Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] A few Questions....

[AndrePevestorf@aol.com]

In a message dated Sat, 3 Nov 2001  2:29:19 AM Eastern Standard Time, Ron Mills <quandryron@yahoo.com> writes:

> I'll start by letting on what I'm shooting for.  I
> have a dream of sailing the globe.  I want to see the
> world.  Now, this wasn't a really big problem for me
> personally until I read about a story of a typhoon
> catching a convoy? of sailboats and yachts in the
> pacific that were leaving Australia for the
> Phillipines.  The news story talked about how it
> became a disaster which caused a loss of life.  What I
> would like to do is build a boat which can traverse
> the globe and when encountering storms.  I am thinking
> of building something like the USSubs yachts.  Go
> under the waves when things get dicey.  In researching
> wave energy the ONR says that energy only will go half
> as as deep as the wave is long or more appropriately,
> half the wavelength.  
> 
> Sooo, I don't need to go really deep, maybe a hundred
> feet I would think?  If someone has had there sub out
> in rough waters perhaps they would be willing to
> verify this.  
> 
> Next, which type of submersible to build.  A one atm
> sub is heavy.  Roughly between 8000 to 5000 lbs for a
> one to two person vessel.  That's a lot of mass to
> move across the water.  I don't think that that would
> be very fuel efficient.  So an ambient subship? seems
> to be the best trade off.  It's light and simple to
> build with some leeway on shape and materials.  But,
> (it seems like there are always those 'buts' in plans)
> from what I have found here, an ambient sub is tricky
> to keep neutrally bouyant.  Correct me if I'm wrong. 
> Also, you have to be careful how fast you descend and
> rise or else you will get the bends.  Not something
> that I am really looking for.  A note here, I am going
> to get scuba certified regardless, 1 atm or ambient. 
> That would be what I call priceless information to
> learn.  What thoughts do you have on this idea. 
> Please, please, if you see something screwy here, let
> me know.  I am not wanting to kill or be killed by
> something I didn't forsee.  Your knowledge and
> experience would be greatly appreciated in this.
> 
> Another thought for the ambient folks.  If my vessel
> were to be catamaran style I could use the pontoons as
> ballast tanks with tubing running to the living area
> to pressurize that area for counter hull pressure. 
> The question is, if I come to a certain depth, say
> 50', and I closed off the tubing to the living areas
> and ceased the equalization of inner and outer hull
> pressures, would that stop the flow of water into the
> ballast tanks and stop the accent and keep the living
> areas dry?  This is assuming that the pontoons had
> enough volume to take on the water to that depth and
> still keep the living area dry.  I feel like I am
> missing something here and I can't quite wrap my brain
> around it.  The question may seem dumb but I don't
> know, that's why I'm asking.  
> 
> And here's another thought, this would be the deep sub
> guys I think.  When you have gone deep and you have
> all that water pressure outside your hull trying to
> get inside your sub it seems to me that there is a lot
> of kinetic? energy there waiting to be used.  Has
> anyone thought up a way to put that to use?  Perhaps
> to use that pressure to run a turbing for generating
> electricity?  You could run a line from the hull to a
> low pressure tank to catch the water and have the
> turbine between the two to run off of the flow.  Then
> when the pressure is equalized shut the valve and blow
> the water out with some high pressure air.  Then you
> could do it again? and again?
> 
> These are just a few thoughts.  Perhaps they are
> uneducated and silly to some, but they are mine.  I
> would like answers or debate or both.  I'm anxious to
> see what I can learn from you guys.
> 
> Thx,
> 
> Ron Mills
> 
> _
_________________________________________________

Hi Ron,

I know this kind of dreams and I have some experiences with sailing too ...
Years ago i saw a sailing boat that looked more then a SUB then a like a boat and I was wondering me perhaps it is a good idea to dive during the storm... :-))

But my intentions only reached the level of: use the mast as a snorkel ...
later I deside: only a small "pressure chamber" in the boat is enough.. the other space can be floated...

But generally I think a light boat is a faster boat and a faster boat is not near the storm because its leaving... 

I would advise You to have a look for a good and strong boat made from steel and check the posibillity to devide it into parts... 

for the design of very strong vessels for storming weather please ask Carsten Standfuss ... he is a naval ingenieur on a shipyard and they build vessels for the german "costguard" (DGzRS) ... this vessels operates mostly in bad weather conditions in the northsea..

regards  - André