<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Alec. The Swiss sub was concrete with a slip form method. I think Farrow cement is troweled onto a mesh frame. I was pretty intrigued by this also. A conversation with Sean made me change my mind. Although concrete structures under water have a good track record, the chance of a weak spot is too great. My business includes concrete cutting, and often when cutting we hit spots that cut much easier within the same pour. <div>Hank</div><div><br><br><div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Jun 25, 2023, at 9:08 AM, Alec Smyth via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles@psubs.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">There's an interesting story about cement subs, which I will tell to the best of my recollection. In the early years we had a PSUBS member whose name I forget, I believe Swiss or Austrian, who had built a ferrocement sub that he kept at a mooring in a Swiss lake. The sub was successful, he dived it for years. But eventually he moved to Colombia due to marriage, and scuttled the sub in the lake, because the road he had used to take it there had been re-routed or modified somehow, leaving him without any way of getting it out. The sub became an attraction for local SCUBA divers. <div><br></div><div>The second part of the story is that another PSUBS member, Ian Roxborough, hired the first guy to build him a large cement sub with the intention of making it an ocean going live-aboard. The project was done completely on the level, with notification to authorities and in a major port. This was no drug sub built in the jungle. It got to the point where the hull was complete, and I think they were about for the first launch. However, Colombia being plagued by drug subs, the authorities would not sign off on final paperwork or something (can't remember the exact glitch.) Ian had sunk a ton of funds into it, and the sub was probably perfectly good, but approval never came. I'm not sure what happened to the sub. But Ian is still very much active, so maybe can tell us. I'm not sure if he's on the email list. If you are, Ian, sorry for bringing up this rather painful memory!</div><div><br></div><div>Best,</div><div>Alec</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Jun 25, 2023 at 8:35 AM Marc de Piolenc via Personal_Submersibles <<a href="mailto:personal_submersibles@psubs.org">personal_submersibles@psubs.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<p>That's it. I lost interest when I realized he had built a
superstructure on a conventional pressure hull.</p>
<p>Very sorry to hear about Brian Cox.</p>
<p>Marc<br>
</p>
<div>On 6/25/2023 6:11 PM, Jon Wallace via
Personal_Submersibles wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div style="font-family:"times new roman","new york",times,serif;font-size:16px">
<div dir="ltr">Marc, that was probably Brian
Cox who passed away a year or so ago. His pressure hull was
steel but he did use ferrocement for the superstructure. <a href="http://www.subdb.info/cgi/database/showvessel/index.cgi?ID=1272980224&VN=Esmae&VT=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.subdb.info/cgi/database/showvessel/index.cgi?ID=1272980224&VN=Esmae&VT=1</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr">There are no standards for
using ferrocement as a manned submarine pressure hull and I
think anyone attempting it would find little support for the
project given the Ocean Gate loss.</div>
<div dir="ltr"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr">Jon</div>
<div dir="ltr"><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<div id="m_4380271176043459050ydpc0df22c3yahoo_quoted_7854919351">
<div style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;color:rgb(38,40,42)">
<div> On Sunday, June 25, 2023 at 04:09:00 AM EDT, Marc de
Piolenc via Personal_Submersibles
<a href="mailto:personal_submersibles@psubs.org" target="_blank"><personal_submersibles@psubs.org></a> wrote: </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div dir="ltr">I know. I fell in love with FC for yachts,
which made me wonder how <br clear="none">
useful it would be for pressure hulls... Turns out there
is a 2010 <br clear="none">
exchange of messages in my archive with somebody on this
list who built <br clear="none">
in FC, Brian Cox. Is he still there?<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
Marc<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
On 6/24/2023 8:27 PM, Bernie Hellstrom via
Personal_Submersibles wrote:<br clear="none">
> Many boat hulls were made with FC. Even the landing
barges in the ww2 , to make piers to in load ships!<br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
> Sent from my iPhone<br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
<div id="m_4380271176043459050ydpc0df22c3yqtfd88497"><br clear="none">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
<pre>_______________________________________________
Personal_Submersibles mailing list
<a href="mailto:Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org" target="_blank">Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org</a>
<a href="http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles" target="_blank">http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre cols="72">--
Archivale catalog: <a href="http://www.archivale.com" target="_blank">http://www.archivale.com</a>
Mass Flow (ducted fans): <a href="http://massflow.archivale.com" target="_blank">http://massflow.archivale.com</a>
ProZ profile: <a href="https://www.proz.com/profile/639380" target="_blank">https://www.proz.com/profile/639380</a>
Substack account: <a href="https://fmarcdepiolenc.substack.com" target="_blank">https://fmarcdepiolenc.substack.com</a>
Pinterest: <a href="https://www.pinterest.ph/piolenc" target="_blank">https://www.pinterest.ph/piolenc</a></pre>
</div>
_______________________________________________<br>
Personal_Submersibles mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org" target="_blank">Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org</a><br>
<a href="http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles</a><br>
</blockquote></div>
<span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Personal_Submersibles mailing list</span><br><span>Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org</span><br><span>http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles</span><br></div></blockquote></div></body></html>