<div dir="ltr"><div>Neither, I use the vertical thrusters. When I am moving forward submerged, when I pull the joystick pack, it generated a downward force at the location of the vertical thrusters. The stern planes prevent the stern of the boat from moving up so the net effect is pitching up. When I am not moving forward because the location of the vertical thrusters is just forward of the CG of the boat, when I pull back on the joystick, the boat pitches up just slightly during the ascent. </div><div><br></div><div>That's not a bad idea on Curacao. It would be a lot closer for me and the water vis would be out of this world.</div><div><br></div><div>As to diving in New Zealand, just tell me when your are Hugh get your boats ready and I am on a plane down your way!</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Regards</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jan 28, 2016 at 12:47 PM, Alan James via Personal_Submersibles <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:personal_submersibles@psubs.org" target="_blank">personal_submersibles@psubs.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><div><span>Thanks, sounds like you have done a Cliff special on your control system.</span></div><div><span>How do you get your pitch, is that through weight transfer or pumps?</span></div><div><span>That's quite an amazing saving on battery usage.</span></div><div><span>If you do find water in the motors....there is a good article in the Psub archives</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span>on modifying Minn kotas for deep diving. I think I re-posted it a while back.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span> You are welcome down here for a dive. There are places with 200ft+ visibility</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span>but they are about 10 miles off shore. Keith Gordon lives in view of a set of</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span>Islands regarded by Jacques Cousteau as one of the top 10 diving spots in</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span>the World. He also owns salvage rights to a ship purported to have </span></div><div dir="ltr">$3 million worth of gold still on it. <br></div><div dir="ltr">It might be more viable to wait till Hugh & I have our subs going, & dive them.</div><div dir="ltr">Cheers Alan</div><div dir="ltr"> </div><div dir="ltr"><span><br></span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><br></div><br> <div><br><br></div><div style="display:block"> <div style="font-family:HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <div style="font-family:HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <hr size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold">From:</span></b> Cliff Redus via Personal_Submersibles <<a href="mailto:personal_submersibles@psubs.org" target="_blank">personal_submersibles@psubs.org</a>><br> <b><span style="font-weight:bold">To:</span></b> Personal Submersibles General Discussion <<a href="mailto:personal_submersibles@psubs.org" target="_blank">personal_submersibles@psubs.org</a>> <br> <b><span style="font-weight:bold">Sent:</span></b> Friday, January 29, 2016 3:40 AM<br> <b><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject:</span></b> Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] R300 Dive at Lake Amistad<br> </font> </div> <div><br><div><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Alan, operation of the four Minn-Kota thrusters was a joy. Maneuverability is an order magnitude better than before plus they are super quite. I use a foot control that you tilt forward to increase speed of stern thrusters and if you tilt the foot control back you can reverse the stern thrusters. With this I now have brakes. I have a 3-axis joy stick which I use to control pitch, roll and yaw through PLC. I programed three different vertical thruster modes. The first is full control in which starboard-port movement generates roll, the second in which I switch them over to momentary switches for up and down movement and have them locked together and a third in which I have them back on the joystick but lock out roll. I use the first mode when I want to fly underwater with full pitch, roll and yaw control. I use the second mode for vertical ascent or decent and the third mode which gives yaw and pitch movement but locks out roll movement. On the surface I have to be careful not to apply full speed to aft thrusters or they will cavitate. On the ascent from the 154 ft dive, I could see out the viewport a steady stream of bubbles coming from the pressure reducing regulator used to pressure compensate the thrusters. Also, after the dive I analyzed the logged data and confirmed that during each dive air was been supply to the thrusters for pressure compensation. I have not done so yet but I plan on disassembling one of the thrusters to confirm it had no water encroachment during the dive. I am really happy with the Minn-Kota thrusters. After a full day on the water, I had a SOC of 90%. With my previous drive train, my batteries would be at a 50% SOC for same number of hours. As to boat length, I did end of shortening the boat by 2.5 ft. I also shortened the trailer by 3 ft. As the pressure hull is shaped like a coke bottle, I could not cut much more off the stern FRP cowling.</div><div><br clear="none"></div><div>After I do a 400 ft unmanned dive to qualify the boat to 300 ft, then I am going to find some clear water. How you doing for garage space? I sure you could find me some nice clear water in New Zealand!</div><div><br clear="none"></div><div>Cliff</div></div><div><br clear="none"><div>On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 9:40 PM, Alan James via Personal_Submersibles <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:personal_submersibles@psubs.org" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" shape="rect">personal_submersibles@psubs.org</a>></span> wrote:<br clear="none"><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid"><div><div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><div><span>Thanks Cliff,</span></div><div><span>congratulations on getting the refit finished.</span></div><div><span>How did you feel it operated with the 4 Minn kotas. </span></div><div><span>What was the steering like on surface & diving.</span></div><div><span>I notice you didn't shorten the sub. What were the reasons<br clear="none"></span></div><div><span>for that, I thought that tale section would just be an</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span>appendage now.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span>That was a shame about the visibility. Wait till you get in to some really</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span>clear water, you will be blown away.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span>Cheers Alan</span></div><br clear="none"> <div><br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div><div style="display:block"> <div style="font-family:HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <div style="font-family:HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> </font><hr size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold">From:</span></b> Cliff Redus via Personal_Submersibles <<a href="mailto:personal_submersibles@psubs.org" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" shape="rect">personal_submersibles@psubs.org</a>><br clear="none"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold">To:</span></b> Personal Submersibles General Discussion <<a href="mailto:personal_submersibles@psubs.org" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" shape="rect">personal_submersibles@psubs.org</a>> <br clear="none"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold">Sent:</span></b> Thursday, January 28, 2016 11:07 AM<br clear="none"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject:</span></b> Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] R300 Dive at Lake Amistad<br clear="none"> </div> <div><br clear="none"><div><div dir="ltr"><div> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojwoedzn8ms" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" shape="rect"><font color="#0066cc">Lake Amistad 2016</font></a> is a link to YouTube video of dive last weekend. This is the deepest dive to date with the boat. Got the thruster electrical issue from my last dive sorted out. The objective in diving this lake is that it is the deepest in Texas and most of the time, the clearest. Having said that, last weekend visibility was bad. Surface vis was 6ft, lost all light at 80 ft and zero visibilty at 154 ft. Still if was fun to get the deep dive in. </div><div><br clear="none"></div><div>Clif</div></div></div><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">Personal_Submersibles mailing list<br clear="none"><a href="mailto:Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" shape="rect">Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org</a><br clear="none"><a href="http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" shape="rect">http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div> </div> </div> </div></div></div></div><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">
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