Russian Typhoon Submarine

Actual first sea trial

The first, actual sea trials went pretty well ... considering. Considering what, you say? Well ... considering the weather wasn´t cooperating ... it was overcast and threatening to storm all day; my son lost his wallet the night before and couldn´t come over in time to launch; Jessie (my granddaughter) spent the night and wanted to go swimming in the pool at launch time; my other assistant Sissy (my wife) was distracted with Jessie; it is my first scratch built submarine; and ... I was as nervous as a ... you know what!
	Ok, it was time for the first, true test of my workmanship. Was the beast going to sink all the way to the bottom? Was it going to flip over on its side? Was it going to be perfect in every way? Only time would tell, but first I had to get it into the water. At 51½ pounds it wasn't too bad lifting from the temporary cradle and into the pool. Down she went into the water and filling up inside through the limber holes on the bottom.
When the bow planes sunk below the surface, I began worrying a bit. But ... they stopped sinking just ½" under and then they stopped. The propeller shrouds never did sink below the surface, so what do I have to do. Well, add foam floatation to the bow (there´s plenty of room there) and add a little weight to the stern (there´s plenty of room there also.)
	The port/starboard floatation was just as good. The sub is a little light to port, so when I add weight to the stern, it will be on the port side. If that doesn't correct the problem, a little foam on the starboard side might do the trick. In this pic, you can see the pink foam under the bow lifting the planes up out of the water. The waterline at the bow should be just under the bow planes.
Now its time to check for leaks. Here are the results: Forward Ballast Tank No leaks Forward WTC No leaks in the lid or gasket No leaks in the BHS seal (servo rod) No leaks in the battery terminals No leaks in the electrical wiring exiting the WTC No leaks in the antenna wire or tubing No leaks in the pressure tubing for the ADC-1 (automatic depth control) Aft Ballast Tank Small leak on the threads for the vent valve. This is a problem with the Teflon® tape, but it is easily repaired. No leaks otherwise Aft WTC No leaks in the lid or gasket No leaks in the BHS seals (servo rods) No leaks in the battery terminals No leaks in the propeller shaft tubes Small leak in the electrical wiring exiting the WTC through the waterproof PVC piping which connects both WTC´s Large leak in the bilge pump discharge tube! This was a stupid mistake. I forgot to attach the discharge tube from one of the bilge pumps. Stupid, stupid, stupid! That's what I get when in a hurry to finish! Lesson learned. On a positive note ... when the water sensor detected the water that was entering through the discharge tube, it immediately activated the bilge pump (as planned), but then the pump was simply pumping the water inside the stern WTC (not planned.) Whoops. Neoprene tubing and fittings No leaks Batteries No leaks that I could see. There were no bubbles exiting the batteries, but there was a film leaving the negative terminal on both batteries. I´ll have to check with some other sub-guru´s about this problem. If it is a problem. I´m just not sure at the moment.
	Ok, before the aft WTC and Ballast Tanks filled up too much with water, it was time to check the propellers out to see if they had enough oooomfffff to push the beast along. No problems here. With the Mabuchi 550 12-volt motors, the Graupner Speed-Profi 50 Reverse BEC Speed Controllers, the Master Airscrew 3.0:1 Ratio Gearboxes, the brass stuffing tubes with Oilite bearings and O-ring seals and the 3/16" diameter propeller shafts, she moved along very nicely. In this pic, the propellers are too far out of the water due to the lack of weight in the stern. This will of course be corrected in the near future, and you won´t see the chop created here.
And finally, it was time to go back into the cradle for some drying out. The next step will be to correct the above problems and do another test sea trial in the pool. Next Step - Part 2b - Second sea trial

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