underwater toy ideas?

[Chris]

I have a 285 gal fuel tank to make something out of. Does anyone have any somewhat inexpensive ideas? one of our lakes someone made a fake submarine out of a big propane tank so you can fill it with air and go inside to talk. I'm a good welder but a bad thinker. Ideas???

[swimjim]

While a ways away from your 275 gallon tank, here's a little food for thought anyway. This is a dive plane I built for the dive rescue squad I'm on. It's pulled behind the boat and operated sort of like an airplane wing. It keeps the diver out of the water stream and makes it easy for him to search for extended periods of time while wearing full gear.

[Chris]

While a ways away from your 275 gallon tank, here's a little food for thought anyway. This is a dive plane I built for the dive rescue squad I'm on. It's pulled behind the boat and operated sort of like an airplane wing. It keeps the diver out of the water stream and makes it easy for him to search for extended periods of time while wearing full gear.

Interesting swimjim, we've actually been talking about how to make one for here. Our problem is limited visibility and lots of rocks so I want to make one with some sort of crash guard. The plexi glass was a good idea. How easy does it keep depth?

[eskimo3883]

Not clear on the shape of the tank but if we're sunk after adding a cockpit, some buck roger rocket fins and maybe some trim ( turning signals, rear view mirror, etc.) it would make a perminent photo opportunity.

[swimjim]

While a ways away from your 275 gallon tank, here's a little food for thought anyway. This is a dive plane I built for the dive rescue squad I'm on. It's pulled behind the boat and operated sort of like an airplane wing. It keeps the diver out of the water stream and makes it easy for him to search for extended periods of time while wearing full gear.

Interesting swimjim, we've actually been talking about how to make one for here. Our problem is limited visibility and lots of rocks so I want to make one with some sort of crash guard. The plexi glass was a good idea. How easy does it keep depth?

With 150 feet of line out you can easily work it at 50 feet. Limited viz is a problem with these things. You need about 10 feet or so to use it safely. By the way, we cruise this thing at about 2.5 mph. That may not sound like much, but you can cover a lot of ground fast with it. I have a Hummingbird 1197 on my boat and the Fireboat has the Lowrance equivelent. We use the Nav features to run nice grid patterns with it.
You can run 6 inches off the bottom if the viz is tight. With better viz you can run 5 to 10 feet off the bottom and see way out to the sides. If you lean left or right and pull her nose up you can run off to the side like you would with a water ski. That way you can scope out something to the side off in a distance.
This is one project I did that exceeded all my expectations. It's easy to use and with the usual exceptions everyone who has tried it really likes it. Being a Fire Dept thing, I even wrote a user manual for it. Ha.

[Chris]

Not clear on the shape of the tank but if we're sunk after adding a cockpit, some buck roger rocket fins and maybe some trim ( turning signals, rear view mirror, etc.) it would make a perminent photo opportunity.

Its a roiund tank with flat ends. I also have available a 275 oval tank with flat ends.