Re: Introduction

[Buchner@mega-com.com (David Buchner)]

>> about my sub yet (lakes are all still frozen here...).
>
>Figure a couple of months to finish. If you wait till the lakes are unfrozen
>to start, they may be frozen by the time you finish.

Oh no no nooo -- I'm thinking more like a couple *years*. Actually, this
relates to my experimental style of "engineering" and my need for a trailer
- I plan to put it in the water a lot to try things out. Can't really do
much (except trailer bldg) till the water is liquid again. The most I
expect this year is to hang a few hundred pounds from the bottom of the
hull, build a support/steering structure for the motor, and drive it around
as a very heavy sluggish low-riding little *surface* boat.

>Try the "AquaSub" design. It does everything you want. Total cost is $1K -
>$1.5K. You can get a look on the web by starting with the PSUBS web page:
>
>        http://pw1.netcom.com/~rayek/new.html

Actually, I have the original magazine. I've been seeking these out at
Salvation Army's for quite a while. I'll dig them out and report which ones
I have, in case anyone cares. This is waaay more money than I'm thinking,
though. I'm definitely taking a salvaged, wait-till-you-find-one-free
approach. The only serious spending I expect is batteries and compressed
air tank, though I'd prefer to find somebody giving those away too.

>Careful. Once carbon-dioxide poisoning hits, you blackout. No warning.

I was being at least a little facetious there. But that was the point of
the constant walkie-talkie communication and the trusted friend peeking in
thru the window. Wouldn't I start to feel groggy and confused first? At any
rate - does anyone have a ballpart estimate for how long a period we're
talking? A few minutes? Half an hour? If I *don't* have air hoses to the
surface, I want a big ole safety margin. The only experience I can recall
is having my head inside a hot air balloon I was making out of plastic for
a few minutes.

>Let us know what you come up with. Most of us want to be trailerible.
>Which can be tricky because of the deep draft of submersibles you tend
>to have to get your trailer deep and a long ways from the boat ramp.
>While keeping your tow vehicle dry.

The guy who delivered my outdoor wood furnace had a crude heavy-built
trailer, no springs or nuthin', with a big arch over the top and no axle
between the wheel spindles. Winch at the top to lift it up, then two big
crosspieces get pinned in underneath when it's up. This lets you have an
effective clearance, from hull bottom to ramp, of zero.

>Any thoughts on how you are going to keep your hull penitrations from leaking?

At my depths, I thought rubber boots siliconed all to heck and clamped
securely would do. Rather than deal with the cable going in and out, I had
thought to just have a pivoting lever-thing stick out thru hull, with the
cable or solid linkage attached to it outside. Wires and hoses (things
which don't have to move) can just get a big blob of silicone.

Small amounts of leakage would give me an excuse to build a raised floor
for a bilge area, and to surface and pump out the water -- another gadget!