Several years ago, I bought from Mike Caswell a Seaview (minus Sub-Driver) that David made. It has been on the todo list for a long time and I decided to get it going after my Walrus build.
My first thoughts on driving this beast come from the Get Smart Movie when a swordfish display punches the windshield and almost hits Alan Arkin's character. It is his response to Steve Carell's "Are you thinking what I am thinking?".
There were several factors for my on the edge, need a whiskey, high pucker factor, and need to breath experience. One is it was the first time out in the wild. That is always a stressful moment for me. Then there were winds and choppy water, not this subs best conditions I learned and lastly the bow effect. Trimming this boat has not followed normal rules so far. trimming for level submerged is not going to work. In the video you can see that the leveler is working overtime to keep it as level as possible. I am thinking if I make the boat more bow up in trim, it might help with the down force of the front. Anyways for this last run, I did put a small block of foam in and it seemed to help, but since the weather was so much nicer, it is not a fair comparison.
This last run (Saturday), the weather was nice and since I already ran it once before, there was some familiarity with how it handles. It was a pleasure to drive. There are small adjustments in speed and sail planes that make all the difference. Someday, the hope is to run this in a pool because this sub is graceful looking underwater and it would be fun to film it. Anyways, I ran it several times submerged, but because of the additive in the water (anti-algae?) a short distance under and you cannot see much. Not every time was intentional. Most of the time it was not a panicky situation, only once did I hit the ballast pumps to bring it up. The other times, a small change in the sail planes and slowly the sub would be back at the surface.
The Sub-Driver is working flawlessly! Dry and consistent performance. There is enough volume that it lifts the freeboard out of the water.
Submerged and running, the sub had a bow down attitude, but could hold its depth well! A interesting trait I found was in a turn the sub would begin a slight depth correction. Going straight the top of the sail would be visible. In a turn it would drop to only the scope and antenna was visible. If I ran the sub where the scope and antenna was visible in a straight course, in a turn it would begin a slow dive.
Here is video proof too!
https://youtu.be/WoIUC_hHVRE
My first thoughts on driving this beast come from the Get Smart Movie when a swordfish display punches the windshield and almost hits Alan Arkin's character. It is his response to Steve Carell's "Are you thinking what I am thinking?".
There were several factors for my on the edge, need a whiskey, high pucker factor, and need to breath experience. One is it was the first time out in the wild. That is always a stressful moment for me. Then there were winds and choppy water, not this subs best conditions I learned and lastly the bow effect. Trimming this boat has not followed normal rules so far. trimming for level submerged is not going to work. In the video you can see that the leveler is working overtime to keep it as level as possible. I am thinking if I make the boat more bow up in trim, it might help with the down force of the front. Anyways for this last run, I did put a small block of foam in and it seemed to help, but since the weather was so much nicer, it is not a fair comparison.
This last run (Saturday), the weather was nice and since I already ran it once before, there was some familiarity with how it handles. It was a pleasure to drive. There are small adjustments in speed and sail planes that make all the difference. Someday, the hope is to run this in a pool because this sub is graceful looking underwater and it would be fun to film it. Anyways, I ran it several times submerged, but because of the additive in the water (anti-algae?) a short distance under and you cannot see much. Not every time was intentional. Most of the time it was not a panicky situation, only once did I hit the ballast pumps to bring it up. The other times, a small change in the sail planes and slowly the sub would be back at the surface.
The Sub-Driver is working flawlessly! Dry and consistent performance. There is enough volume that it lifts the freeboard out of the water.
Submerged and running, the sub had a bow down attitude, but could hold its depth well! A interesting trait I found was in a turn the sub would begin a slight depth correction. Going straight the top of the sail would be visible. In a turn it would drop to only the scope and antenna was visible. If I ran the sub where the scope and antenna was visible in a straight course, in a turn it would begin a slow dive.
Here is video proof too!
https://youtu.be/WoIUC_hHVRE
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