Dry Ambient

Hi All - Ray, thanks for posting the message from Jon on the site. It is too bad that we lost them, they were an interesting bunch, and I would like to be privy to their conversations, even if just as a lurker. anyway to get them back?

In answer to Scott's question, I have given extensive thought to an ambient Dry sub. My design call for two people to lay side by side, in the prone position. The heads stick out into a baywindow type box, The legs extend into Two PVC type pipes, and the middle is a box like shell which floats inside the larger shell. It is the middle region that one enters from a hatch on top, shoots the legs into the PVC pipe and pokes the head into the bay window. Three thrusters would be employed for power and steering. Similar to the SportsSub, which in fact served as much of my inspiration. I will find a scanner and upload the doodles. I would actually plan on approaching the SportSub people ( who have consistently been Friendly and professional ) about the plan to see if they would be interested in helping me with the EBL ( Pressure system stuff )when the time comes. It never hurts to dream.

It occurs to me that one could enter and exit the craft without ever getting wet, so long as it was heavy enough to sink with the additional air required to surround the legs. I would also place two variable ballast tanks ( 1 on each side )which are open on the bottom, like in the Kittridge design, to assist in buoyant=y on the surface, when the hatch is open.

I chose the prone position after reading about DeepFlight. The bit about travelling prone in the water seemed to make sense to me ( After all, it is how we swim ). The only draw back, is that you cant get out and look around. In the SportSub video, a passenger gets out and travels around on the bottom of the ocean floor while hooked up to air tubing attached to the subs tanks. This would be Ideal for treasure hunting in the frigid lakes of Minnesota. Just think of all of the fishing lures and snowmobile helmets a guy could find. On the other hand, it gets pretty xxxxxxx cold here, so Dry would also be nice.