Hi Douglas,
In my experience with small portable HP compressors, long ago and far away, they took almost forever to fill a tank. That was OK, most of my diving was on the shores of Patagonia, hundreds of miles from the closest dive shop, so they were a necessity. But if you were anywhere near home, I think you’ll find it far more practical to just buy a bunch of tanks. I’ve found fluorescent pink tanks seem to be cheap on eBay, perhaps because most guys don’t want to look like Barbie.
J
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 Douglas Suhr Well HI everyone! Douglas Suhr here. Thank you again so much for the warm welcome here at psubs! Just wanted to give everyone an update... In taking the advice of several psubs members, I have decided to take a little more time planning before I start the Spirit of Calypso. As I discussed in my first letter, I was hoping to begin hull construction around the beginning of summer. Now I am all for ambitious projects, but I'm afraid this is just a bit too ambitious for me. For some reason, my classes seem to be getting harder and harder as I get closer and closer to graduation, so I have been spending considerable time studying and doing homework. I am also working hard on my PPL and hope to start my private helo rating soon (my PL instructor is a professional pilot for STAT medevac air ambulance services, so this is really his specialty!). Anyway, this spring is a pretty busy time for me. I am still plugging away at little details here and there, but I hopefully plan to start the real design phase of the submersible this summer. My dad and I will also be taking some welding classes over the summer, so hopefully by the fall we will be ready to begin construction of the pressure hull. As much as I like to have a "progress calendar," it seems that I'm better off without one because busyness and complications always mess it up! And I definitely side with you folks that spending some extra time researching, learning and educating yourself is well worth it when you consider the stakes (money, as well as safety). In the mean time, I'll still be active here on psubs with questions, as well as working on my model of the sub and experimenting with design. Now here is my first official question on the psubs forum: Has anyone here purchased/considered purchasing a high pressure compressor of their own for the purpose of filling tanks at home? I know that they are relatively high cost items, but when you consider a large dive operation, including submersible operations and support divers, I can't help but wonder if the purchase could be justified? You must remember that you are not only eliminating the small fee of a tank charge, but also eliminating the need for unnecessary trips to the dive store (time & gas!!!), unnecessary transport of the tanks (bulky & somewhat dangerous), and all the while eliminating the need for the purchasing or renting of multiple tanks per person per dive trip. There are several companies that seem to carry this equipment, the best I've found looks to be Nuvair, http://www.nuvair.com/compressors-hp-breathingair.shtml The smaller and portable units listed on this site could be carried aboard a boat and taken out onto your dive location. Any thoughts? ~ Douglas S.
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2012 4:47 PM
To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Spirit of Calypso / compressor question