dust will EAT an electric motor like a grinder,
sander, saw, or whatever tool you've got. Keep the dust out of the motor with
masking tape and be careful not to overheat the tool.
Frank D.
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