Tom Chalfant - Bronco Type XXIII

[trout]

Thank you Gary! I can be very critical and pick it a part, but it does look sufficiently busy and mostly accurate.

[trout]

So the Type XXIII did not run but 10 feet (maybe 15') from the shore and died. Stopped in the water. No response from the radio. A tug brought it in closer to shore (which by the time it was brought in I had several theories what had happened) and then I had signal again. The prop was strong so it was not the battery. Moved it along the shore and about the same distance it stopped again. This time I moved the TX until the sub began responding and brought her in. By the shoreline and me standing over it, I wanted to test other things like diving and surfacing. With all the do-dads and that heavy periscope, the aft would drop quickly. Manually getting the bubbles out made the sub still slightly aft heavy, but the water was over the tower.
No pictures of the Type XXIII were taken of the time in the water because my son took the camera to take photos of other things around the water.
All in all, the Sub-Driver performed well, even though I did not. Each sub was dry (even the Skipjack and the scary dive). So that was good news to me.
Only a few pictures of the sub, here are two (no broken bits during the transport or time there!)

More to follow as I run some post mission checks.

[crazygary]

Gees, Tom!! I'm hurtin' for ya, buddy!!

Talk about a "Bad Day at Blackrock"!!

Next outing will make up for this one, eh!!?

Fingers crossed that all fixes go well!!!

CG

[trout]

Finger crossing not necessary, but thanks for the sentiment. It was my own fault for not doing a proper pre-check and not getting the sub(s) in the water beforehand. If it was not for the excellent design of the Sub-Driver, I might have been short a sub. So all blame goes to me. Especially since I have had great runs with each of these subs. Any change that is made, you have gotta test.
Given all the setbacks, it was still worth the trip. I met guys that I have heard about, guys I have emailed with, and guys that I got a chance to catch up with. Not to mention to see what others are doing! I would do it again given a chance.
You are right the next outing will be different. I (hopefully) will not make that mistake again.
Peace,
tom

[roedj]

Weak transmitter battery?

Dan

[trout]

Dan,
That is a good thought, my batteries got low, what seemed quickly, when I was testing the Skipjack after the first run. Tina went out and bought a package of alkaline ones to use. Which they lasted the rest of the day, so maybe the rechargeables are going bad or cannot handle the TX draw. Hmmmmm. The Type XXIII was run with really new batteries and the Gato ran after the XXIII.

[alad61]

Sorry to hear of your troubles Tom.

Have you thought of swapping out the TX batteries for LiPos I did in mine and to date have had great tx run time.

[trout]

Thank you Alec! I was looking up LiPo batteries last night. I might make the move.
I was going to tackle the radio distance and trim last night, but Tina had other ideas for me. Tonight is another night!

[trout]

I went ahead and replaced the receiver with another Wfly one, one the antenna is not cut and using the external antenna.
The sub is a little heavy in the aft and would not empty that last bubble in the bow.

Here is is submerged after I got the bubble out. It was still a little bow light. Just a smidgin.

I like the height of the tower out of the water.

There was a list to port side. Placing the weight on the starboard side, the hll was level. The tower was still tilted. I need to redo the mounting block.

A little tug and the block came away cleanly. Butting it back on was not as easy and I opened a hole to apply CA to affix the mount.

Once everything dried, I set it in to test it. The tower is upright and the hull is level.

However, the weight now made the sub settle a bit deeper than before. Why? Who knows.But here is how it sits.

Sitting this low it is one bubble from sinking of going negative buoyancy. So a slice of foam is added to bring up the tower a bit.


There is a little room. Not sure if it is enough, but for now I will test it and see.

On the surface, it sits were I like it.

Once the foam is set. Another test and then the pond.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Man! You got that beast dialed in perfect, Tom.

M

[MFR1964]

Looking good Tom, i'm watching over your shoulders, still have to wait some weeks, but looking at your boat i know it will turn out good, how much lead did you use allready?, just curious, want to compare it with my boat.

Manfred.

[greenman407]

I see that you got a kiddie pool too! I just got one from "Wallymart". $19.97....all day long. Its inflatable, so I can pack it away for future use. Its 100" overall so I should be able to get the Oscar in it.

[greenman407]

If your radio takes AA batterys and you are using rechargeables, then maybe thats part of the problem. Alkaline AAs are 1.5 volts. So 8 of them make twelve volts. If your using rechargeables that are 1.2 volts, 8 of them is 9.6 volts. The alarm on my "Polk" radio starts going off at 9.2 volts. If its not that then swap a RX with another boat.

[trout]

Thanks guys!
David, we will see how it goes at the pond. I need to build in the failsafes with the WFly receiver.

Manfred, I am guessing a little over 14oz or about 400g Thank you - I blame you for the detailing. I still need to do the snorkel!

Mark, went larger for kiddie pool! And yes on the batteries, the rechargeable used to hold out longer, but maybe LiPo is the way to go.

[trout]

Took it to the pool last night.


It went well for the most part - i love how these conditional statements pop up - until the rudder issue that Mark mentioned pulled up. More later.
Mentioned to Manfred about how the sub sits on the surface with the aft lower.

Sorry about the quality, the video was particularly shaky. Who knew shots of espresso would effect him so (joking). So, once it accelerates a bit, not much, the aft will rise.

Then the bubbles start being released.

Then it runs nice.


Now the rudder got looser as the night went on until it could not make the turn within the pool. Time to stop.