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Hi Patrick and Jim.
Your time at this list will be both very educational and frustrating.
Educational with what you learn, frustrating to build and put into
action.
The first thing to know is there are three basic kinds of submarines
and
none of them (but the nuclear ones) are true submarines but are in
fact
submersibles. We call them submarines as a misnomer. But they have
become
so universally known as submarines that the name stuck.
The three basic types are wetsub, where you wear full scuba gear and the
boat is fully
flooded, 1 atmosphere sub, where the interior is completely dry and your
hull atmosphere
is the same as at the surface, and ambient, which can be partially wet, or
mostly dry.
The wetsub is used basically as a diver propulsion vehicle and you only use
it to normal scuba
diving depths. The 1 atmosphere sub can go to whatever depths it is
designed for and keep you
completely dry and at 1 atm. The ambient sub has either openings or a valve
to let the water
pressure into the sub and then that water pressure is kept out of the sub
by superior air pressurization of the
sub's interior. With an ambient sub you need to be a certified diver
because you are going to
be pressurized by the sub's interior air to the same pressure as you would
be if you were diving
at the same depth outside the sub in scuba gear. Your operating depth for
an ambient sub
can not exceed normal scuba diving depths. You need to be a certified
diver because your body
is going to be subjected to pressures the same as a scuba diver and you
need to know about no
decompression diving and follow no decompression diving tables. So the
first thing you need to
find out is which of the three types do you want to build. None are easy.
Wetsub is easiest.
Ambient is next easiest. 1 atm sub is hardest. Figure that out first and
then go from there.
By the way Patrick, an ambient sub does not require any special type of
framing other than for
it to be reasonable sturdy. It will not be withstanding any types of
stresses or pressures from the
external water pressure because the interior air pressure will equalize
that out. In theory, you could
make an ambient sub as thin as a beer can as long as it could hold its
batteries and propulsion system.
Some have been built from fiberglass reinforced plywood (FRP) some from
just fiberglass, some just from
wood. As long as it is strong enough to hold together and take the weight
of whatever equipment you put
on it, it should be strong enough. But be aware that an ambient sub will
only let you go to scuba depths
and you have to be a certified diver and follow dive tables to avoid
getting decompression sickness, and why
bother when you could just go to those depths with scuba anyway? It has
been pointed out in the past here
that it is almost as much work and trouble to build an ambient sub as it is
a 1 atm sub that can dive much
deeper. The main difference is that one has a pressure hull and the
other does not. The propulsion
systems are still required by both. Ballast and buoyancy systems are still
required by both. Pick your type fellas
you have three to choose from. Best of luck.
Bill Akins.
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