[PSUBS-MAILIST] launch cart redesign

Sun Sep 28 18:41:01 EDT 2014

Great idea. Florida ramps are notoriously shallow and almost always undercut by currents. Getting back is always harder if a wheel drops over the edge.
Vance

Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 28, 2014, at 6:10 PM, hank pronk via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Tim,
> Your idea for a catch system if the trailer falls off the end of a ramp is brilliant.  We have some nasty drops here, luckily I use tandem trailers and usually it is deep enough by then, well in high water anyways.  You could put ballast tanks on your trailer and do the same as I am, except your road trailer would act as your cart.
> Hank--------------------------------------------
> On Sun, 9/28/14, T Novak via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:
> 
> Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] launch cart redesign
> To: "'Personal Submersibles General Discussion'" <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
> Received: Sunday, September 28, 2014, 5:50 PM
> 
> Hank,
> 
> Further thoughts on launching as I want to be
> able to launch my sub directly
> from the
> trailer:
> 
> You may recall my
> current trailer also needs to be disconnected from the
> truck and allowed to fully submerge to float
> the sub off and on.  This
> trailer requires
> about 55 inches of water to launch and recover the
> submarine.
> 
> With respect to a new purpose built trailer (to
> replace my current utility
> trailer), I am
> planning on a low slung boat trailer with a 5 foot
> vertical
> stanchion welded onto the tongue
> between the coupler and the boat winch.
> This
> would allow the operator to detach the electrical plug from
> the truck
> and clip it to the top of the
> stanchion, thus keeping it dry out of the
> water while the trailer is detached from the
> truck and rolled fully
> submerged into the
> water.
> 
> Another mod that I
> have planned is to weld two straight c-channels from the
> front of the trailer frame back to the front of
> the wheel fenders such that
> they hang down
> from the frame in front of the wheels below the
> wheels'
> equator to act as skid plates. 
> This way if the launch ramp ends at a drop
> off the wheels will fall  off the ramp but the
> c-channels will then support
> the weight of
> the trailer as it slides further into the deep water. 
> As
> well, I think that the bottom of the
> c-channels would benefit from having
> sacrificial oak or plastic strips on the bottom
> to take the damage caused by
> dragging the
> trailer up and over the drop off.  I currently have
> three
> single-wheeled jacks on the tongue to
> provide sufficient floatation of the
> tongue
> on the substrate while the trailer is disconnected from the
> truck.  A
> tongue jack with a double ended
> ski like plate may also be a good idea.
> 
> While launching my sub from my current trailer
> I found that the buoyancy of
> the three tires
> keeps the unit sufficiently light on the bottom such that
> it
> doesn't get stuck in the muck.  The
> bottom substrate must still be
> reasonably
> solid, but with the addition of the c-channel skid plates
> providing further floatation on the substrate
> it should work reasonably well
> in most
> cases.  I am also considering adding the same c-channel
> skid plates
> behind the wheels to the rear
> trailer frame to give the trailer some
> tendency to lift itself onto the top of the
> substrate if the substrate is
> softer and the
> wheels want to sink into the mud while it is being backed
> into the water.  I found that submerging the
> trailer and recovering it with
> tow straps
> works quite well.  
> 
> Since
> my submarine is operated by divers, it is no problem for the
> divers to
> set an anchor out into deep water,
> run a line from the back of the trailer
> through a pulley attached to the anchor and
> then back to the truck.  As the
> truck pulls
> forward the disconnected trailer is pulled back to the
> anchor
> into the deep water while a diver
> helps keep it on track.  Obviously this
> would not be an option for your one dry-man
> operation.
> 
> I have bearing
> buddies on my trailer now, and the new boat trailer will
> be
> aluminum or galvanized steel so that salt
> water launches are not a problem.
> 
> Just my thoughts, perhaps you may find them
> useful. 
> 
> Tim
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Personal_Submersibles [mailto:personal_submersibles-bounces at psubs.org]
> On Behalf Of hank pronk via
> Personal_Submersibles
> Sent: September-28-14
> 6:33 AM
> To: personal_submersibles at psubs.org
> Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] launch cart
> redesign
> 
> I am back to my
> launch cart because lake levels are dropping.  I am
> making
> big design changes to make it more
> user friendly and to allow super shallow
> launches.  First I am changing the axel
> arrangement so the cart steers. The
> biggest
> change is ballast tanks.  I am adding two ballast tanks
> above the
> wheels.  The idea is to back the
> cart and sub into the water with ballast
> tanks full of air.  The cart and sub should
> float away in 36 inches of
> water, or less.
> Once the sub and cart have floated into deeper water, I
> simply open two valves to let air out of the
> cart ballast tanks until the
> sub is free to
> float away.  I simply throw an anchor out to keep the cart
> in
> that spot until I return.  When I return
> the cart will be pointing up wind
> making it
> easy to drive into.  I raise the cart with air and use the
> sub to
> drive it to shore or boat ramp.  
> 
> I am not working on my support
> boat because I have no support,lol.  There is
> no need for a large boat because I am a one man
> sub operation.  Gamma has
> such good range
> on the surface, I can simply cruise on the surface to my
> dive sites.  
> Hank
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