[PSUBS-MAILIST] K-600 buoyancy mystery

[Rick Patton via Personal_Submersibles]

Jon, not sure about the other calc's but I just bought my 8 wet cell
batteries yesterday and they were 61 lbs each = 488 lbs.

Rick

On Thu, Jul 28, 2022 at 5:45 AM Jon Wallace via Personal_Submersibles <
personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:

> I'm stuck on a buoyancy issue with the K-600.  The operating and service
> manuals state that the working weight of the vessel (dive ready) is 4500
> pounds less operator.  However, when I calculate the buoyancy of the vessel
> based upon it's physical dimensions I don't even come close to offsetting
> the projected weight as documented by Kittredge.  I know the stripped
> weight of the vessel is 3060 lbs, because I had it weighed at a CAT scale
> used by truckers which is suppose to be guaranteed accurate.
>
> My buoyancy calcs (inches) and results in pounds are:
> Main hull - 36 x 72 = 2712.96
> Main tank heads - 36 x .5625 = 66.5 each = 133
> Conning Tower - 24 x 18 = 301.44
> Battery Pod - 12 x 45 = 188.4 each = 376.8
> Battery Pod Tank Heads - 12 x .365 = -1.83 each = -7.32
>
> Total potential buoyancy comes out to 3516.88 lbs.  Deducting the 3060
> known weight of the steel leaves 456 lbs of buoyancy however there is
> easily more than 456 lbs of machinery, electrical, and plumbing components
> that will be added to the stripped hull.  For example, Kittredge used 8
> lead-acid batteries with a combined weight of approximately 320 lbs, 200
> lbs from three 1-ATM motor containers, 150 lbs drop weight, and then
> operator weight would produce a combined total of about 800 lbs additional
> weight not including electrical, plumbing, and instrument components.
>
> So from a weight perspective, 4000 to 4500 pounds sounds reasonable for a
> dive ready K-600.  But with only 3516 lbs of physical vessel buoyancy it
> would be 500 to 1000 pounds negatively buoyant which is obviously an
> impossible configuration.  Given that we know this submarine dived
> successfully, what am I doing wrong with my calculations?
>
> Jon
> _______________________________________________
> Personal_Submersibles mailing list
> Personal_Submersibles at psubs.org
> http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.whoweb.com/pipermail/personal_submersibles/attachments/20220728/55a8f732/attachment.html>