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Hi Joe,
Nice to hear from you again! I had no idea helicopters were ballasted
like subs. Regarding the exostructure suggestion, I totally agree. It's a bigger
change than I want to make on Snoopy, but when I eventually get back to the
other sub project, it will have SS crash bars over the bow viewport. The forward
MBT will be closed on the bottom and attach to the crash bars (i.e. tank is
bolted on from below). If you remove the front MBT and use saddle tanks instead,
what was a forward MBT support becomes a crash bar for mounting
lights, cameras, etc. So two configurations on the same sub... long and
streamlined with fore and aft MBTs if you need some crusing distance (a la Lula
or S-101), or short and stubby with saddle tanks and more maneuverability
and angle of vision (a la Perry or Alvin).
Best,
Alec From: owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org [mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] On Behalf Of Joseph Perkel Sent: Monday, November 14, 2011 4:30 PM To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] K-600 Reconditioning "These tanks are in addition to
the fore and aft tanks, not a replacement. The rationale is..." Hi Alec, It's been a long time since I've piped in, good to see your well thought out improvements, Snoopy is all grown up now! What you are in fact gaining with the above is both reserve buoyancy as well as lateral stability, perfectly suited for open water ops. You also gain a failsafe ability
were one to loose a seal on either of the end tanks, the K boats weakest
link
are the MBT's as designed for the reasons you've
stated.
As for me, no time to build anything, plane, boat, sub, (or spaceship ala Madsen) but, I've been following in Jay's wake for about a year now with the snippets of time available to me late at night in
acquiring marine design credentials above and beyond my aeronautical
base.
Eventually, I will draw up plans for various vessels as well
as aircraft for the homebuilt market in an effort to fund whatever my retirement
project
turns out to be.
In the meantime, an intrepid tinkerer such as yourself could take
lessons away from Alvin, Shinkai and others in that the K boat's
are screaming out for a similar exostructure frame to mount
modular soft tank, variable ballast (weights),
and propulsion components. All in an effort
to improve safety, control and ease of maintenance. With
your "Torpedo Tubes" on Snoopy you inadvertently mirrored a technique
utilized from a popular
homebuilt helicopter design that uses a removable ballast weight to
vary the W&B between solo and dual flight.
Best!
Joe
> Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] K-600 Reconditioning > Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:50:05 -0500 > From: Alec.Smyth@compuware.com > To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org > > 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. 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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 > ************************************************************************ > ************************************************************************ > ************************************************************************ > |