Water in my WTC - when my albacore goes deeper than 4 ft

[liftmys10]

When i pass the 4ft depth, i get water in my WTC. I can stay at the 3ft mark all day long with no water in teh WTC but as soon as i pass the 4ft mark, water leaks in. How can i find out where its leaking in??

[jdlockh]

Do you have a pool

Do you have a pool or access to a pool? If so, you can pull the WTC out of the hull. Keep the top of the WTC on and screwed down. Hold the WTC about 4 feet down or till you start seeing bubbles.


James

[JWLaRue]

Okay...I gotta ask the question]After

Okay...I gotta ask the question]After 5ft deep, water pressure takes over my sub[/url]?

What was the result when you followed the advice of the designer of the kit, Skip Asay?

-Jeff

[liftmys10]

Okay...I gotta ask the question]After

Okay...I gotta ask the question]After 5ft deep, water pressure takes over my sub[/url]?

What was the result when you followed the advice of the designer of the kit, Skip Asay?

-Jeff

No luck, it still leaks. Ive tried everything possible. I dont see ANY bubbles!! I believe inside the WTC at 4-5 ft it is vacuum so water leaks in without air bubbles escaping! Is my assumption correct? Am i supposed to see bubbles?

[JWLaRue]

There's not going to be

[color=#000000]There's not going to be a vacuum inside the WTC. However water could leak into the WTC without any bubbles or air escaping if the WTC is deep enough for the water pressure to overcome the internal pressure. However, at the reported five feet of depth I find it hard to see how the amount of water that you have reported finding inside could happen without air escaping.

Having said that, I'm a bit confused. In your November 19th posting you noted]

[liftmys10]

Having said that, I'm a

[color=#000000]Having said that, I'm a bit confused. In your November 19th posting you noted]

I dont remember that far back but i believe i saw big bubbles maybe once or twice. Most of the time i dont see any.

[slats]

Ok so what's the problem

[color=#000080]Ok so what's the problem here? I thought we have covered this before......
That is Skip and others posted the instructions for Albacore's WTC product limitations which are again]



Edited By Slats on 1113868832

[liftmys10]

This means at more than

This means at more than 4 feet its not surprising you have a problem.
This also means there is nonething wrong with the product you bought. Its just not designed / or implied to work beyond 4 feet.
Is your problem now that the WTC is leaking less than 4 feet down?
If not then the answer to your problem has been answered.
My Alfa using a 5mm thick walled lexan tube and 10mm PVC end caps has successfully gone to 5 metres down 16.4ft in a Olympic dive pool. There were no leaks in the WTC. Why? Its designed to go this deep - it can handle that pressure. Despite signal loss kicking in at 4.5 metres the WTC held all the way to the bottom.
I am sure as someone who scuba dives with your WTC you understand water pressure.
If I have miss understood your question - I apologise in advance.
Regards
John

Hey John,

You understood correct. My wtc starts to leak after 4ft deep. I just thought it would be able to go to the bottom of the pool (9ft) safely without worrying about leaking in water. Has anyone modified the wtc to go deeper than 4 ft? If so how? I have a hard time keep my sub above 4 ft. Sometimes it goes deeper without me noticing it. By the time i do notice that im deeper than 4ft, its too late and she starts to sink due to the extra weight of water that the WTC took in.

[slats]

To go deeper you simply

To go deeper you simply need a more pressure resistant water tight cylinder (WTC).

Please remember your sub is a fantastic value for money item. You get an awful lot of bang for your buck with the Albacore. (No Subtech aren't paying me for this - its just common sense. If you do the Math on what you get the Albacore is great value.)

WTCs made from lexan etc are available for purchase through places like D&E miniatures and others. Check the vendors list on this site for people who sell WTCs and WTC components.

Before you consider a new WTC, you said you had a hard time keeping above 4 feet. Do you have a correctly installed automatic pitch controller (APC)? If not, its not surprising you depth is hard to control. I have the SubTech one installed on my Alfa and can maintain any depth at ease.
Whilst my WTC can survive significant pressures (i have had it at 5m / 16.4 ft), I spend most of my time no more than about 3 ft down or at periscope depth. Why? You get signal loss beyond about 4.5 m in perfect conditions, and how often do we sail in water or at a location that we could call "perfect" Further at depth its real hard to see. I only go deep in controlled environments like Olympic pools. At my local lake I never go deeper than periscope depth.
Hope that helps
John

[liftmys10]

Thanks John, I havent installed

Thanks John, I havent installed the APC3 yet. But what i meant was that when im steering it, sometimes i go deeper than 4 ft by accident without knowing because im not used to it even if i had the APC3 on. You're right on that i wouldnt want to take my sub deeper than 3 ft in the lake because you cant even see it.. But what if it accidentally goes deeper... Now i have to worry about water leaking in and the sub not coming back up at all due to teh extra weight of teh water in the WTC. To me having a WTC that goes 12ft deep is like having insurance that at that depth my sub is still safe. The deeper the sub can go without water leaking in, the more insurance coverage i have. I dont plan on going any deeper than 3 ft at a lake. If im at 3ft at the lake, it is too close to my WTC's crush depth. I want to be confident that it will go beyond the 3ft mark without any trouble.

[JWLaRue]

Reasonble thing to be concerned

Reasonble thing to be concerned about....so, again, reinforce the iside of the WTC to make it able to withstand higher pressures.

-Jeff