After 5ft deep, water pressure takes over my sub

[liftmys10]

Finally after almost 4 years, im almost done with the Albacore! talk about back breaking long hours on this thing just kidding but it did really take 4 years working on and off. My question is, everytime i go past 5ft deep, i guess the pressure of the water allows water to sneak into the radio tank. I have a special something that as soon as it detects a short, it shuts power to the speed control, receiver, etc. so nothing gets damaged. How can i fix this problem? It doesnt leak at all when its at 4 ft of water. i thought i can take it down at least to the bottom of the pool (9ft). Pretty dissapointed. Anyway of making the albacore with stand the pressure of 9ft of water?

[ron]

I have an Albacore and

I have an Albacore and I have had it down to nine feet on occasion and have maintained a water tight wtc. I would first make sure you really torgue down the top half of the wtc. If that does not help double check your seals to make sure there are no leaks. If all else fails seal the wtc and take it into a sink or pool and hold it under for a couple of minutes to see if any bubbling occurs. I have not done this, but some people locate a tube on the wtc that can be sealed. they use the tube to apply a small amount of pressure to internally to indicate any weak points in the seals.

Best of luck

Ron

[liftmys10]

Hey Ron, i've had my

Hey Ron, i've had my wtc in 4ft of water for 8 min. No problems there. Its when i take the wtc past 5ft, i feel a sudden blow. As im holding the wtc swimming with my scuba gear past 5 sft, i can feel a sudden blow on the wtc and huge bubbles as if i completely opened my wtc half. It doesnt leave a small trail of bubbles so i can pin point the location. And i always trq. down those 3 bolts as hard as i can. So thats not an issue. Anyone experience what im saying?

[ron]

Shawn,

Don't know what to tell

Shawn,

Don't know what to tell you on this one. It sounds like your having failure at the foam seal once you reach a certain pressure level on the WTC ( in this case any thing over four feet). I have never had the albacore deeper than 9/10 feet
in a pool and the only time it leaked was when one of the linkage seals was loose. Do you have any spots on the foam seal that might be suspect?

Ron

[liftmys10]

Hey Ron,

Just want to say

Hey Ron,

Just want to say thanks for helping out.. I could have done a better job with the seal foam on the wtc. It does has spots that it shouldn't have because of my messy work. With that said, im certian that it is not leaking from there. When im holding the wtcand swimming past 5ft at a fast rate, you can feel and hear water rushing in and air getting throw out of teh wtc. Its very violent. Now if i take the wtc at a very slow descent to the bottom of the pool, it might not leak till about 6ft But past 6 ft no matter how slow i decend, it will do the same. i wish i can video tape it so you can see.
I know of a simple way to solve this problem and that is not to go past 5ft but thats tough when you are making a turn and it doesnt clear it, so you have to back up and turn at an angle. While doing all this, the sub is now past the 5ft depth because it keeps sinking and you need momentum to go back up.

Does that make sense? Ron, would you happen to have pictures of your albacore? Would like to compare with mine. You can see mine at http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/224451/10

Here are afew pics.

[ron]

Shawn,

There is a picture of

Shawn,

There is a picture of my Albacore and Scratch built British Midget on the 2004 Regatta pages. There use to be some great shots of Skip's Albacore on the 2003 Regatta pages, but I do not see a link to them anymore. You can still see some close up shots of Skip's Albacore on Tim Smalley's site RC submarines. Look under "new" for (more 2003 regatta) photos. It's difficult for me to get photos up as I do not have a digital camera, but I will see what I can do. You may want to try to e-mail Skip or call him to see if he has had anyone else experience this problem. If there are any other questions you have please feel free to e-mail me at rkarpiej@cosmopolitan-cosmetics.us.

Ron

[chips]

I have a SubTech MARLIN

[color=#000000]I have a SubTech MARLIN which uses the same WTC as the ALBACORE. On Page 2 of the kit instructions is a "Disclaimer & Limitations" box. The last paragraph in that box reads]

[liftmys10]

thanks Ron, ill check out

thanks Ron, ill check out the pics.

Chips, ive also read that too and im aware of it. But alot of albacore owners have had it in the bottom of the pool (9ft). I just want to safely run mine in my pool without the fear of saying "ohh too deep pull up! OH too late!" Can i put some extra straps around the wtc to tension the 2 halves together tighter?

Other than that it doesnt steer to well. The turning radius requires my whole pool and mind you my pool is larger than the avg. pools. It almost feels like it needs a larger rudder.

[skip asay]

I’ll use this one post

[color=#000000]I’ll use this one post to reply to more than one post.

Chips -
Thank you! You have shown yourself to be in a treasured minority...someone who reads the instructions!
As mentioned in the instructions, Albacore (and by extension, Marlin) was designed to be an entry level kit aimed at the guy who has never built a sub but would like to try his hand at it. This means it should be as simple as possible, as complete as possible, and as inexpensive as is reasonable. In other words, not requiring an engineering degree, a second mortgage on the house, or a fully equipped shop with tons of scratch building parts and/or experience. I’m not totally objective, but I feel that a complete, fully equipped kit (radio, battery, speed control, leveler, ballast system, etc.) for under $700 is a pretty good deal.
It must also be said that common sense is a mandatory requirement for the builder to bring to the table.

But to achieve this, certain compromises are inevitable. One of these is that the pressure hull is not as strong (depth capable) as a 1/8” wall thickness WTC. That being said, I can vouch for the fact that the Albacore/Marlin pressure hull IS capable of staying completely dry at depths up to at least 13 feet. Been there/done that with several witnesses to back it up.

One of the biggest problems I’ve had with these kits is that people just don’t bother to read the instructions or they don’t believe what they read. Excellent case in point is a post within the last few days asking about what adhesive to use in place of PVC cement. The instructions specify PVC cement because PVC is the material being glued and cement suitable for styrene or ABS is just not good enough. Epoxy leaves even more to be desired.

Another recent post asked about the amount and location of the needed ballast weight]

[slats]

Well said Skip.
The Albacore is

Well said Skip.
The Albacore is a fantastically engineered sub kit, and without it there would be less people entering the hobby. The bang you get for you buck is considerable.
Follow Skip's instructions and you can't go wrong.
John

[tsenecal]

Skip,

correct me if i am

Skip,

correct me if i am wrong, but with "liftmys10" saying his sub kit is 4+ years old, didn't you have a WTC upgrade that strengthened/altered the bulkheads or something along those lines? perhaps "liftmys10" kit is old enough that it predates that upgrade?

[liftmys10]

Skip,

correct me if i am

Skip,

correct me if i am wrong, but with "liftmys10" saying his sub kit is 4+ years old, didn't you have a WTC upgrade that strengthened/altered the bulkheads or something along those lines? perhaps "liftmys10" kit is old enough that it predates that upgrade?

Still doing it as soon as i hit 4-5ft deep. Ive triple checked everything. The 3 bolts that hold the top half of the WTC are super tight. Any other suggestions?

[subtech]

Shawn,

I have just picked up

[color=#000000]Shawn,

I have just picked up on this thread after your recent post.

Unfortunately you don’t say how much water is getting into the WTC after you can “feel and hear this rush of water going in and the air getting thrown out of the WTC” as you pass the 5ft mark’. You did however mention in your first message that it allows water to ‘sneak’ into the WTC, indicating that it was not very much?

One observation I would make is this]

[liftmys10]

hey Dave, i tried both

hey Dave, i tried both with full of water in the ballast tank and full of air in the ballast tank. Both setups yielded with alot of water in the WTC. About more than half way up on the bottom half of the WTC. Enough to cover my receiver, servos, etc. with water. Luckly none messed up because i let them dry completely before turning them back on with power.

Even with the ballast tank full of water, as soon as i pass the 5ft mark, i feel and hear a blow. I see very little bubble. I take it back up and open the WTC and notice water in the WTC. I have my doubts on the WTC gasket. You guys sell that separate?

[subtech]

Hi Shawn,

Yes you can get

Hi Shawn,

Yes you can get a new gasket from Mikes Subworks. If its not the gasket I would take a close look at the joint between the two halves of the ballast tank to make sure that the joint in not split anywhere along the seem. This may be difficult to spot as it may only open up under pressure. To be on the safe side you could always add some more adhesive around this joint. Also have you checked the small 1/8" tube coming out of the bottom of the ballast tank under the WTC? This is the PBU attachment pipe and if the PBU is not fitted this should be blanked off. If it is blanked off, them make sure that it is not leaking.

Dave - SubTech UK