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The leak that I had in the dry section of the Subdriver was greatly reduced but is still there. Another session in the tub with an air hose plugged into it on one end and me huffing and puffing on the other end, revealed some seepage past the oring on the ballast tank bulkhead. When you do that, keep in mind two things. First, keep a finger or two over the motor bulkhead so that it doesnt blow off while you are blowing into the hose. Second, to see if the ballast tank bulkhead is leaking, you have to flood the ballast tank to see if any air is being pushed into the ballast tank while you are blowing into the hose. Tomorrow Ill pull it out again and get four or five wraps of trim tape down into the bottom of the oring groove. Thatll probably wrap that up.
Also , I was having problems with air buildup under the forward deck. So, I cut the foam in half and moved it over to the edges and drilled some escape holes down the middle. Since the decking planks will eventually go on there to cover them up, Im not too worried about what it looks like. Because there is an odd seem contour at the joint air can shoot right past the holes you drill. Therefore I irrigated the holes. In other words I chamfered the holes and also, using the edge of a Dremel cutoff wheel, I opened a clear path to the holes from both sides.
There are many kinds of Bronzes. Phosphor bronze, silicone bronze,Nibral(nickel aluminum bronze),plastic bronze, architectural bronze,aluminum bronze all with varying percentages. Propellors made during the 20th century are reported to be Alpha Bronze(88% cooper 12% tin). They start out life ,bright and shiny, but as a layer of Oxides build up on the outside surface, it begins to darken into a flat coffee or chocolate color. I have quite a few Beryllium copper propellers for race boats, made by Octura propellers and they are a similar color.
The trim tape under the oring made a big difference. I needed a hammer and a block of wood to get it started back into the Subdriver. Its all cinched up now awaiting the bathtub test. I have an appointment with the pond on wednesday, so this ,I hope will do her.
IT TAKES GREAT INTELLIGENCE TO FAKE SUCH STUPIDITY!
Today I did a little bit to get her ready for tomorrows outing. I installed the prop and adjusted the balky old Subtek APC-4. Its really touchy when it comes to setting level using the potentiometer on the circuit board. It wants to be set everywhere else except nuetral. I think I finally found the narrow sweetspot. If its not just right Im afraid that it wont work right. The ADF2 is much easier. The one good thing I can say about it is that you have a potentiometer to adjust sensitivity too.
IT TAKES GREAT INTELLIGENCE TO FAKE SUCH STUPIDITY!
The early SubTech angle-keepers employed a liquid type angle sensor. Over time they would dry out and get touchy, eventually not working at all.
Back 'in the day', Skip Asay's work (angle-keeper, fail-safe, depth-keeper and other model submarine specific devices perfected, mass produced and put on the market) was the prime reason this hobby started a growth spurt in the mid-80's.
Skip Asay is, in my opinion, the most influential guy on the US r/c submarine front, ever. He transitioned the hobby from the hands of the truly gifted mechanics and other practitioners of the black-arts and got it into the grubby hands of the great-unwashed idiots who, because of Skip's work, now only had to know how to plug a servo into a receiver.
It was Skip Asay who first hit on the idea of converting a commercial helicopter rate-gyro device into a gravity sensing device -- the grand-daddy of today's electronic angle-keeper.
Skip Asay is the Godfather of American r/c submarining. His research, innovations, articles, talks and regatta attendance is the reason why.
Any one want to challenge me on this? Anyone?.....
As Promised, into the pond she went. Its amazing to me the difference two different bodies of water can make. In the bathtub, I thought that I had the trim dialed in pretty good. But, when I got to the pond, it didnt look like I had done a blessed thing to it. So , I spent somemore time trying to get her trimmed. This has got to be the most sensitive submarine to trim that I have yet to encounter. Just a 1/4 ounce moved just a quarter of an inch makes a huge difference. Anyway, when I got to the pond I noticed two things, one..that the right rear stern plane had broken loose from the shaft and was flopping around. That put an end to diving this thing, along with the fact that ....apparently , I had installed the APC in backwards. Well we will get the APC turned around, and as for the stern planes, Im going to drill and pin them tonight. As you can see I drove it around a little while on the surface. A big difference between the Skipjack and the type 23 as far as maneuverability is concerned. The Skipjack has two rudders and they are a lot bigger and therefore wheel that baby right around. The type 23 takes about 10' to turn her around. Going backwards, the rudder hard over, barely makes an impression. Enjoyable however. We will make some adjustments and be back at the pond next week, along with the Seaview.
IT TAKES GREAT INTELLIGENCE TO FAKE SUCH STUPIDITY!
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