Re: A Simpler Sub

[SFreihof <SFreihof@aol.com>]

In a message dated 98-03-18 02:28:19 EST, you write:

<< Hi David,
 It seems to me that an air tank would be your answer. You wouldn't even need
 all the fancy equipment. Just clamp it to the inside of your "bubble" and
 set it for a slow release. Air would bleed out the bottom of your bubble. As
 long as the sub was nuetrally bouyant with the bubble being filled with air.
 Even with that though, you could set the air to bleed out by opening holes
 higher in the bubble thereby giving it less bouyancy causing you to sink.
 Cover all the bleed holes and positive bouyancy might happen....
  >>

Ok, my two cents here:

The slow release from a tank would work, but flow rates are hard to control
and certainly not accurate.  Controlling the water level inside the canopy is
easy with some simple pipe fittings.  A flange mount fairly high in the
canopy, open thru hull, with a elbow and short length of pipe.  The elbow is
screwed into the flange, but not too tightly, so the pipe can still rotate.
You turn the pipe up or down to adjust water level in the canopy.  Air will
flow out the pipe until the water level rises to the open end of the pipe.
Like this...
          Flange-->|
 Open Pipe-->    ==#   <--elbow here 
          Flange-->|    ||   <--Pipe 
                             ||  <----Pipe... air will flow up and out until
water level rises to cover end of pipe.

I don't know if you can visualize what I'm trying to describe, and certainly
drawing isn't working well on the computer.  It's a simple way to control
water level in a semi-dry sub because excess air bleeds out the pipe, and the
level of the pipe can be adjusted. simply by rotating it from horizontal to
vertically down.

Stan