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.
