<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4490"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4594">Tim,</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4490" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4544">thanks for that great dive report.</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4490" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4545">You didn't mention having to untangle the prop from the float rope?</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4490" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4593">The link didn't work for me & couldn't find the video on the site though.</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4490" dir="ltr"><span>Cheers Alan</span></div><br> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4549"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4548"> <div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4547"> <hr size="1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4592"> <font size="2" face="Arial" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4546"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> T Novak via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles@psubs.org><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> 'Personal Submersibles General Discussion' <personal_submersibles@psubs.org> <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Sunday, July 26, 2015 3:49 PM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] dive report Gamma<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437928322311_4550"><br>Hi all,<br><br>Shelley and I met Hank at Kootenay Lake to photo and video his modified<br>Gamma submarine. Unfortunately, the visibility was only about 4-5 feet, 6<br>feet at the depth of 38 feet. We had great plans for recording the sub ops<br>and went over diver hand signals and what to expect. All for not and we<br>just did as well as we could under the conditions available. Underwater<br>voice communications would have been most helpful.<br><br>On the way out we tried hanging onto the front of the submarine at first,<br>but this proved too difficult for the distance required at speed. Shelley<br>was holding one of the GoPro cameras and the lanyard slipped from her wrist<br>and the camera went to the bottom. We spent the next 10 minutes doing a<br>search and recovery dive trying to find this $600 new purchase. As what<br>usually happens when we do a search and recovery dive, Shelley found it. We<br>were back in business. I still had the other GoPro strapped to my head. We<br>then tied a couple of loops in the trailing dive safety float line and this<br>worked out much better. We felt that we could almost water ski behind this<br>boat. <br><br>When we arrived over the 30 foot contour we decided to submerge and see what<br>we could do. We descended a bit faster than Hank in the sub and lost sight<br>of him when more than 10 feet away. We settled on the bottom and then Hank<br>dropped out of the sky right beside us... like inches away. All good. We<br>carried on with the dive as best we could. You can see from the photos in<br>the Psubs.org Event photos,<br><a href="http://www.psubs.org/projects/1403928245/gammakootenaylakejul15/," target="_blank">http://www.psubs.org/projects/1403928245/gammakootenaylakejul15/, </a>that the<br>viz was pathetic. We did not go deeper due to the bottom being in the way<br>without being towed quite a long way off shore. As it was, the built-in<br>flash in the camera went off due to the low light, causing too much back<br>scatter. We really wanted to stay shallow so that we could use available<br>light, but such is the way of things. <br><br>We were towed back to the launch ramp and after changing out of our dive<br>gear I went out with Hank as a passenger. We travelled further along the<br>surface to the 100 foot contour where we submerged and descended to the<br>bottom. I only had my point-and-shoot camera, not a GoPro for this dive<br>(don't know why), and took a few pics out the dome. After satiating<br>ourselves with the awesome views of the mud bottom we surfaced and returned<br>to the launch ramp.<br><br>Hank's submarine is a most excellent vehicle. It has enough room for two<br>occupants to comfortably enjoy the view out of the amazing front dome. The<br>LED light bar lit the scene to what seemed like daylight. The high level of<br>battery power allows for a long transit and also powers the onboard<br>compressor to refill the compressed air tanks enroute. <br><br>Hank has mastered the launch and recovery tasks with his purpose built<br>trailer. It is of sufficient length to launch the sub from most launch<br>ramps, but it also has a large dolly wheel so that the trailer can be<br>detached from the truck and submerged on a tow strap if necessary. Hank<br>installed a cat walk and hand rail on the forward part of the trailer so<br>that he can easily detach the submarine from the trailer while he wears<br>chest-waders. This allows him to tie the sub to the dock and then park the<br>truck and trailer. He can launch or recover the submarine himself in five<br>minutes with no other help or equipment needed.<br><br>It was a good time and the dive was good (Shelley and I do a lot of low viz<br>dives). A better viz day in the spring or fall would have made a more<br>interesting photo shoot. None the less, we had a good time.<br><br>Tim<br><br><br>-----Original Message-----<br>From: Personal_Submersibles [mailto:<a ymailto="mailto:personal_submersibles-bounces@psubs.org" href="mailto:personal_submersibles-bounces@psubs.org">personal_submersibles-bounces@psubs.org</a>]<br>On Behalf Of hank pronk via Personal_Submersibles<br>Sent: July-23-15 5:09 AM<br>To: <a ymailto="mailto:personal_submersibles@psubs.org" href="mailto:personal_submersibles@psubs.org">personal_submersibles@psubs.org</a><br>Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] dive report<br><br>Hi all,<br>I went out to Kootenay Lake and did a dive with Tim and Shelly Novak<br>yesterday. I met an engineer from Ontario, I showed him my killer light and<br>he said "why don't you pot the whole thing instead of oil filling" Hmmm I<br>had no response, he also said they have potted LED's for use in chemical<br>environments. I use a crystal clear casting resin for making electrical<br>penetrators. Might be worth a try.<br>Hank<br>_______________________________________________<br>Personal_Submersibles mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org" href="mailto:Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org">Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org</a><br><a href="http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles" target="_blank">http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles</a><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Personal_Submersibles mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org" href="mailto:Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org">Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org</a><br><a href="http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles" target="_blank">http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles</a><br><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></body></html>