Aluminum tube hull

[metalbender]

Getting started on my project. Seven inch aluminum hull, length TBD, three bilge pump thrusters, two led lights, two cameras, on board 14 amp hr batt. Have two 6" domes, in case I fubar one, three motors with props. Have made outside thruster housings, just making the prop adapters out of brass. Going out tomorrow for the joystick and "O" ring to suit the front end assembly. Control will be the relay set up described here. I have an Aqua VU micro 5 dvr camera which will be mounted outside the hull, for real time video. Planning a Go Pro knock-off for the inside. One with a remote control to facilitate on-off control after the ft end is secured. Anything mounted on the hull will be tig welded to reduce through hull penetrations. Landing gear will be alum tube, with removable plugs for weight insertion. Nothing on paper, just stuff randomly bouncing around in my head, although a sketch to remember dimensions helps.
There's a wealth of info here, read a lot, learned a little or was that read a little and learned a lot? Anyway, nice to be here, pics done with photobucket?

[metalbender]

Been a busy month. Made progress, need to figure the C/G and the weight needed for a tad positive buoyancy. Have a 12 in monitor for a live feed from the fish cam. Need to do the wiring on the joystick to the relay block and make up the tether. Weighs in at 21.5 lbs with the battery installed.

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[Ian MacKenzie]

Nice!

[metalbender]

Had it in the water a few times. Control is excellent, nice when you can see it in shallow water. Lacking a compass, one doesn't know it's whereabouts in deep water. The videos recorded have been pretty good, although at 45 feet, the lights are barely adequate. I wound up attaching the tether to a central point on the handle to make vertical handling easier than using the thruster, way too much silt kicked up. I follow the depth on my sonar. The live feed from the fish-cam lets me adjust the vertical simply by pulling up or letting tether out. Have to figure out to post the vids.