[PSUBS-MAILIST] Brian Cox submarine still available

Tue Apr 26 08:35:06 EDT 2022

 Well guys, let's put our heads together and see if we can help out Brian's widow.
I have not seen a lot of interest in the vessel as a single entity, so parting it out seems to be a practical way of saving Brian's work.  We would need someone on the West coast, or close to it, that would be willing to strip the vessel parts for resale.  That way Teri could put items on Ebay or Craigs List that the PSUBS group didn't claim.  If the SCUBA tanks are current with their hydro then she should have no problem selling those locally with a little advertising.
One thing I think would help with parts resale is a thorough inventory including close up photo, model and part number when available.  We could then post those on the PSUBS facebook page.
Or, maybe after the Michigan trip a bunch of us get together in California and strip the vessel ourselves.  Make a mini-convention out of it.
Jim, what's the current cost of storage?
Jon

    On Tuesday, April 26, 2022, 01:04:04 AM EDT, james hughes via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:  

 Hi Gang,I've been meaning to put this up on the General Discussion email list for sometime now but have had a lot of issues that I needed to deal with recently (some are still ongoing).Brian's Cox's sub is still for sale.  For those of you who don't know much about this sub here a few details.  Brian Cox passed away last July before doing under water sea trials with this boat.  It went into the water a number of times but he still needed to make adjustments to the trim before he could dive it.  It was recently determined that the 5 feet diameter sphere was out of round (something Brian never knew about).  I don't know the thickness of the sphere but the fact it's out of round about 0.75 inches means that may not be safe to dive to much depth.  It could be turned into an ambient sub with little trouble or, I guessing, that the inside could be reinforced.  That being said, it might just be better to buy the thing for the parts.  Teri (Brian's widow) is looking to get $2,000 for it.  That's a bargain considering what you would get!! 
First of all, there's the 3 axil  trailer (with 6 good tires) which is probably worth $2,000 by itself.  Ten SCUBA tanks that are plumbed to a high pressure manifold and high pressure valves.About 600 pounds of lead ingots (retail, lead goes for $3.33 a pound around where I live in Orange County, CA)A CO2 scrubber with absorbent insideA CO2 meterAn O2 tank with a regulatorA bailout bottle with a regulator / pressure gauge9 AGM batteries (they are Fullriver DC115-12 and sell for about $400 each).  IF it turned out that the batteries were no longer able to hold a charge Teri said she would be willing to refund $1,000 to the buyer.There are 2 oil compensated motors (I believe they are 3 horsepower each)Fire extinguisher Life jacketAll of the portholes are made with the plexiglass that Brian annealed himself according to Stachiw's Acrylic Handbook.  The thing has something like 12 portholes.  It should be noted that if you were to cut off the conning tower to use it on another boat, this alone would probably save you well over 100 hours of shop work when you consider the milling that went into making the hatch and the lathe work that went into all the portholes (to say nothing of all the welding the conning tower involved).  How much is your time worth?There's also a marine radioEmergency signaling lightElectronics associated with running the motors (motor controllers, fuses, etc.).  This alone was probably not cheap.Cabin pressure gauge that's made for a small submarine!Large depth gaugeIt's actually registered as a boat in California!
All total, it's probably got over $10,000 worth of parts.    Here's a link to 7 Youtube videos you might want to see (showing the evolution of the sub and it's sea trials) if you've not seen them yet:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz_JObSMe33gn6l_szab4AA  When watching the videos you might notice that the boat got about 6 feet shorter in the end as Brian cut off 6 feet of the front to help with the trim.  Attached are also a few pictures.
If you are interested, please let me know ASAP  as the price of storing this thing has just gone up (like everything else!).. Please let me know if you have any questions.
God bless, Jim(858) 361-1863
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