Advanced Man-Powered Submarine

[Earl Boebert]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126936.900-across-the-ocean-in-a-pedalpowered-submarine.html?page=1

Cheers,

Earl

[jehardiman]

I wish him the best of luck.

But just to point out so there is no confusion...

The SubHuman Project was the name of a group of MINS employees that entered the original ISR in 1989.

SubHuman I was at the ISR in 1989. She was modified with new propulsor and control surfaces in 1990-91 into SubHuman II.

SubHuman II was at the 91 and 93 ISRs and was the team, along with Scripps, that were the first get speed reconds accepted by Guinness (IHPVA was not involved at the time). The boat is currently on display at the Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport Washington.

SubHuman III was an all new hull incorporating lessons learned from SH II first deployed at the 1993 ISR. However, the closing of MINS in 1994 caused the dispersion of the team, so control problems were never resolved.

[venomousbird]

I don't really understand the idea behind making it a wet sub. . . seems like a trip across the atlantic underwater would be hell to me!

[jehardiman]

I don't really understand the idea behind making it a wet sub. . . seems like a trip across the atlantic underwater would be hell to me!

The ocean crossing is most likely because of sponsorship, it is actually easier to get the more "newsworthy" you can make it. And a wet sub is a far safer HPsub than a dry one, as there are all sorts of atmosphere issues with a small coffin sized dry sub. If I read the story correctly, he is not crossing without a support vessel to supply breathing gas(es) but even then, there is still max dive/immersion time at <1 atm even using a rebreather system. FWIW, 3700 kM in 50 days @ 16hrs a day is 2.5 knts average. If you count in the North Equatorial Current in at ~ 0.5 knts, the average drops to 1.75 knts which is very doable for a HPS even before you add in any wind drift while surfaced.

FWIW, we once looked at crossing the English Channel in SubHuman II with a modified gas system, but the gas/scrubber temps would have been an issue.