Any advice on a boat to help with my project!

[prv]

The OP is going to have to think hard about the mechanism for releasing his ballast weight at great depth. I'm sure I've read somewhere about hydraulic systems failing to operate because the external pressure exceed that which could be generated by the pumps. I suppose a solenoid would still work if you could find one strong enough.

How about an electromagnet? Unless it requires an impractical battery capacity (I've no real idea how much they use), it has a lot going for it including a failsafe for various problems. Even if the computer locks up with the magnet held on, eventually it will run out of power and return to the surface.

Another idea is a latch that incorporates a pressurised part - at the surface it will expand forcefully and clamp everything in place, but as you pass below the depth to which it's pressurised, it starts to collapse inwards and releases the mechanism. Does require high-pressure engineering though, which I'm otherwise trying to avoid.

Pete

 

[ruaridhmaccallum]

If we're not careful we'll have the thing designed and built before Josh!!
Pass me Branson's phone number......

 

[JoshingTalk]

Dear all,

Sorry to bump up a rather old thread. Whether you supported me or criticised me through this topic, I wanted to share with you the outcome of the project, which I have just released today:

Many thanks,

Josh Taylor

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Well done.
I must admit that when you first posted about this I thought the idea was to send a manned submersible down (you did talk about 3 or 4 people being on board). I thought that was barking mad and I lost interest.
What you have done though is rather more realistic. Well done. I hope the thing does indeed wash up somewhere so that you can recover the data.

 

[Mariner69]

+1

 

[sarabande]

Sorry to be cynical, but you haven't explored the deepest Atlantic trench; you confess to having no idea whether it reached 6000 or 8500 metres. You released a device which sank, floated up again, sent two pieces of data (position and recorded depth) then got itself lost again. Did you consider having an EPIRB to help recover the device ?


I am sure it was fun, apart from the seasickness in the "endless, huge, deep blue, ocean waves" (Force 3), and that you have learned how frustrating real science is, and that you have met some truly intelligent or skilled people. The concerns that people posted years ago have been validated. Freeloading is a fun way of life, but it cannot last for ever. You are old enough to realise that setting an inspirational example for young people is more than creating superficial projects; that's why the DofE has so many testing stages before the Gold Award is made.

I really cannot see how this has progressed scientific knowledge, or left the world (at the end of the day) in a better shape.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Yes.
I hadn't bothered to look at his website before but there is an uncanny similarity in the vocabulary and style. Right down to the "branding" of the individual.

 

[chinita]

I thought that we had a dating agency going for a moment.

 

[bush boat]

I wonder what would happen to an Epirb at that depth!?
Well done lad, you've already done something more interesting than most will do in a lifetime. I find myself embarrassed by many of the comments you received on this forum. Be assured that we are not all like that. Good luck for the future.

 

[Realityhitsyouhardbro]

Anyone interested in what Josh has been up to since his big adventure?
Tywardreath village shop – angry locals demand their money back - Cornwall Reports

 

[sarabande]

A freeloader. Probably well-intentioned but with zilch common-sense and business experience.

 

[Realityhitsyouhardbro]

A freeloader. Probably well-intentioned but with zilch common-sense and business experience.

Josh and his girlfriend turned up here in Cornwall and set up an “entrepreneurs retreat” / “business incubation hub” and set about seeking ways to con local people/charities out of their money.....

The unsuccessful £30,000 bike scheme helped by the Eden Project

They managed to scam local people out of more than £500,000 in total.
They even stole and sold a wind turbine belonging to Bridget Strawbridge valued at about £20,000

Anyway, I’m sure the trip to Puerto Rico was great fun and was such an important scientific mission to see if you can sink a load of electronic crap in the ocean and get it to float back to the surface and not recover it, or any data.

I guess it’s also very important that we also funded his luxury lifestyle for several years, including his trip to LA etc.

what a great guy

 

[Realityhitsyouhardbro]

Anyway, if he ever shows up here on your website again asking for money, or boats, or help, or basically anything else, I hope you will all tell him to go and get a real job and stop dreaming up ways to get rich with zero effort or personal risk.

 

[pvb]

A freeloader. Probably well-intentioned but with zilch common-sense and business experience.

Or just streetwise and able to con people?

 

[pvb]

Anyone interested in what Josh has been up to since his big adventure?
Tywardreath village shop – angry locals demand their money back - Cornwall Reports

Thanks for the updates. I'd read about the village shop in the papers, but hadn't realised he had so many other scams going.

 

[Realityhitsyouhardbro]

Thanks for the updates. I'd read about the village shop in the papers, but hadn't realised he had so many other scams going.

It’s unfortunate, but charities seem to just trust people to be honest and do the right thing.
He received £33,200 to start a bike hire scheme and then asked people to donate their old bikes to be used in the project. The bikes were left to rust in a shed and the money “disappeared” - presumably his fee for supplying his “business expertise” for the project.
Josh and his girlfriend were a very strange pair indeed- they seem to be part of this growing culture of Ultracrepidarianism.......instant experts, so full of self confidence and self worth, to the point where they actually start to believe their own lies.
Hopefully they will be prosecuted soon, although I doubt they will repay any of the money they stole.