[PSUBS-MAILIST] Islamorada Trip Report...

Fri Aug 25 12:04:11 EDT 2017

Hey David
Do you have any photos of your light housings?
Love to see them if so
Rick

On Fri, Aug 25, 2017 at 8:50 AM David Colombo via Personal_Submersibles <
personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:

> Hi Cliff,
> The progress has been slow due to finishing building our new home which is
> nearing final finishes within the next 30 days. The exoskeleton modeling 3d
> work in Rhino is complete and ready to send to the CNC to cut the molds.
> The pressure hull design is complete and small parts are being cut via
> waterjet, and I hope to get the larger hull parts into production in the
> next 60 days. I may need to build our barn shop first so I have a place to
> do final assembly.  I've been working on my PLC ladder logic and that's
> been an interesting process. I am ordering the main PUC and a number of
> modules today so I can see if its working with the components I have so
> far. I've finished  the machining of my first LED light housing which
> should hit 10k, at least above water it lights the entire neighborhood.
> Water test to come when I have a free weekend. The full scale section ribs
> are being cnc cut next week in 3/4" plywood so I can mock up a full scale
> model for wire harness and plumbing runs fabrication. Lots of small
> projects slowly coming together.
>
> Best Regards,
> David Colombo
>
> 804 College Ave
> Santa Rosa, CA. 95404
> (707) 536-1424
> www.SeaQuestor.com
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 25, 2017 at 6:11 AM, Cliff Redus via Personal_Submersibles <
> personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:
>
>> David, we missed seeing you guys at the Regatta.  Hope you can make the
>> next one. With any luck, Dan Lance will finish his mega, two psub launching
>> catamaran and host the next Psub convention on his boat in the Bahamas!
>> Any progress on SeaQuester?
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Cliff
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 8:56 PM, David Colombo via Personal_Submersibles
>> <personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Looks like a fun time. Maybe I'll get to join you next time.
>>>
>>>
>>> Best Regards,
>>> David Colombo
>>>
>>> 804 College Ave
>>> Santa Rosa, CA. 95404
>>> (707) 536-1424
>>> www.SeaQuestor.com
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 4:23 PM, Cliff Redus via Personal_Submersibles <
>>> personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Alan, I did not notice any change in trim while submerged.  Found out
>>>> on the initial setup dive that  trim was off a little.  Trim was perfect
>>>> for fresh water prior to the trip.  I new I needed to add about 110 lbs of
>>>> ballast to compensate for operating in salt water.  I must have stow this
>>>> slightly forward of CG because boat had a tendency to pitch forward during
>>>> MBT flooding. This cause trapped air in the aft MBT during setup dives.
>>>> Found a work around solution for this trip by interrupting the MBT flood
>>>> event when the boat began to pitch forward, then added air to forward MBT
>>>> until horizontal then continued the flood until the MBT were completely
>>>> flooded. Next saltwater dive I will move the salt water ballast a bit more
>>>> toward the stern.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Regards
>>>>
>>>> Cliff
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 5:04 PM, Alan via Personal_Submersibles <
>>>> personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks Cliff,
>>>>> brings back memories.
>>>>> How was the trim on the R300? Did it change as you moved forward
>>>>> through the water?
>>>>> Alan
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>>
>>>>> On 25/08/2017, at 8:50 AM, Cliff Redus via Personal_Submersibles <
>>>>> personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Just uploaded to Youtube a bunch of pictues from the 2017 PSUBS
>>>>> Regatta.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3xPUFGvYDM&t=5s
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards
>>>>>
>>>>> Cliff
>>>>>
>>>>> On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 6:26 PM, Cliff Redus <cliffordredus at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Big thanks Doug for posting dive report and for you and your mom and
>>>>>> dad for hosting us last week. You guys  did a magnificent job. This was the
>>>>>> best sub trip of my life!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I spend the day organizing the video and pictures from the trip
>>>>>> and mailed them to Alec who has graciously agree to edit into a video of
>>>>>> the 2017 Psub Regatta.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I still need to review the data I logged from the trips but the key
>>>>>> points were the first ocean side dive was to the coral heads which is 3.9
>>>>>> miles from Doug's house so 7.8 miles total tow with average cabin temp of
>>>>>> 93F and RH of 80%.  Average speed was about 4.5 MPH.  As long as we
>>>>>> ran partially submerged to was hot but fine.  This was a test dive to
>>>>>> see if we could get out deeper.  Water was not clear at this location. The
>>>>>> deeper dive on Aug 3rd was out to the edge of the deep water.  The 7.8
>>>>>> miles from Doug's house (bay side) to the dive site was smooth and we ran
>>>>>> submerged so even thought the cabin temp and RH were high, it was not bad
>>>>>> at all as it was a smooth tow and there were thinks to see on way out. At
>>>>>> the second dive site the water was 100 ft deep and very clear with 4-6 ft
>>>>>> swells.  Could see the sub on the bottom from the Boston Whaler.  The tow
>>>>>> back was rough.  With 4-6 ft following seas, it was like being on a roller
>>>>>> coaster both in the boat and in the sub. Second dive had a total of 15.6
>>>>>> miles of towing at 4.5 MPH, 94F and 84% RH and hatch closed time of around
>>>>>> 5 hours.  I did not loose my cookies but it was close.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As Doug noted, the consensus of all was that we need a tender vessel
>>>>>> with launch capability to get the subs out to the dive sites without
>>>>>> towing.  Towing subs sucks.  All survived but I used up all my on board
>>>>>> water and upon making it back to the beach, consumed several gallon of
>>>>>> water.  We were all pretty whipped.  All  in all, it was quite an adventure.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> More latter.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Cliff
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 4:53 PM, Douglas Suhr via
>>>>>> Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Greetings PSUBS group, Douglas Suhr here to share my take on the
>>>>>>> 4-day
>>>>>>> sub operation we just completed in Islamorada, FL (July 31st, August
>>>>>>> 1-3).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Wow, what a whirlwind! So July 31st was really an arrival / setup day
>>>>>>> with August 1-3 being true operational days. Though it was
>>>>>>> unfortunate
>>>>>>> that Alec wasn't able to make it with Shackleton, we had our hands
>>>>>>> full with Cliff's R-300. Without Shackleton, we also had enough time
>>>>>>> to get Snoopy set up and lowered into the canal for some basic
>>>>>>> diving.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> List of Crew: Dan Lance, Steve McQueen, Cliff Redus, Rick Maxwell,
>>>>>>> River Dolfi, Mike Patterson, Doug, Sarah, Douglas Suhr.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This was my first time meeting Dan Lance, a (retired) saturation
>>>>>>> diver
>>>>>>> and commercial welder. What a pleasure to have him join us on this
>>>>>>> operation. Dan is modest, but most willing to share his knowledge and
>>>>>>> extensive experience with a newbie like me. So pleased to have
>>>>>>> chatted
>>>>>>> with him in the Keys. During the towing of the R-300, Dan manned the
>>>>>>> tow line and helped with comms.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Steve McQueen and River Dolfi did awesome jobs as our frog men.
>>>>>>> Filming, attaching / detaching davit and tow lines, etc. they were
>>>>>>> both in and out of the water quite a bit (especially Steve). I think
>>>>>>> River took a little jelly sting for the team. What troopers!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Cliff and his assistant Rick are such a joy be around. Rick is one of
>>>>>>> the friendliest people you'll ever meet (and even brought a gift for
>>>>>>> the group: a watermelon, straight from Texas!). Cliff is always
>>>>>>> willing to share his expertise (and sub, too) with anyone who'd like
>>>>>>> to learn more. I know that between Dan Lance and Cliff, I learned
>>>>>>> more
>>>>>>> than I can remember last week.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Mike Patterson, mom, dad and myself were all just providing whatever
>>>>>>> kind of "troop support" we could to Cliff and the R-300.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> River, Steve and Myself got in some dive time on Snoopy in the canal
>>>>>>> (which was great), but I think the biggest accomplishment was getting
>>>>>>> the R-300 out a ways into the ocean.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Our Boston Whaler (a 25' boat with a single 250hp Yamaha) was able to
>>>>>>> tow the R-300 out about 5 miles into the ocean (at about 4mph). We
>>>>>>> were in radio communication with Cliff most of the time, though we
>>>>>>> did
>>>>>>> suffer a few intermittent losses in comms. When we got to a spot
>>>>>>> about
>>>>>>> 100 feet deep, we started to slow down a bit and at that point the
>>>>>>> tow
>>>>>>> line hook (an admittedly cheap thing) let loose(!) so we decided that
>>>>>>> we had reached our dive location. We switched from marine radio to
>>>>>>> OTS
>>>>>>> and Cliff started down. Visibility was supurb! As Cliff neared the
>>>>>>> bottom at 100 − 110 feet, he was still quite visible from the Whaler!
>>>>>>> His 18 foot long R-300 looked to be about 3 inches long, but wow did
>>>>>>> it ever stand out from the rest of the sandy bottom. Cliff spent
>>>>>>> about
>>>>>>> an hour "flying" his sub, surfacing, diving and maneuvering about,
>>>>>>> testing systems and observing the ocean around him. By the time Cliff
>>>>>>> surfaced and we towed back to port Antigua, elapsed time stood at 4.5
>>>>>>> / 5 hours (estimate). Cliff said that he stayed cool by the water
>>>>>>> flowing over the sub's dome hatch while in tow. Upon returning I
>>>>>>> think
>>>>>>> we were all ready to take a break, but everyone felt great
>>>>>>> accomplishment with the mission.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A couple of lessons I took away from the tow out: We need better tow
>>>>>>> equipment (better line, hardware and maybe a quick release). Our boat
>>>>>>> REALLY needs a GPS (still don't have one). Towing into waves isn't so
>>>>>>> much a problem, but when towing with the waves, our tow line needs to
>>>>>>> be measured so as to sustain the proper distance between tow vessel
>>>>>>> and sub (otherwise the sub and boat are constantly slacking and then
>>>>>>> jerking, stressing the tow line and making it difficult for boat and
>>>>>>> sub to track straight).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The devotion of our crew was amazing, even in the heat and the waves
>>>>>>> everyone did their jobs. Managing even a small sub operation like
>>>>>>> this
>>>>>>> is more work / effort than meets the eye, that's for sure. At dinner,
>>>>>>> one of the main discussions revolved around a support vessel that can
>>>>>>> carry a sub or two on board, eliminating the slow, time consuming tow
>>>>>>> out to an ocean dive site. Dan Lance shared details on his support
>>>>>>> vessel project, which is no doubt going to be a dream in terms of
>>>>>>> logistics. Hopefully when said vessel is ready to sail, Dan will lend
>>>>>>> its services to host a diving event! ~ Douglas S.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>> Personal_Submersibles at psubs.org
>>>>>>> http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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>>>>
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