Hi all
After seeing the total loss of a NEW Engel Typhoon in 30ft of water (ouch must have lefta hole in the pocket) i created a simple and cheap failsafe system. All you do is get a small watertight canister (film canister or kinder egg canister) lock a piece of string in the caniser and create a loop. With a spare channel place a rod on a servo and then through the loop. then set the servo to a setting that will hold the loop in place but when you loose control the servo will (or should) go to the off setting. this pulls the rod from the loop and the canister will float to the surface. P.S canister must be outside the hull.

Sean

First of all, tell me where this Engel sub is, I wouldn't mind it as a Christmas present...

Secondly,

Good idea, but may I suggest this method as well?

The limpet mines in the war used to work with a sweet. The sweet would hold apart two spring loaded pins and when the sweet dissolved the pins would touch completing the circuit.

I know it isn't technically loss of signal, but it works just as well providing you are willing to replace the sweet.

Michael

What happened to that Typhoon? They should have multiple failsafes. I can only think that there was a massive ( Engel subs have a pressure switch that will detect a drop in pressure inside the hull from a leak and automatically bring the sub to the surface) leak into the dry hull. Can't think how though if some basic tests were done first. I hate to think what a flooded Typhoon would weigh, but I suspect your going to have to use steel cable rather than string to haul it out!

The chap who owned it seemed to think he might've made a crack in the top of hull when he put it in his transport. I also thought about the failsafes people usually install that blow ballast, but if a crack in the hull wasnt spotted it wouldnt leak until the sub dived. Stupid because ive seen the hulls on those subs and there pretty thick so it must've been some force to make a clean invisible crack.

The only other explanation is a collision but i think that it was very unlikely since there were no other boats in the vicinity of were the boat was last seen.

P.S There was a Los-Angeles class sub in the lake (possibly foul play) i leave that decision to you!!!

Sean

Ouch! Would be worth getting someoneone from a local diving club to go and have a look.

This happened a few weeks ago when my internet connection was down. It wasnt at my local club as i was visiting relatives but apparently the local scuba club worth happy to salvage it. They salvaged it by placing inflatable belts under hull then inflating them. After it was salvaged they weighed it with water in the areas that had been flooded and it was said to weigh between 35-45kgs, that massive compared to a fully ballasted 12kg when first put in the water.

I'm lucky i suppose my 3channel seawolf can easily survive a breached hull anywhere, simply because it has continuous psitive buoyancy. If i had a collision the boat will surface if it gets stuck in weeds the bow at least will surface. About the only thing that could sink it is a breached WTC which in my case is extremely unlikely as i have Fibreglass resined the outside thinly.

Fibreglass resin is fairly brittle and won't protect it that much. That's is why you add the glass, to make it stronger.

Anything around a couple of mm thick will just chip off.

Michael