Hi Alec,
For the small ambient I'm building, I've bought a number of solenoid
valves
as a supplement for my ballast tank valves. They will be plumed
around the
ballast valves. They are operated wirelessly from a playstation 2
controller,
as is everything else. PS2 controller & input output converter $100-
plus relays plus valves. With this system you could replace burped
air remotely from
the tow boat & fine tune the ballast easily if you are compensating
for your extra
passenger with a large bubble.
Regards Alan
----- Original Message ----- From: "Smyth, Alec" <Alec.Smyth@compuware.com
>
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2011 12:50 PM
Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] K-600 Reconditioning
Still working on them! At this point the tanks themselves are done,
and
I am painting them, but I have to do the mounting and plumbing bits,
and
I haven't yet sourced the parts for that. These tanks are in
addition to
the fore and aft tanks, not a replacement. The rationale is...
- I am very low on freeboard in open water, if any burping takes
place.
You don't want to sit inside the boat during an hours-long tow, and by
the end of a tow the sub has normally burped quite a bit, so it can be
hairy boarding. Additional tanks will not add a lot more freeboard,
because once the apex of the main cylinder is above the surface, the
marginal lift required for any additional freeboard increases
tremendously. However, as the saddle tanks won't burp, at least the
boat
should stay up instead of settling down.
- I don't have a VBT anymore, I've gone to fixed lead ballast. It's
not
fun shipping and unshipping the weight of a person in weights each
time
you go between diving alone or with a passenger. I am hoping to
permanently ballast for one person, and if I have a passenger on board
simply use a much larger "bubble" to compensate.
- Fore and aft tanks are great for adjusting longitudinal trim, but
for
buoyancy trimming it should be easier with saddle tanks.
- I'm hoping to plumb the saddle tanks with much larger tubing than
the
standard MBTs, so I can vent my bubble very quickly as it expands on
an
ascent. On the Kittredge tanks I now have half inch valves. It's
certainly faster than the smaller original ones I had before, but
for a
tank that will have a large bubble, I'd prefer the dump to be super
fast.
The tanks are 3/8" fiberglass, molded on male foam molds that I then
dissolved. Note also Greg came up with a very nice solution that used
off-the-shelf tanks for saddle MBTs when he reconditioned Scott
Cassell's K-250 "Great White".
I'll upload photos when done, probably in 2-3 weeks.
Thanks,
Alec
The contents of this e-mail are intended for the named addressee
only. It contains information that may be confidential. Unless you
are the named addressee or an authorized designee, you may not copy
or use it, or disclose it to anyone else. If you received it in
error please notify us immediately and then destroy it.
From: owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
[mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] On Behalf Of Jon
Wallace
Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 3:02 PM
To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] K-600 Reconditioning
Alec,
Any photos of your saddle tanks yet? I've begun to consider the same
thing for the 600, possibly removing the bow and stern tanks
completely.
Now that I have the existing tanks off in preparation for
refinishing, I
like the look. It's more compact and clean looking. I can easily
match
the flotation of the bow/stern tanks with appropriately sized saddle
tanks, or add them to the existing configuration to provide more lift
and stability on the surface.
So I'm curious, did you remove the bow/stern tanks or just add the
saddle tanks to the stock K-250 configuration?
Jon
***
*********************************************************************
***
*********************************************************************
***
*********************************************************************
The personal submersibles mailing list complies with the US Federal
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Your email address appears in our database
because either you, or someone you know, requested you receive
messages
from our organization.
If you want to be removed from this mailing list simply click on the
link below or send a blank email message to:
removeme-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Removal of your email address from this mailing list occurs by an
automated process and should be complete within five minutes of our
server receiving your request.
PSUBS.ORG
PO Box 53
Weare, NH 03281
603-529-1100
***
*********************************************************************
***
*********************************************************************
***
*********************************************************************
***
*********************************************************************
***
*********************************************************************
***
*********************************************************************
The personal submersibles mailing list complies with the US Federal
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Your email address appears in our database
because either you, or someone you know, requested you receive
messages
from our organization.
If you want to be removed from this mailing list simply click on the
link below or send a blank email message to:
removeme-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Removal of your email address from this mailing list occurs by an
automated process and should be complete within five minutes of
our server receiving your request.
PSUBS.ORG
PO Box 53
Weare, NH 03281
603-529-1100
***
*********************************************************************
***
*********************************************************************
***
*********************************************************************
***
*********************************************************************
***
*********************************************************************
***
*********************************************************************
The personal submersibles mailing list complies with the US Federal
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Your email address appears in our database
because either you, or someone you know, requested you receive
messages
from our organization.
If you want to be removed from this mailing list simply click on the
link below or send a blank email message to:
removeme-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Removal of your email address from this mailing list occurs by an
automated process and should be complete within five minutes of
our server receiving your request.
PSUBS.ORG
PO Box 53
Weare, NH 03281
603-529-1100
***
*********************************************************************
***
*********************************************************************
***
*********************************************************************