Talk About a Sailing Submersible

[gustable]

Hello: My name is Gus, and I just discovered Boatdesign.net...what a great resource

I'm really more of a submarine and wave energy person, but one thing I've been working on is a submersible sailboat design. I know its very unorthodox, but imagine the comfort of being able to dive underneath Hurricane Edward as he comes gallumping across your bow.

The goal then is:
-A relatively standard sailboat design for yachting comfort
-A safe submersible design for ease of use and recoverability

Challenges have been:
-Mast design and stowing
-Hydrostatic versus Hydrodynamic submarine travel (i.e. ballast versus Deep Flight and the Bionic Dolphin.)
-Weight
-Pressure Hull Integrity.

Thus far I've done weight and strength calculations comparing different materials including FRP. Currently I'm looking at a steel pressure hull, encased in a fairing of some as yet unknown material, a telescoping mast that stows aft to expose a periscope within, and fly by wire controls to allow all tanks, fins, keel, rudders and other protrusions to be attached only to the "breakaway" fairing, such that the pressure hull may remain intact, even in case of a collision and external material damage.

In college I helped to design a sailing yacht with a single spinnaker and a unique design which I performed the stability and dynamics calculations for. I also have some experience with wave energy platforms, but when it somes to sailing vessels I am a plebe.

Hope to induce some interesting discussion here.

[dionysis]

If you are talking about a sailing submarine gustable, then there are a lot of questions that need answering.

First and most important: sails need to be kept vertical to develope drive force. A submarine unless equipped with wings cannot counter the tendency for the sails to be blown flat by the wind.

I may be possible to counter this rolling - heeling moment of the sails by using wings - hydrofoils below the surface, but this will only work when the "boat" is well under way.

Solve this little conundrum first, before thinking about anything else.

good luck

[gustable]

Obviously the sail of a sailsub needs to be dealt with...though I am a little befuddled by your point. What is it that normal sailing boats have to counteract this event?

There are 2 options:
A solid wing-type lifting sail that lays flat to the aft.
A conventional mast that telescopes and lays flat to the aft.

To be sure, your idea of using wings carries merit, because modern submersible hydrodynamic (flight), combined with positive bouyancy, is the state of that art, and of course that requires wings as lifting and control surfaces.

At this time I am planning on forgoing a normal keel in favor of twin oversize rudders, complemented by forward diving planes that fold down to form forward pseudo keels. Think of this as a sailboat with standard operating characteristics, and extraordinary control surfaces. I am working on a 3d model, and though all i have is a hull form, I will be developing that.

http://www.freewebs.com/anthrospheric/sailsub.htm

[B. Hamm]

From experience, spent 7 years on U.S.Navy subs, you need to go so deep to avoid surface weather that this idea isn't practical. The sea conditions you see on the surface are not just on the surface by any means. The ocean is 3D too

Bill H.

[gustable]

So what's it like underneath a big storm...is it just as bad on the surface? I studied ocean dynamics, but I dont recall this stuff. I was simply working under the pretension that storms did not propagate all that deep. About what depth are you talking about?

[B. Hamm]

Went thru a hurricane on a sub (not fun) it was nearly as rough at 600 ft. deep as it was on the surface. The worse the storm and the more fetch it has the further down they reach.

Bill H.