[PSUBS-MAILIST] Jodie-B dives at last.

[via Personal_Submersibles]

Hi James,
Another successful mission.  We'll all be looking  forward to those pics 
and videos.
Jim
 
 
In a message dated 5/27/2014 7:35:55 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
personal_submersibles at psubs.org writes:

Congrats James!
-Scott Waters 
 

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:  [PSUBS-MAILIST] Jodie-B dives at last.
From: James Frankland via  Personal_Submersibles
<_personal_submersibles at psubs.org_ (mailto:personal_submersibles at psubs.org) 
>
Date:  Tue, May 27, 2014 3:23 am
To: _personal_submersibles at psubs.org_ 
(mailto:personal_submersibles at psubs.org) 

Hi All,
 
Managed to get my boat in the water this weekend at last.  I used  the 
crane again to lift in and out.  My trailer needs some modification  before i 
can use it.  Plus the crane is a lot easier just for initial  testing.
 
I had proper commercial divers and boat in the water this time so i was  
doing everything proper.  
 
I attached a temporary wooden bar to the side of the starbord battery  pod 
and hung weights on that until it was trimmed up sideways.  Put  24kg of 
lead on that side.  Then loaded up with lead inside and  eventually put in 
160kg (352 pounds) on top of what i'd already put under  the deck and rear tank. 
 Estimate ive added a total of 250kg (550  pounds) of lead both inside out 
out.  Maybe i should get on the pies  and sausages.
 
Once trimmed up i managed to dive at last.  Didnt really intend to  go to 
the bottom but didnt have a lot of choice on the first ever  dive.  Landed on 
the bottom of the harbour at 6m (20ft).  Went up  and down loads of times 
and got the hang of getting neutral using the  variable tank.  Seem to have 
got the weight about right.  Drove  about just off the seabed and found it 
was quite easy to spin around and  control.  Drove around on the surface a bit 
as well to test surface  running.  Again this was ok using the rear 
thruster.
 
Some problems.  Internal depth gauges didnt work at all, had to  rely on 
the exterior one.  Ive put the pipe work going up so there must  be an 
airlock.  Never thought of that when i was fitting it.  Will  probably make an oil 
bladder.  No big deal.
 
Port side motor stopped working.  I thought it might have filled  with 
water, but when i drained it, it was all ok.  Unplugged it and  plugged it back 
in and its now working again.  Not exactly sure what  was wrong there.
 
Got an air bubble stuck in the forward tank that could not be removed  if 
the boat didnt go down evenly.  A tactical hole should sort that  out.
 
Quite a bit of corrosion on the dome retaining ring which is not  anodized. 
 Not sure how i can stop that.
 
I'd filled the variable tank with Lanolin to protect it in storage but  
although id pumped most of it out before diving, some residue was left and  
formed a greasy film on the surface of the water.  This got on the  video 
camera and has fuzzed up a lot of the videos.
 
Completely forget to test the lights until right at the end.  Put  them on 
for about 5 mins, but not enough time for a proper corrosion  test.
 
A completely random X girlfriend turned up.  I think she was with  one of 
the divers and didnt realise it was me.  I popped out of the  hatch and could 
see she was suprised "er, hello".  That was a bit  awkward.
 
Divers scratched my lovely new lettering.  grrrr
 
All in all a fantastic day for me and i celebrated with several small  
pressurised cannisters later in the evening....
 
Ive got loads of pics and video which i'll send in the next day or so  
after ive sorted them all out.

Kind Regards
James
 
 
 
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