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FYI: Manned Submersibles (Fwd)
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Date: Thu, 06 Nov 1997 00:00:37 PST
From: "richard hess" <rohess@hotmail.com>
Subject: Manned Submersibles
To: Ray.Keefer@Ebay
Cc: rohess@hotmail.com
Hello Ray,
Well I told you I'd get back to you, so here I am. I am still
interested in the discussion group but I just have not had time to try
the majordomo again. I spend most of my computer time trying to figure
out set-ups and preferences. I'm also in a big battle with my AutoCad
program, I'm trying to learn to use the latest version, the one with all
the icons (I hate icons especially in autocad). At any rate my email
seems to be behaving and I'm receiving messages fine now.
What's this, you don't have a manned submersible yet, well I'm here to
encourage you not to be afraid of taking the big plunge. I've seen all
kinds of manned submersibles, the good, the bad, the ugly and the death
traps, and let me tell you, there are a lot of bad designs out there,
and people who will try and convince you that their submerging death
trap is the safest sub around. If the owner/designer is not talking
about safety factors, redundant life supports systems, gas analyzers,
pressure testing the sub, does not have an SOP Handbook, "Standard
Operating Procedures manual" for the support crew and passengers to
study, they and their sub have no business in the water.
I once watched three "submarine know-it-alls" sink a homebuilt dry sub
and VERY NEARLY drown the pilot because they had no idea what they were
doing, did not believe in consulting an engineer, and did not believe
hydrogen gas would explode! I could tell you some real horror stories
about this and other submersibles that I've seen in the past. Your
best bet is to stay with Capt. Kittredge and his designs. He has a lot
of years behind his boats and the boats have a good track record for
safety. Of course the sub is only as safe as the pilot, but you seem
very concerned with safety, and this is a great start. I would
recommend you skip the Resort Sub as I don't think you will be satisfied
with it. You'll wish you had started with the Kittredge sub to begin
with. I would also encourage you to steer clear of the sailboat
building project (I know several people who are building their own
sailboats, they have designed and been building their sailboats for
years and years and have grown old before their sailboats were ever
finished and when they did finally launch their sailboat it was almost
always a turned out to be out of balance, hull the wrong shape, wrong
rigging, mast too high or too short, etc., because they changed the
plans or never had any plans to begin with.) My advice is that, if you
want a sailboat there are tons of good used sailboats around for
reasonable prices. Just buy yourself one and save yourself tons and
tons of headaches, material bills and skinned knuckles. Why punish
yourself, you can buy sailboats all day long, but more than likely you
will have to build your own submarine, so put your money and energy into
a sub.
I'm glad to hear your a certified scuba diver. Scuba diving and manned
submersibles go hand in hand, you will always need to have scuba divers
to help with the sub when it is on the surface, launching and recovery,
etc. I've been diving for over 25 years and I scuba dive almost every
weekend, I use to live on an island in the Florida Keys and I have done
just about every kind of diving you can imagine. I never get tired of
diving, I'm currently the training and equipment officer for a sheriff's
dept dive team, I've recovered bodies, murder weapons, sunken cars,
boats, aircraft, safes, suit cases full of narcotics. It's a real
challenge but it keeps me active in diving and I would encourage you to
look up your local law enforcement dive team and ask them about joining.
If you can get on a team they will usually provide you with heavy duty
diver training that goes above and beyond anything a dive shop will ever
offer to train you in. This will make you a real diver and give you the
experience to handle any diving needed to be done around subs, wet or
dry for that matter.
You ask for a picture of my submersibles, well I'm working on that I'm
trying to learn how to use this scanner, I scanned some photos for
someone else and they were unusable for some reason. I'll try to send
you some before long, I hope! What format is better for you jpeg or
giff ??? I'm not a computer engineer like you, so be patient.
I other submersible related news, I thought you might like to know about
the private abandon quarry I've been working on. I have secured an old
flooded quarry near my home to use as a submersible testing location.
The quarry is also used by the Sheriff's Dive Team for a training site,
I am responsible for various construction projects. I have full access
to the quarry which is gated off. I have had a large track-hoe,
caterpillar backhoe and a pair of dump trucks working on digging a large
submarine launching ramp, OH, I mean Boat Launching Ramp at the quarry.
It will be a good thing for everybody, divers and submariners alike.
The winter rains have stopped the concrete portion of the ramp project
but I hope to finish it in the spring or summer.
The quarry is large enough to need a boat to get around on and we have a
24' pontoon boat moored on the quarry to support diver training
activities and this doubles nicely as a submarine tender. The quarry
has 50' deep waters, about 30' to 35' of U/W vis and has lots of fish.
I think it is important to have a sheltered private place to test manned
submersibles. In the past my sub testing activities have drawn large
crowds of onlookers, on boats and jet skis. The wake from the boats and
jet skis has been a big problem limiting the kinds of tests I could
perform and the risk of collision was a very real one. At any rate, the
quarry is great. no other boats to worry about, I'm free to occupy the
boat ramp all day long, there are always willing divers ready to help,
(the dive team thinks the submersibles are great!) and it is just a
great place to work out the technical bugs in private. I'm also
planning to build a large four to six man diving bell, for the team to
use to hide from the summer sun, eat lunch underwater, and generally use
to extend their bottom time. I have found a nice place to moor it in
about 25' of water. I have spotted an old pressure vessel in a field to
use as the hull of the bell, I have some old viewports to use in the
bell and some extra yellow paint, so when I get the time, I already know
what my next project will be. The things I do for the team!
I also have a friend who lives close by, who also has a two man dry
submersible. He bought his boat used, his sub is much smaller than
mine but has some unique features. We have been working on his sub, he
is not an engineer so I'm providing the engineering services needed . I
have designed a new keel, and an adjustable weight system for his sub.
I currently have a custom trailer under construction for him in my
machine shop. I designed the trailer around his sub so it's a one of a
kind, and should work well for launching his sub from a boat ramp. My
subs are really too heavy to launch from a boat ramp but a custom
trailer helps. I prefer to launch from a crane or travel lift, or an
A-frame crane on the stern of a ship when at sea. Being able to launch
from a boat ramp can really hold down operating costs.
Well it's getting late and I had better wrap this up, I hope I answered
some of your questions. I hope to hear back from you, and would like to
exchange info, my current sub engineering projects are a prototype metal
foil lead acid battery and a high pressure shaft seal project. I might
try to get into the discussion group again but if that does not work I
guess I will just send you email from time to time.
Richard
rohess@hotmail.com
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