Re: Visibilty / Safty or Safty / Visibilty ?

[Rick Lucertini <empiricus@sprint.ca>]

Jonathan Shawl wrote:

> Hi Rick and all subbers,
> This is Jon Shawl in Michigan.
> I wanted to respond to you personally Rick about your posting below, but when I got done
> I decided it would be better to post it to Psubs so all can benefit from it (I hope).
> It is not aimed at Rick he just triggered me into writing.

I'm proficient at pushing peoples' buttons  ;-)

> Parts of what Rick Lucertini wrote:

> > Is it my imagination (vivid always!) or is onboard visibility secondary to all
> > engineering function?
>
> [snip]
> The next thing I hear about them was on the news, the front viewport  imploded at 30' in
> a 50' lake.[snip]
> How could this happen to 2 trained engineers?

"I am a trained engineer - I am God.  I knowest from whence I come.  Me havum big ego.  Me no
get killed"
Uh-huh.

> [snip]

> If they would have read this
> report I think he would still be here today.
> No mater what size view port you want, you can not get around engineering function!

For excellent reference material, check out "Acrylic Plastic Viewports - Ocean Engineering
and Other Hyperbaric Applications" by Stachiw (ISBN O-8247-1353-2).

> > Please, don't get me wrong.  There are those that have DONE with whatever choices
> > they felt comfortable making.  I am not yet in that league myself.  They have subs -
> > I don't.
>
> How comfortable is a dead person?

Depends on your perspective!

> Just because a person is comfortable with their own design choices doesn't mean they will
> have a safe sub.

A one atm. sub is certainly not something to mess about with.  As a matter of fact, neither
is an ambient dry boat or a wet sub.  They can all kill you very quickly.  So can SCUBA
diving.  Ever been caught in the blue (green up here) and found yourself with popping ears, a
spinning depth gauge and a funny knot in your stomach when the indicator bends at the pin?
Not fun.  This is simply meant to say that diving can be dangerous - like stepping out of a
soapy tub or crossing the street or baby sitting (?).

> > But, my passion is vis.  A tiny viewport that really forces me to stick my nose
> > against the port sort of, well, defeats MY reasons for building a sub in the first
> > place.  [big snip]

>  I know from experience that some of
> you are heading for the same mistake I made.

My response: perhaps.  I know that if the assumption is made that we're all talking about one
atm. boats, then, your argument is critical and holds water (sorry, I love puns).

However, let's all make sure we're not mixing apples and durian fruit.  You'll never make
that mistake twice!

> >  My ambient dry sub (currently in my backyard awaitng conversion) will have a canopy
> > similar to a light aircraft.  At one point I even had  Chipmunk canopy - it was a
> > little too fragile, thank you.
>
> Rick, do you have the specs on it. I would like to see a photo of the sub, is it on the
> psub site? or just e-mail one to me, thanks.

Gonna keep a photographic record of the project in progress.  For the list's interest, I'm
using a canoe, similar to "Sleeping Beauty", a WW II experimental design, as the hull form
surrounding a series of ballast tanks and an extremely low volume dry cockpit.

Please note:  Before someone jumps in and exclaims that a low volume cockpit is inconsistent
with being dry, I'll be using an ocean kayak body sock to keep my lower extremities dry, but,
the water will ingress into the lower cockpit and will hug my lower body like a dry suit or
fisherman's waders.

The sock (or modified wader) fits around the cockpit coaming, again, similar to an ocean
kayak.  Using a quick cam clamp, the sock will be forcibly retained around the perimeter of
the coaming so water is kept out.  Dry all over, but, cockpit air volume only begins, for all
intents and purposes, at the waist level.  Like Kent Markham's boat in Pop. Mechanics, Jun.
'71.  But, without the ocean lapping at my chin.

You heard it here first, Folks!  By the way, I'll be using the same system for my pending
ambient dry, hard shell suit.  Hard shell as in fairwater, not one atm. shell!  Basically, a
motorized and jetted dive suit cum sub.

> [snip]

     > [Camera falls off, writer's face drops into dramatic sidelight - turns to camera as
     > if to say "Is a flame war on its way?  Bar smoke wafts up toward the ceiling fans -
     tension fills the air; lungs clog; a dog barks in the distance]

     As a new comer to this group, what is all this about flaming?

  1. Actually, there's been very little or even next to none on this list.  We keep an old
     Turtle fin around for knocking the sense out of flamers  ;-)   Most of us are concerned
     with safety more than anything else.  Personally, I think visibility is more important
     than not imploding my face. Don't tell anybody.  8-D
  2. Go figure  . . .








     [snip]
     >> "Most people die with their dreams still inside them."

     >In case no one has said this already....
     And a few people die inside their dreams.    (Sorry but true.)

     Like the know-it-all pilot who was killed when he insisted on test flying his new
     homebuilt - with the factory installed plastic protector sheet still installed BETWEEN
     the laminations of his main wing.  The wing peeled apart on takeoff.


--
Rick Lucertini
empiricus@sprint.ca
(Vancouver, Canada)

"Most people die with their dreams still inside them."