[PSUBS-MAILIST] K-350 Mods

[Land N Sea]

I would like to see the complete set of drawings re done as the ones I got were so dark that I could not read certain items and had to call the Captain or Dan H for clarification. Also:

Update the thrusters.

Clarify certain items on the drawings that are vague or not spelled out. example, one drawing says the stern thruster is 1/2 HP and others say it is the 3 HP which it is, there are also a couple of threw hulls with no weld symbols.

Another nice feature would be a material cut list for easy of ordering and making sure you ordered the proper quantity.

Battery pods changed from original plans. I welded on flanges to both pipe end and end caps and used an O ring for sealing. less moving parts and eliminated the O ring threw hull he has on the end cap which is one less place a leak can occur.

Omit view ports in stern, not sure why he put them back there. I moved them forward to the 10 & 2 o'clock position and added two more at the 8 & 4 o'clock position where the guy lying down could use them.

Re cal’c  the boat so that when done, she is balanced and buoyed properly and not have to add the 400 some odd lbs. to her after fabrication.

Possibly increase the diameter of the MBT vent plumbing for a faster purge?

simplify the outside linkage for opening the flood valve on the VBT.

This may or may not have to do with the above but I would like to omit the plate that connects the pods to the hull and just use the pipe the drawing shows on each end to connect the two but this question would be for the Navel architects or engineers out there in the group to comment on. My reasoning for this is two fold, 1. to omit a place for water to collect on the high side of the plate to pod thusly increasing the time rust will show up there and have to be dealt with and 2. Causing a point load/stressor? in the skin of the battery pod’s and the pressure hull as you are putting a heck of a lot of heat in both and when the welds cool down, there is a pretty good stressor on both sides of the weld. I don’t think any K-350’s have imploded from this but the less stress I put on things the better I feel. 

Rick





From: James Frankland 
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2013 11:55 PM
To: personal_submersibles at psubs.org ; PSUBS Member Discussion Group 
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] K-350 Mods

Jon\Joe sent a message yesterday i think regarding suggested K-350 modifications.

I would suggest these as critical.

1.  Hatch.  Opening from both sides.  Worst part of the design I think.

2.  Hatch bracket.  Could do with beefing up, it feels a bit flimsy.  Probably could do with some traingular flanges welding on.

3.  Variable tank mounting.  The way the tank mounts is awkward and doesnt allow any adjustment.  Much easier and better would be flat horizontal brackets welded to the battery pods that join to corresponding flat brackets on the vbt.  Slotted holes on one of the planes would allow the tank to slide forward and back a little to allow that awkward vent to be fitted easily.  Also the tank could be just lifted up and on.  Very simple change.

I think other than that, other modifications are depending on how much trouble you want to go to and cosmetics.

For example,

I changed the battery pod endcap seals.  I had a real pain trying to make them as per the plans.  The way i did them in the end with flanges was a lot easier.  But probably nothing wrong with the original design.

Skids.  I didnt like the ones shown, they would just get all the paint knocked off.  Again, probably nothing wrong with the original design.

I made all the flanges and protrutions from stainless.

Electrical penetrators added to the battery pods to eliminate the ones shown on the plans.

The 2 extra downward facing viewports i put in are really good.  You could do away with the ones at the back and put them there instead if you didnt want to make too many.

The dome of course.

Overpressure valve.

loads of little modifications.


I'm at work, and i better get on with some of it, instead of daydreaming about subs!
Kind Regards
James


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