Skipjack 1/72

[Scott T]

What if the float was a cylinder instead of a recatgular shape? Put a washer shaped rubber
seal pad on the top. If it rotates it always has a sealing surface and should be the same
distance from the wall. Use a plastic straw for the sliding surface in the middle of the float????

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Good, solid evaluation of the snorkel mechanism problem. I will re-examine the mechanism and will attempt to correct the fit problems you observed. Good work, Mark.

M

[greenman407]

Also, when I removed the old snorkle valve, I noticed that it was binding because there are two brass tubes that slide within each other ,within the foam. I believe that corrosion can build up on it and cause resistance to the floats movement up and down. Maybe dry graphite or some other product will be helpful.

[greenman407]

SUCCESS!! With the new snorkel valve installed(not that there was anything wrong with the original one)and the brass tube connection sealed, I went thru 6 full submerge and surface cycles using the SAS pump and system. There were two small drops of water in the sub-driver rear dryspace. I think I can live with that!
One thing that I noticed and had to deal with is that the inside dimension of the inside of the sail may vary. Therefore, that has a direct bearing on whether or not the snorkle valve will seal or not everytime. Thats because the foam part of the valve, if there is too much space, between the walls of the sail and the foam body, it will allow the foam to get out of alignment where the rubber seal touches the brass upper tube. If the foam has too much room, there is nothing to hold it straight and it will touch the rubber pad, slightly off of the edge of it, allowing water to enter. Observe the pictures. So what I have done is build up the inside walls with "Plastruct" channel CAed to the wall. Great care must be taken because if you arnt careful you can cause to little space to be available and cause the valve to stick, and therefore.........leak.

[greenman407]

I gotta new snorkle valve from Dave and I installed it this evening. Its different from the original one in that it doesnt use the soft pink foam but a more firm material thats light grey in color. I discovered where some of the water might be coming from. Where the snorkle brass tube goes into its base and tightens with a set screw, I never sealed around it on top. Might have been siphoning some thru there. Tomorrow more tales will be told.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Ah! ... the joy of the gas sub-system. Was the tub water warm? Betcha it was.

M

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Ah! ... the joy of the gas sub-system. Was the tub water warm? Betcha it was.

M

[greenman407]

Ok, thats what I was hoping. Funny! Tonight I had her in the tub and was testing things.....when all of the sudden.......BOOM! She jumped out of the water and I could see the hull flex open and then shut as she bobbed up and down in the water. I immediately knew what it was as Ive seen this before. The gas reservoir either pushed the hose off or popped the hose. Sure enough the hose had come off, I reset it on there but this time I pushed the hose much further on to the brass tube. I dont think that it will happen again.
As far as water ingress, tomorrow Im going to install another snorkel valve. If that doesnt fix it Ill probably just build a con formal tank to collect it like Manfred did. No big deal. The pump and snorkel system seems to function well, other than the little bit of water I am getting. After five complete submerge and surface sessions I had about a 1&1/2 tablespoons of water inside.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

With the SAS, the over-pressure in the cylinder (when pushing the motor-bulkhead into place, for example), will escape through the induction line through the safety-float valve.

The 'equalization valve' on the motor bulkhead is there to serve as a test-point for leak-checking the system, not to relieve the slight over-pressure created within installing the bulkheads.

M

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

With the SAS, the over-pressure in the cylinder (when pushing the motor-bulkhead into place, for example), will escape through the induction line through the safety-float valve.

The 'equalization valve' on the motor bulkhead is there to serve as a test-point for leak-checking the system, not to relieve the slight over-pressure created within installing the bulkheads.

M

[alad61]

Interesting question Mark. Mine does the same but I have just assumed that was normal. As an additional question to HWSNBN. I noticed that I can clearly hear the safety float move in the Gato sas but not in my Skipjack. Is that normal? It could explain or partially explain the water ingress I get.

[greenman407]

Dave, earlier we had discussed a leak in the Sub-driver. I noticed that when you slide in the equipment tray and seal up the rear bulkhead, you can hear air leaking thru the system, perhaps thru the SAS pump. I know on the non SAS ones this would be a bad thing. Is this normal with the new system or does this point to a bad pump? It cant be normal, otherwise you would not include a equalizing valve in the bulkhead. It cant be motor seals or pushrod seals or the like because If I plug up the SAS system , there are no leaks.

[greenman407]

Hmmmm.............

[alad61]

Nice job on the scopes but actually Mark the kit ones on the whole are pretty durable. Sadly though the thin aerial atop the scope will be the first casualty That would be one that shoud be replace with aluminum wire or such.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Go to aluminum instead of brass. To limit the topside weight, as Tom suggested. But, also because you want those scopes to bend when you hit something with them ... AND YOU WILL!!!! Better the scopes fail than the sail get knocked off the hull!

M