Re: weary silence

["Dan J. Rice" <dan.j.rice@sherwin.com>]

Ken Martindale, in a post from 10-12 asked, "How about starting a topic about
what kind of Sub is safer? Controversial?"

This was what my inquiry was addressing, in part.  As a newbie to psubs I assume
there is redundancy (not knowing the particulars) but the idea of abandoning a
sub at 100 feet makes me think there are occasions when it isn't enough.  Again
Mr. Martindale writes;

"A 1 atm sub has escape problems. Can you really get out of those things at
100 feet? Have any of you owners made practice escapes? Most of the subs I
see on the website look a lot like steel burial chambers."

Well I am learning from following the discussion so far.  I appreciate your
responses and patience.  If I ever get my bills paid and my kids half raised,
(one of whom is a certified SCUBA, open water 1) maybe I will have gained enough
knowledge, and been inspired by the experiences of others, to try something
myself.

I live about six blocks from the Bayshore area of New Jersey, there are a lot of
boats, I am not aware of any psubs around here.  I spent 5 years building 31' to
40' motor cruisers for Mainship, Silverton, & Luhrs, before Congress decided to
tax those luxuries and a lot of us luxuriating boat builders got laid off, circa
1989. What I know comes mostly from there, and of course subs are different.

Here's to combatting "weary silence", keep it up!

Have fun,

Dan




VBra676539@aol.com on 10/13/99 09:48:47 AM

Please respond to personal_submersibles@psubs.org

To:   personal_submersibles@psubs.org
cc:    (bcc: Dan J. Rice/EST/Sherwin-Williams)

Subject:  Re: weary silence



Axel,
Of course I understood what (was it Dan?) meant. My muddled point was that
quadruple redundancy already exists on any competent submersible: thrusters,
trim, main ballast and drop weights. A fifth technique is to make thrusters and
other tangly bits into jettisonable devices so that when the fishing net or
polypro line wrap a prop up, you just drop the item, go home and get the spare,
then come back and retrieve the first.
Vance