Re: Sub Design

[Rick Lucertini <nexus@intergate.bc.ca>]

SFreihof@aol.com wrote:

> The design I am working on is #3, ambient pressure dry sub.  This
> seems to me
> to offer the most advantages, although

> and the benefits of a dry cabin can be substantial.

> So I'm curious what design you are contemplating.

> Stan Freihofer
> SFreihof@aol.com

Hi, Stan - this is my second contribution to the list.

I, too, am contemplating an ambient dry sub.  My go-around to the
buoyancy situation may be of some help.  As I dive in a Viking suit,
it's fairly simple to keep cockpit volumes to a minimum by creating a
sort of kayak skirt lip. Water stays in the lower half, in other words,
under the kayak skirt.  The half above the skirt stays dry.  It's mainly
to serve two purposes: to act as a delta P diaphragm gauge by
contracting or expanding [according the volume of air above the skirt]
and to keep water from sloshing around as you get bounced around the
surface.

Also, if the sub's instruments are kept external - in front of the
canopy - less internal volume is required.  That's where the cockpit is
closer to being a helmet than a true cockpit.

Hope this helps!

Warm regards,
Rick Lucertini
Vancouver, Canada