Mid 1970s Skin Diver magazine article

[Green_Manelishi]

Does anyone remember an article from SkinDiver magazine about a kid who built an underwater "habitat" in a local lake? He planned
stay in it for 24 hours. I remember SD published the story with a don't try this at home kids disclaimer.

 

[Sam Miller III]

I do not recall the article. Can you tie the SDM article into an event in your life or the US which would provide a closer target date? Or perhaps recall the cover? I some how suspect you maybe referring to Dr. Joe Mc Innes's Canadian built Sub Igloo SDM

 

[Nemrod]

I remember it.

But, circa Summer 1969, I and my neighbor turned a jon boat over and anchored it with blocks in the bottom of the lake we lived on as a underwater fort. Then we dove down with an extra tank to fill it with air. My brother claims it came up with about a 3 foot mound of water and bubbles, nearly tumping the pirogue over he was in. Me and Rex simply got lost on the bottom because the viz went to zero. Apparently the blocks were insufficient to hold the jon boat habitat/fort down. We decided that afternoon to instead of building an underwater fort to hike five miles into the swamp and camp out. There we killed a water moccasin with our 22s and then ate him for dinner. My dog, Smokie, decided to go home and get some real food.

N

 

[Rich Keller]

Here is something you could use but not to stay in for 24 hours. Just cut the top off, turn it upside down, weight the frame, add anchors off each corner and turn the valve to the inside so you can vent air while you stay inside. You could also run a hose from the surface to replenish the air or hang tanks on the frame for that.

 

[elmer fudd]

It's going to take an insane amount of weight to sink an underwater habitat.

Lets say you make your underwater fort 6' by 6' by 4'. That's 144 cubic feet and a cubic foot of saltwater weighs 64 lbs, so you need over 9000 lbs just to keep a modest shelter like that submerged. But it doesn't stop there. The 9216+ lbs. you would need would only work with very dense weights like lead. If you use cheap weight like concrete or rocks you'll have to use much more, because they aren't as dense and will displace more water. Engineers figure that a cubic foot of concrete weighs 150 lbs, so by that measurement you would need 16072 lbs of concrete. Of course engineers are generally figuring on supporting the weight of the concrete and their 150 lbs estimate is likely somewhat high so as to include a safety factor into their designs. That means that 8 tons of concrete is still probably a low ball estimate.

I think that if I were to make an underwater shelter I would be looking for existing tie downs that could hold back the positive buoyancy.

 

[Green_Manelishi]

As I recall the "habitat" was a cleaned out oil drum, which did in fact require a considerable amount of weight to anchor. He supplied air via an on-shore compressor. The kid welded a "seat" to the inside so he could rest. He planned 24 hours at a depth of less than 30 feet but he had not considered how cold he would become over a period of hours. Additionally, the air supply hose frequently slipped and he had to keep moving it back into position. Eventually he was so tired and cold that he surfaced. He also had a "wet shed" in which he stored some gear.

---------- Post added April 30th, 2013 at 07:44 PM ----------

I do not recall the article. Can you tie the SDM article into an event in your life or the US which would provide a closer target date? Or perhaps recall the cover? I some how suspect you maybe referring to Dr. Joe Mc Innes's Canadian built Sub Igloo SDM

No life event. Not Joe McInnes.

 

[elmer fudd]

Wow! 24 hours inside an oil drum sounds pretty hellish. It would be like the world's longest, coldest MRI.

Still, you could sink an oil drum with only 1000 lbs or so of rocks, so it wouldn't be that tough to do.

I keep remembering the Seahunt episode where Mike rescues a hostage from an underwater habitat. I'm guessing that one was actually floating in about 4' of water.

 

[Mike Lev]

I just came arcoss a clipping. Could this be what you meant. No date or info on it.