Gato Test Tank.

[bigdave]

Gato Test Tank.

I was trying to find suitable test tank to trim the Gato out in, as my bathtub is just not long enough to get the job done right. And as we in the great white north can’t float our boats in our water (ice) this time of year, I need an indoor substitute. I don’t want another listing problem again at the Y next month. What I thought was close to adequate trim weight turned out to be lets say WRONG!! She sat quite well at decks a wash but when I brought her up she flopped over like a dead herring!! Not very lady like!! So I had a few cups of coffee (none of this ice crap Rick) and started to think. I checked different sources for a nice size tank but could only find hot tub sized ones and I did not want one that large. Then it hit me! BONG!! I had purchased one of the large clear plastic containers used to store Christmas wrapping paper in to use as a WTC test tank. I took some measurements and found out that if I cut the bottom section in half vertically and reattach it at the top I would have a 54”x 9”x 8” container. Just large enough to put the Gato and some water in and float that sucker. Cool!! The container even had a nice flange lip I could use to attach the sections back together. How could they have made this easier for me!! So I marked up the container with a cut line and got my trusty moto-tool and let the chips (plastic dust) fly! What a XXXXXX mess! But it worked, I had two half’s. I glued them together with my favorite bonding agent for this type of plastic Marine Goop!! I will also add some reinforcing nuts and bolts to the flange. My next step is to make a simple cradle to hold the tank in so the water pressure does not flex the side and flood me out. I will post more photos when I get it done. This should work out great! If is doesn’t just listen for the splash and the loud profanity!! BD.

[dietzer]

That's a great idea, Dave!

That's a great idea, Dave!

I'm gonna go buy one of those just so I can make a tank out of it!

Carl

[bigdave]

Sorry for the long time

Sorry for the long time between updates.
I have got the test tank done. Once it dries I will test it tomorrow. I have added screws around the sealing flange a drain on one end and you can see the simple cradle it sits in.
The cradle supports the tank as it is not flat on the bottom and also adds extra side bracing. I don’t want the tank to flex.
You can see I have shown it with two subs inside. My Neill XVIIb and the Gato. Both fit with no problem and should trim out nicely inside the tank.
Water is required for this. Ha!! I will let you know how it goes. BD.

[bigdave]

Well it works!! http://www.subcommittee.com/forum/icon_biggrin.gif The

Well it works!! The test tank.
No leaks and I have started final trimming of the Gato.
I finally felt good enough to go down to the Dockyard and work today. My sick time did one thing. It forced me to work on the manual and pricing for the Gato cylinder. Doing the manual is my least favorite job. I will be announcing the different options and pricing this week on my web site. Here are a few photos of the foam and lead used for trimming. I am using some lead wire I purchased from McMaster. It is 1/4" diameter and works great. It can be easily bent and you can calculate the weight per inch. The foam is the new Cellfoam 88 sold by Midwest. I purchased the 10mm sheet cut off sections and slit them most of the way through every 1/4". This allows me to form the foam around the hull curve. Great idea! Thanks Seahorse!! I use aquarium RTV to attach it to the hull. I hope to finish the trimming tomorrow and will post some photos. BD.

[anonymous]

To clean, too pretty and

To clean, too pretty and the darn thing works too. Dave it looks great. It's driving me nuts I can't get to mine. But what the heck. You need your 212 soon I can tell. This will be finished soon and what's a poor boy to do. Not that you don't have a million other kits under the bench. But a good man just has to have a 212. Right? Back to work for me. Sand fill, sand fill. Then glass. Every bodies favorite part right? Wrong!!


Steve

[pirate]

Hey Dave,

Were'd you get the

Hey Dave,

Were'd you get the water for your test tank? What kind did you use? Have you tried the dihydrous-oxide yet? Be careful though. It's odorless and colorless. It works great, but don't inhale it, it'll kill you.

If I can find the right kind of water, I'll have to build myself one of those test tanks. NICE.

Pete

[boss subfixer]

Pete this reminds me of

Pete this reminds me of a very funny thing that happened.
When I worked for E.B. at the base in Groton we had to deal with the hazmat manager from time to time, well she put the word out that from various inspections she and her team had done they found some instances of containers not being properly labeled. We took some time and inspected our shop to make sure we were in compliance with the labeling requirement and found a couple of containers that needed to be fixed. One of the containers was a 5 gallon jug of distilled water, The navy guy (read bored nuke) affixed the labels with all the appropriate markings for the contents but under chemical name he put dihydrogen monoxide which gave me a pretty good chuckle. He then put the container back on the shelf where he found it, due to what it is this was fine. As luck would have it we got an unannounced inspection early that very afternoon and upon finding the jug of dihydrogen monoxide proceeded to flip out and got the command involved with this blatant disregard for procedures. The whole thing culminated into a bunch of low level officers converging on our shop, pacing around, hands flailing and a lot of talk about fines and jail time and what ever else they could come up with to make themselves sound important. Someones head was going to roll over this.
Well this navy guy that wrote the label out finally decides that it's time to let the cat out of the bag and explains to all that were in attendance just what was in the container and what this name actually meant. You could have heard a pin drop and the look on their faces was priceless.(oh to have been able to have a camera). The hazmat manager turned a few shades of red, tucked her proverbial tail between her legs and promptly left. We all got a pretty good laugh from this when the shop finally cleared. For a few days afterwards she would still lower her head and turn red when ever someone from our shop would see her in the hallway. We did by the way have to change the label so that this would not happen again.

Don
P.S. After thinking about it I felt something with my story wasn't quite right. Upon looking up the term Pete used and the one I thought was correct for my story I changed it. Thanks answers.com. And Pete your still works.

[bigdave]

I guess I should be

I guess I should be glad I did not inhale any. I hate it when that happens! BD.