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Sub success
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| Co-inventors of the first hyper-sub, a watercraft that operates as a boat and a submarine, Reynolds Marion (from left); chief engineer Scott Shamblin; and project manager Gene Mock stand aboard the front of their craft, Fathom. Marion, a Lake City resident who is president and chief executive officer of Marion Hyper-submersible Powerboat Design, LLC, located in Lake Butler, has been making his dream a reality for the past five years. Photos by JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter |
By MICHAEL MITSEFF mmitseff@lakecityreporter.com
Inventor, innovator and Lake City resident Reynolds Marion, designer of the Marion Hyper Sub, a hyper-submersible power boat (HSPB), and his eclectic five-man team recently completed a successful submerged test-dive when the watercraft traveled nearly one-and-a-half miles “without touching the bottom or breaking the surface,” Marion said.
The vehicle is part power boat, part submarine and is the first watercraft of its kind in the world.
“It was a controlled, untethered and unassisted dive with the safety-lift airbags removed - it was our first dive without the airbags.”
That's 12 consecutive successful dives for the first-of-its-kind prototype since its first historic submerged dive Nov. 13 with a nervous Marion at the controls.
It was a feat that nearly all submersible engineers believed to be impossible.
“If we had been able to afford a proper battery load in the prototype during construction, this same boat would have been able to extend the mile-and-a-half submerged distance to more than 34 miles without recharging the batteries,” Marion said.
The prototype carries only two 96-volt AGM batteries rated at 11.4 kilowatt hours. The production models will carry lithium batteries rated at 272 kilowatt hours, a big difference, he said.
“The fuel is the key,” Marion said.
“The fuel can be allocated between surface running and recharging the batteries for continued underwater travel.”
The milestones are coming quickly for this team of adventurers as they push the boundaries of the prototype into unknown waters. It has taken Marion and his team more than five years to get the prototype in the water and working as designed.
“There's getting to be very little left to prove with this boat,” Marion said. “Only thing left is to put a better bow shape on the boat to see if it can achieve its 35-40 knots surface speed.
“We've attained 17-18 knots so far.”
Besides the recreational aspect of the Hyper Sub, the military has expressed keen interest from the beginning.
“We've been invited to speak at the Rand corporation twice in Washington, D.C., because they are conducting an Analysis of Alternatives on behalf of the military's Special Operations Command (SOCOM) to find a replacement for the Navy SEAL delivery system,” Marion said.
“Rand said that they need to create a whole new category for our craft.”
Marion meets today with SOCOM in Tampa, and on Wednesday he will be flying to California to meet with the Special Warfare Command (SPECWAR) to further discuss the hyper sub.
Marion said he will describe the successes he and his team have accomplished during the past few weeks.
“I can tell you in advance that I expect the meetings to go very well,” Marion said. “We've already accomplished what they (SOCOM and SPECWAR) thought we couldn't do. They did not expect this type of news at all.”
The Fathom prototype is 33 feet long, 13.5 feet wide and 6 feet tall.
The production model hyper sub can be configured for recreational use or military requirements. It's powered by twin 440 horsepower inboard diesels with a fuel capacity of 525 gallons.
Top surface speed is projected to be 40 knots in calm seas, and submerged the Hyper Sub can speed along at 3.7 knots for one hour - cruising speed is about 1.5 knots.
Navigational aids include GPS, chart plotting, radar, forward and downward sensing sonar and an
autopilot.
Depending upon the configuration, the submarine can dive to 1,200 feet, with a self-recharging dive system from air and batteries.
Maximum deployment is 45 days, determined by fuel usage and personal stores.
Marion believes that it is only a matter of time before the Marion Hyper Sub is featured prominently in the national media.
“Once we modify the bow, it will be time to introduce the boat to the general public, and we may do that during the Miami boat show in February,” Marion said.
“We believe that it will then begin to appear on the Discovery, Science and Military channels as well as many others,” Marion said.
Marion says he believes that he and the team are about to create a whole new industry - similar to what Microsoft did for computing.
Team members include Scott Shamblin, chief engineer; Gene Mock, co-inventor and project manager; Bob Higgins, professional diver and strategic planner; Tadd Stahmann, project coordinator; and Tim Bryant, hull protection director.
“We are developing one of the most exciting technologies to come out in recent years, and we are still fighting battles to remain funded,” Marion said.
“It's still blue collar grass roots funding at this point.”
If the future is as bright as Marion believes it will be, the return on his and the team's investment could be significant.
“We're not doing too badly for a bunch of guys working out of a garage in Lake Butler who never built a sub before,” Marion said.
The vehicle is part power boat, part submarine and is the first watercraft of its kind in the world.
“It was a controlled, untethered and unassisted dive with the safety-lift airbags removed - it was our first dive without the airbags.”
That's 12 consecutive successful dives for the first-of-its-kind prototype since its first historic submerged dive Nov. 13 with a nervous Marion at the controls.
It was a feat that nearly all submersible engineers believed to be impossible.
“If we had been able to afford a proper battery load in the prototype during construction, this same boat would have been able to extend the mile-and-a-half submerged distance to more than 34 miles without recharging the batteries,” Marion said.
The prototype carries only two 96-volt AGM batteries rated at 11.4 kilowatt hours. The production models will carry lithium batteries rated at 272 kilowatt hours, a big difference, he said.
“The fuel is the key,” Marion said.
“The fuel can be allocated between surface running and recharging the batteries for continued underwater travel.”
The milestones are coming quickly for this team of adventurers as they push the boundaries of the prototype into unknown waters. It has taken Marion and his team more than five years to get the prototype in the water and working as designed.
“There's getting to be very little left to prove with this boat,” Marion said. “Only thing left is to put a better bow shape on the boat to see if it can achieve its 35-40 knots surface speed.
“We've attained 17-18 knots so far.”
Besides the recreational aspect of the Hyper Sub, the military has expressed keen interest from the beginning.
“We've been invited to speak at the Rand corporation twice in Washington, D.C., because they are conducting an Analysis of Alternatives on behalf of the military's Special Operations Command (SOCOM) to find a replacement for the Navy SEAL delivery system,” Marion said.
“Rand said that they need to create a whole new category for our craft.”
Marion meets today with SOCOM in Tampa, and on Wednesday he will be flying to California to meet with the Special Warfare Command (SPECWAR) to further discuss the hyper sub.
Marion said he will describe the successes he and his team have accomplished during the past few weeks.
“I can tell you in advance that I expect the meetings to go very well,” Marion said. “We've already accomplished what they (SOCOM and SPECWAR) thought we couldn't do. They did not expect this type of news at all.”
The Fathom prototype is 33 feet long, 13.5 feet wide and 6 feet tall.
The production model hyper sub can be configured for recreational use or military requirements. It's powered by twin 440 horsepower inboard diesels with a fuel capacity of 525 gallons.
Top surface speed is projected to be 40 knots in calm seas, and submerged the Hyper Sub can speed along at 3.7 knots for one hour - cruising speed is about 1.5 knots.
Navigational aids include GPS, chart plotting, radar, forward and downward sensing sonar and an
autopilot.
Depending upon the configuration, the submarine can dive to 1,200 feet, with a self-recharging dive system from air and batteries.
Maximum deployment is 45 days, determined by fuel usage and personal stores.
Marion believes that it is only a matter of time before the Marion Hyper Sub is featured prominently in the national media.
“Once we modify the bow, it will be time to introduce the boat to the general public, and we may do that during the Miami boat show in February,” Marion said.
“We believe that it will then begin to appear on the Discovery, Science and Military channels as well as many others,” Marion said.
Marion says he believes that he and the team are about to create a whole new industry - similar to what Microsoft did for computing.
Team members include Scott Shamblin, chief engineer; Gene Mock, co-inventor and project manager; Bob Higgins, professional diver and strategic planner; Tadd Stahmann, project coordinator; and Tim Bryant, hull protection director.
“We are developing one of the most exciting technologies to come out in recent years, and we are still fighting battles to remain funded,” Marion said.
“It's still blue collar grass roots funding at this point.”
If the future is as bright as Marion believes it will be, the return on his and the team's investment could be significant.
“We're not doing too badly for a bunch of guys working out of a garage in Lake Butler who never built a sub before,” Marion said.
. wrote on Jan 30, 2008 11:01 AM: