While slaying jets (troubleshooting) on the flight deck of the USS New Taxes (CVN-77) I was required to wear a water activated strobe light incase I went for a thrust induced swim. It just occured to me that a strobe light like this: Revere See-Me LED attached to the ship's rescue float might help locate the vessel in deep or murky water.
Easier way, don't battle in deep or murky water unless you like to panic over losing a $500+ ship. Concentrate on learning the systems from boats and builds on this site. Ask questions so you get a plan together so when you start building you will be ready. I think you wanted to do steampunk, this is a very new group but the technology is the same. Once you have battled, you will be able to tell when your ship is in trouble, and you can steer closer to shore if you are going to sink.
They look like they might be a bit bulky for the job. Our ships tend to be a bit wet though, they might never turn off over the day
anybody consider an emergency auto-inflator from a float coat as a recovery alternative in deep/murk/etc? I'd love to just stick to quiet millponds and such, but Alaska doesn't have any. all of ours are either glacial silt-loaded, 500+feet deep, or clogged to the gills with weird stuff (ie: not just the boat will get stuck down there--you may die in the recovery attempt). I think there are three lakes/ponds in the entire state that do not have at least one of those hazards present. plus, you know, cold enough to kill you. Goose, Sand, and Lower Fire lake are as close as we get to not dangerous, and wading into their shallows is pretty painful even in summer. I'd prefer a boat recovery just for safety reasons. I use float coats at work, and have been considering getting one, gutting it up, and attaching the inflation cord to a servo. the idea would be: 1: to have the antenna attached to the stack so that when the boat goes down it still gets a signal when the stack is floating 2: use the servo to trigger the CO2 inflator on the float coat 3: recover using a packraft I think this is kosher, since it'd be purely for recovery post sinking, and would not function as positive buoyancy damage control. Has anybody done this, or thought such a thing through? Like, this ain't no joke, people literally die in lakes here all the time from cold-shock triggered drowning, and unassisted recovery would often require a 900 dollar dry suit to prevent hypothermia/death even in our more placid environs. Alternately, possibly use a heavier gauge line between the hull and a floatable portion of the superstructure, and have the float coat attached to part of the superstructure, so the positive buoyancy would be isolated to the super only. I I think that may even be a better mounting option than having a giant CO2 balloon in the hull..
There are a few methods that have been used successfully. Many years ago, a battler in the northeast made a recovery device that used the boat's CO2 system to fill a large balloon that would float the boat to the surface. It required a 75 MHz radio so he still had control of the boat once it sank (2.4GHz radio signals don't make it through the water). Very good design, but probably beyond what is needed The idea about a floating superstructure has also been used successfully, several battlers in my area have used it for a number of years. Keys to success are making sure that the superstructure has enough buoyancy (i.e. mostly foam, and the 'main' part of the superstructure), using a large enough line (I use 3/32" braided line that I got a large spool of online, plenty strong enough and doesn't fray), having the spool of line attached to the bottom of the superstructure vice in the boat, and having a solid anchor point on the boat (I use through-hull bolts). Here is a picture of the spool on my California I would recommend going with the floating superstructure idea, and making sure your pump works before any sea trials
Cool, I'll bring her out to the lake, and hold off on any CO2 tomfoolery and deliberately sink it a few times in a safe spot to test the superstructure idea (my cabin has a stand up shower, lol). If I do run a CO2 system, I could tie the lanyard off to the recovery line in a way that it automatically deploys when the line reaches a critical tension, eliminating the need for a radio activation. Obviously I will have to stupid-proof it Thanks for the input. It's nice to spitball silly ideas and get some common sense in return
If you are using a pond with a smooth bottom you can use a fishing pole to recover ships (sunk or disabled). I have recovered 1/144 BB's from 30' of water and no one got wet or took a chance on drowning. It works on subs that have no recovery device due to them submerging or room for fancy floation.
That's my battle plan for now. we've one lake in the area that is sandy, smooth, and clear so it's the primary. I'd probably bend back the barbs on a 2" treble and dull the tips, but it sounds like a good plan.
If it is a local battle, fill the hull with foam scraps. This should let you settle without sinking in deep water, but you can still slug it out. You will start to get a feel when your boat is in trouble and bring it closer to shore to finish the fight and sink. If it is deep, be thinking of what to do if you go out of control. Are you using rope and noodles to stop a ship from going too far out? Do you have a john boat to retrieve a boat from shore? Just some thoughts
yeah I'd have a packraft, and have filled the underside of the bow panel with expando-foam, such that it will either leave the boat suspended in the water column if the float deploys, or if it doesn't the bow will be just below the surface. I'd probably raft out to rescue an out-of-control boat, because that kind of infrastructure is a little much here in AK. the big issue is the monster winds rolling off the chugach. we can go from goose eggs to hurricane force in a matter of minutes sometimes, so worst case Ontario the lake I'm planning to use is small enough to fight through with a raft to rescue a boat before things go crazy. Paddling in a bad gale is insane/fun.
