concrete submarine yacht, personal submarine

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wellmer - 18 Jan 2007 05:01 GMT

I built a nice 20 ton submarine yacht and had a lot of fun diving in
it. Be asured it works. Many of your questions will be answered if you
have a look at my submarine at website:
[www.tolimared.com/submarine]
I would be glad to discuss such a proyect with anyone interested in
submarines, personal submarines, submarine yachting, c-subs, and
similar.

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jim.isbell - 18 Jan 2007 15:50 GMT

Those are interesting pictures, but I dont know that I believe them.
Why are there no pictures of the construction phase?

Pictures are so easy to fake these days that it makes it hard to
believe this.

> I built a nice 20 ton submarine yacht and had a lot of fun diving in
> it. Be asured it works. Many of your questions will be answered if you
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> submarines, personal submarines, submarine yachting, c-subs, and
> similar.

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mholt@ohiohills.com - 18 Jan 2007 17:40 GMT

> Those are interesting pictures, but I dont know that I believe them.
> Why are there no pictures of the construction phase?
>
> Pictures are so easy to fake these days that it makes it hard to
> believe this.

It's real. He posted photos of it a couple of years ago at the
psubs.org site. One of the European psubbers may have met him.

M

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wellmer - 25 Jan 2007 00:00 GMT

Hi, Jim,

Aeem....i have more concrete submarine yacht pictures ... the reason
why i did not show pictures from construction is that forming process
is the tricky part of a concrete hull and i do not wish to give all my
secrets away upfront...

Kindest Regards,
Wilfried Ellmer
www.tolimared.com/submarine

> Those are interesting pictures, but I dont know that I believe them.
> Why are there no pictures of the construction phase?
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> > submarines, personal submarines, submarine yachting, c-subs, and
> > similar.

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jim.isbell - 25 Jan 2007 16:03 GMT

I would think that using a large rubber balloon for the form would be
the way to do it so it was a seamless hull.....

> Hi, Jim,
>
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> > > submarines, personal submarines, submarine yachting, c-subs, and
> > > similar.

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wellmer - 26 Jan 2007 01:22 GMT

Hi Jim,

Use of a rubber ballon certainly would be a way to do forming of a
concrete submarine hull. This has been done for concrete domes on
construction sites.

Anyhow i used a forming method with a so called "moving form" similar
to that used in construction of toronto TV tower. The form makes ring
after ring in a continous process...

Kindest Regards,
Wilfried Ellmer

www tolimared.com/submarine

> I would think that using a large rubber balloon for the form would be
> the way to do it so it was a seamless hull.....
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> > > > submarines, personal submarines,submarineyachting, c-subs, and
> > > > similar.

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mike.e.worrall@abc.com - 18 Jan 2007 17:20 GMT

The US "Department of Homeland Security" (quotes intentional, and meant
to imply a certain distaste for their modus operandi) would *love* it
if the yachting community suddenly abandoned their Hatteras' for
mini-subs.

My guess is that they'd shoot first and ask questions later, and very
quickly proclaim that "any small craft that does not float (above) the
water shall henceforth and forever be illegal within 200 miles of any
US territory or possession!"

Wouldn't want to spook the natives when one of these poped-up next to a
ferry boat full of tourists on a pleasant afternoon on the San
Francisco Bay...

MW

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Martin Schöön - 18 Jan 2007 20:58 GMT

Cool project and very, very different from my boat:

http://hem.bredband.net/b262106/

I have been aboard a couple of military subs but this does
not put me in a position from which I can say anything useful
about your boat. I enjoyed your site though.

Cheers,

Signature

Martin Schöön "Problems worthy of attack
show their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein

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Gene Townsend - 22 Jan 2007 04:55 GMT

That is the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life!!!

When I lived in Hawaii (over 20 years ago) I dreamed about building a very
similar craft, although the details were different from yours. I never got
started building my dream sub, thinking it was too crazy an idea, and
potentially dangerous. My dream was to live aboard a concrete sub, largely
because it could be left sitting on the bottom, out of the way of other
craft and secure while I was ashore. Ability to enter underwater securely
was important to me, I see this feature lacking in your design.

I sure would love to see all the technical details of your machine!

Regards,

Gene A. Townsend

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wellmer - 24 Jan 2007 23:53 GMT

Hello Gene,

Yes, this is one of the real fine things of internet - a guy who builds
a concrete sub to dive in alpine lakes and a guy with a similar idea in
hawaii can comunicate - this really brings new stuff up...

When let your submarine sit on the botom you have to think about
ventilation - if you do not ventilate constantly (someting like air
entering from front snorkel leaving trough aft snorkel ) see pictures -
www.tolimared.com/submarine - on anchor site - if no ventilation at all
you would get condensation and a very humed ambient in your boat.

I would spare underwater entrance for bigger submarines with seperate
wet and dry ambients similar to a underwater habitat.

Kindest Regards,

W. Ellmer

> wellmer wrote:That is the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life!!!
>
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> > submarines, personal submarines, submarine yachting, c-subs, and
> > similar.

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Boat Forum / Building / January 2007

concrete submarine yacht, personal submarine