Submarine

[ew1usnr]

Have any of you ever used one of these? They were marketed maybe ten years ago. The diver rode it like a motorcycle. It had a built-in scooter and air supply. Did the bubble view port distort your vision? How was buoyancy maintained and how maneuverable was it?

[ScubaRon]

at Stuart's Cove (http://www.sub-bahamas.com/pages/what-are-subs.html) in the Bahama's.

He said they are lots of fun.

:snorkel:
ScubaRon

[ScottyK]

Here's some info on how they use them at Stuarts Cove.

http://www.sub-bahamas.com/pages/what-are-subs.html

It appears that the bouyancy is out of your control. They raise/lower you by a rope and tether the sub to a buoy.

It reminds me of another thing they do in the caribbean. Thy have you walk aong the bottom with SSA and a giant, square helmet on your head :D

[ew1usnr]

Thanks, for the link.

"There is also a buoy that is tethered to your sub. This prevents you from descending deeper than the planned 15-20 foot dive."

Well, gee. It sounds pretty simple.

[ScottyK]

ew1usnr once bubbled...

That sounds kind of hokey.

I hate it when I don't have full control of where I'm going. Even snorkeling annoys me when I see something too deep to get too, and want a closer look :rolleyes:

Most of those things are to get some cash out of the non sporting crowd. Those who aren't going to do anything that takes more than ten minutes to learn.

My first dive was in the Bahamas in 97' through a "Discover Scuba" course.

[ew1usnr]

Here is a photo of a submersible that I built a few years ago. The resolution is poor because it is a picture of a picture. It was actually a self-propelled diving bell. I used buckets filled with sand as ballast. I could turn some valves to partially flood the craft and cause it to submerge. Once down, I could pick it up and walk around to move it. It worked pretty good. I ate my lunch in there once while submerged. There were two scuba tanks strapped on the external cradle for an air supply. To raise the sub I closed the valves and hit a regulator purge valve. That thing was a trip to ride to the surface. Coming up from 30-feet the air pressure would drop by 50% (2 atm to 1 atm) relatively suddenly, causing the humidity within the air in the cabin to condense into a thick fog.

[ew1usnr]

ScottyK once bubbled...
It reminds me of another thing they do in the caribbean. Thy have you walk aong the bottom with SSA and a giant, square helmet on your head :D

I built a helmet like that once. The helmet was made of wood, screwed together with caulking at the joints. The front window was made of plexiglass screwed in place and sealed. I plugged an inflator hose into the side and let the air free flow into the helmet and used the tank valve to meter the flow. It worked pretty good.

[ScoobieDooo]

..and they think I'm nuts on this message board! LOL!

ew1usnr, I don't know about you sometimes. I can't wait to get to Florida!

Reminds me of that show, 'Lost in Space.' "Will Robinson, that does not compute!"

[Stingray81888]

I've been on one in teh Bahams with Stuart Cove. At first it seemed fun..but after i got certified i prefer SCUBA much more than that

[ew1usnr]

The design of the X-1 took a lot of calculation. The bouyancy had to closely match the ballast weight. The placement of the ascent and descent valves were critical. Beyond the ascent volume, there was additional volume provided for emergency lift and to float it high on the surface for ease of towing. I "took her down" in a lake once where the bottom was soft mud. When it came time to surface, the ascent volume didn't provide enough lift because I also had to overcome the suction of pulling the buckets up out of the soft mud. I filled it further, utilizing the emergency lift volume, but she still wouldn't budge. I couldn't effectively push it up, because the bottom was not firm enough to stand on. Marooned in a submarine on the bottom of a lake! It looked as though I would have to abandon ship. With a lot of rocking, pulling, and wiggling she eventually broke free of the bottom (just barely). Then I opened all the valves to vent the excess air volume to slow my ascent rate. It was a hoot.

[DanL]

ew1usnr once bubbled...
That thing was a trip to ride to the surface. Coming up from 30-feet the air pressure would drop by 50% (2 atm to 1 atm) relatively suddenly, causing the humidity within the air in the cabin to condense into a thick fog. [/B]

Wow - wouldn't you get bent like a pretzel with that fast an ascent?

[ew1usnr]

DanL once bubbled...
Wow - wouldn't you get bent like a pretzel with that fast an ascent?

Because:
1. The top of the craft was a big, flat surface. Pushing that up through the water created an enormous drag, which slowed ascent.
2. The ascent volume was calibrated to create a positive lift that was only in slight exceedance of the negative ballast.
3. Valves vented expanding air as the craft rose, creating a controled not runaway ascent.

The Navy tables allow a 60-feet per minute ascent rate. Coming up from 30-feet at this rate would take less than a minute. This was the " relatively sudden" period in which the cabin air pressure dropped by 50%. Seeing the humidity suddenly vaporized out of the saturated atmosphere was an amazing sight.
The breaching of the surface upon ascent was non-spectacular. The top of the craft merely bobbed up above the water surface a few inches before subsiding with the top of the barrel at surface level. I would then close the remaining vents, and fully inflated the barrel to cause it to rise above the surface.

[erwin]

ew1usnr,

Just saw your first picture. Isn't that the SCUBA BOB?

[ew1usnr]

erwin once bubbled...
ew1usnr,

Just saw your first picture. Isn't that the SCUBA BOB?

That name sounds familiar. I remember reading about these things maybe ten years ago. The picture was copied from ebay. Someone had one of these for sale for $1,800. At last look, there had been no bidders.

If you look through old Skin Diver magazines from the 60's and early 70's, you will see a lot of ads from companies that were selling private one & two passengers ONE ATMOSPHERE, actual pressure hull submarines. Liability concernswere probably what eventually ended that idea. I would sure love to try one of them, though.

[MgicTwnger]

erwin once bubbled...
ew1usnr,

Just saw your first picture. Isn't that the SCUBA BOB?

Here's the link: http://www.geocities.com/mfaubert/bob.htm

Check out the face on the guy in the yellow BOB. Is he having fun, or just problems with his lower digestive track?

[ew1usnr]

MgicTwnger once bubbled...
Check out the face on the guy in the yellow BOB. Is he having fun, or just problems with his lower digestive track?

I don't think that he is exercising proper "gas management".

Thanks for the link. Those are nice photos.

[SeaJay]

That posted about the BOB earlier, and on which board/list I belong to. We all laughed about these things pretty hard. They sure are silly looking.

The site where we originally saw them said that they were towed behind a boat and that the operator of the BOB could control their depth down to about 20 feet.

Obviously, with such limited freedom, it makes much more sense to SCUBA than it does to BOB.

However, it appears that these guys have given the BOB some new possibilities... Freedom of movement with a built-in electric motor and no tether... Plus the ability (it appears) to go a little deeper... Well, let's just say that if this gets "the other 99%" that are non-divers to see the underwater world, then it's a good thing overall.

Gas management, buoyancy control, ensuring you come up at the proper rate... That sort of stuff... Is STILL a player, though... And with utter reliance on electronics in seawater, this BOB does not appear to be any safer than scuba diving... In fact, it appears to me that it might actually be opposite, since the rig seems to encourage ignorance... "Just let the machine do it for you." What's worse is... What happens in failure? The thing does not appear to have a bailout of any sort.

Of course, to the public, perception is everything... And no doubt they're going to feel "safe" in a big yellow bubble.

Whatever. The bottom line is that I wouldn't mind taking one out for a spin... Which isn't how I felt before. It looks like it might be silly and kind of fun. Wouldn't want to forgo diving to pilot one, though.

...And I don't think I'd want to be in the water with someone who's piloting one who has no formal dive training. This is just asking for problems...

[canuckdiver]

Actually, this thread kinda triggered a thought....
(scary, huh?)

For decompression dives, what would thoughts be on setting up a surface-supplied regulator, or set of regs on the decent line, so that you wouldn't have to carry as much gas?

I would still consider it a basic safety practice to carry enough back gas to do an emergency decompression away from the line, but I would think that having them there, you could carry less in the way of equipment load?

LOL, flame away ;)

[erwin]

I would like to try one of those out.

ew1usnr, if you have the opportunity to try one of these out, post and tell us how it goes.:D

[ew1usnr]

Check out this site:

http://www.vulcaniasubmarine.com/