Dale
Pro Diver
Posts: 141
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Post by Dale on Nov 2, 2008 16:18:54 GMT -8
Pat, it is so cool what you are doing, keeping 20,000 leagues alive! I wanna come over and dive with you!
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Post by Nemo on Nov 2, 2008 21:16:52 GMT -8
Pat, it is so cool what you are doing, keeping 20,000 leagues alive! I wanna come over and dive with you! Thanks Dale. It's always been a dream of mine to make this kind of diving available to other people. The real job cuts down on my free time, but one of these days, who knows? We have two rigs working right now...the most of three actually. I've got two more helmets under construction, and a couple more planned for the future before I retire. It would really be nice to get a bunch of people together to recreate Captain Nemo and his Crew walking around underwater. About the restored Leagues helmet: I've posted a page on my website telling the story of where it came from and how we came to restore and dive it. Here's the link: www.vulcaniasubmarine.com/54.htmVBR, Pat
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Post by OystrPir8 on Nov 2, 2008 22:43:15 GMT -8
Gotta say, You've truly inspired me. I've never seen the movie. Just bought it. What you're doing truly captures the imagination. I DID however work on a film with Kirk Douglas a few years back. I didn't realize that he was in 20k Leagues. Cool! But not NEARLY as cool as diving your gear!! I really want to see the videos when you get them up. Does your speargun work? I don't really understand how pneumatic spearguns operate. Here's a couple of pics. Im a little pissed that he has a better head of hair than me at 89 years old.
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Post by Nemo on Nov 3, 2008 2:37:19 GMT -8
Gotta say, You've truly inspired me. I've never seen the movie. Just bought it. What you're doing truly captures the imagination. I DID however work on a film with Kirk Douglas a few years back. I didn't realize that he was in 20k Leagues. Cool! But not NEARLY as cool as diving your gear!! I really want to see the videos when you get them up. Does your speargun work? I don't really understand how pneumatic spearguns operate. Here's a couple of pics. Im a little pissed that he has a better head of hair than me at 89 years old. Wow. Working with Kirk Douglas. Now THAT'S cool! For the video, look around and find the double-disk special edition DVD that came out in 2003. It includes a great documentary on The Making Of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Kirk has some great parts in that. Worth the price even if it only had that documentary, but there's lots more bonus stuff, and the movie, of course. Yeah, the gun can fire a spear. Simple pneumatics. A tank, a valve, and a spear close-fit into the barrel. (I use the spear from my Beauchat pneumatic spear pistol. If I really wanted to get wild, I could replace the barb with my 44. mag powerhead. ) Depth probably does have an effect on such things, but I only did it for grins and wouldn't take it deep on a serious hunting trip anyway. Check out the original Creature From the Black Lagoon movie. Richard Denning has one that seems to work about the same. The basic design has been around for ages. Leon Lyons has an old green one in his collection; I think there's a pic of it on his page at VSC. VBR, Pat
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Post by crimediver on Nov 3, 2008 14:58:46 GMT -8
Nice job on the restoration. Very cool and looks like a ball to dive.
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Post by crimediver on Nov 3, 2008 15:10:27 GMT -8
Nice job on the restoration. Very cool and looks like a ball to dive.
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Post by Nemo on Nov 4, 2008 0:17:32 GMT -8
Thanks CD. I'm gonna be totally honest about this: yes, it's a ball to dive a Leagues rig. The movie got me started in the 50's, and building replica gear and now diving an actual Disney helmet has been the realization of a childhood dream for me. Being inside the suit underwater is a unique experience, and everyone who's done it said they really had a great time. That said, all the work of donning and doffing the suit, and your dependence on other people to help you; walking around on a rocky bottom with those big heavy boots on; coping with the weight of all the extra lead necessary to offset the buoyancy of the gear; well, that's the "labor" part of this "labor of love." I really dig doing it, but I've gotta say it's also really nice when the hard-hat diving and picture taking are done for the day, and I can just toss on a tank and flop into the water with my mask and duckfeet. Cousteau was right, and IMOHO, just your plain ol' swimmin' around and SCUBA diving is still the best way to go, all things considered. VBR, Pat
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Post by scubadiverbob on Nov 4, 2008 12:02:05 GMT -8
Way cool Pat !!!! If I ever make it to HI you'll have to let me try it out! The Navy still owes me 4 days max. Liberty in Hawaii (I never got) for getting a 99.5% on my in-serve inspection after 89 days off the coast of iran during the hostage crisis.
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Post by Nemo on Nov 4, 2008 13:25:04 GMT -8
Way cool Pat !!!! If I ever make it to HI you'll have to let me try it out! The Navy still owes me 4 days max. Liberty in Hawaii (I never got) for getting a 99.5% on my in-serve inspection after 89 days off the coast of iran during the hostage crisis. Thanks Bob! We'll definitely keep you in mind. For me, there won't be much of any diving or work in the shop for the next 90 days. Been neglecting my "real job" and physical fitness for too long. Gotta stop taking so many days off, and get back into a structured exercise / diet program. VBR, Pat
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Post by BLT on Nov 4, 2008 16:02:20 GMT -8
Hey Pat! You're famous! You and the submarine got posted to Boing Boing, one of the websites I frequently visit, so you will probably be getting even more traffic and interest in your stuff! Here is the link to what they posted on Boing Boing www.boingboing.net/2008/11/04/working-replica-naut.html
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Post by infidelxx on Nov 4, 2008 20:21:43 GMT -8
Thanks Duckbill! Nawww..this Halloween I'll be dressed as an old fat guy. Come to think of it, I do that every day. And thanks also, John. Unfortunately I'm going to work tonight and don't have a lot of time to do a detailed overview on what it's like to dive a Leagues rig right now; though that is something I have planned for the future. But I'll try to summarize briefly here: On land, the suit is cumbersome and heavy: it takes some work and help getting into it; but underwater, inside the suit is a very pleasant place to be. You're in a dry environment looking out through viewports with the sites and sounds of the ocean around you; except you're not tied down to an umbilical. It's like being inside a small submarine except you walk rather than drive. As for walking, I think Ty Alley hit it on the head when he said, "This must be what it's like to walk on the Moon." You are virtually weightless in an environment where you can walk around, or float slowly over obstacles in a single bound. It's just a blast! Divers have been known to enjoy it so much, they leap up into the water column and click their heels for the sheer joy of it, before settling gently back down to the seabed. It's a unique style of diving: enjoyed by those who want to know what the Disney Divers experienced while filming the movie that started many of us diving in the first place, and those who are looking for new experiences underwater. It's extreme vintage diving: vintage drysuit, DA regulator SCUBA, and all. The main difference is we're wearing boots instead of fins, and a helmet instead of a facemask. Like other forms of vintage SCUBA diving, the appeal is niche-oriented: like some guys enjoy flying antique taildraggers even though modern high-performance aircraft are available. It's not the only way I'd choose to dive, nor is it the most practical. But it is a lot of fun and everyone who has ever tried it absolutely loved it. VBR, Pat This picture is the coolest damn thing ive ever seen. Very impressive! Im more affraid of you than a Great white!!!!
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Post by duckbill on Nov 4, 2008 21:23:08 GMT -8
Im more affraid of you than a Great white!!!! How about both together, like in Pat's avatar?! Pat, do you plan to keep the helmet wet, give it long dry spells, or retire it eventually? Is it easy enough to keep it corrosion-free?
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Post by duckbill on Nov 4, 2008 21:27:20 GMT -8
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Post by Nemo on Nov 5, 2008 2:36:16 GMT -8
Im more affraid of you than a Great white!!!! How about both together, like in Pat's avatar?! Pat, do you plan to keep the helmet wet, give it long dry spells, or retire it eventually? Is it easy enough to keep it corrosion-free? Wow, THANKS EVERYONE! That faint red glow you see coming from the West is me blushing. DB: it's gonna sit for a while. I'm scheduling the next three months to focus on my job and make some serious improvements in my physical conditioning. I was thinking of building a glass case for it, but diving it again isn't out of the question. Won't be soon, though. The helmets don't really corrode that readily. A little verdigris actually makes them look better. Basically, all I do is soak it for a while in fresh water, and dry it thoroughly. A little compressed air here and there helps dry it out. The leather seals occasionally need protectant: Neatsfoot oil is what most people use. I protect the rubber parts with McNett UV TECH, and if I'm going to store them for a while, I dust them with cornstarch or pure talc (depending on what I have at the time) and seal them into big ziploc bags to protect them from the voggy atmosphere over here. I store the suits that way, too. UVT and dusted; then I put them on big hangers made out of PVC which keeps them "spread eagled" and eliminates creases where cracks can form; and then they are sealed inside big bags I make out of plastic sheeting. The bags are sealed with duct tape, and filled with filtered air from a SCUBA tank. Did that after our big ocean dive event in October 07, and they came out a year later looking as nice and supple as if they were brand new. In the foreseeable future, I will retire and so will all of this stuff. We were talking about that today, in fact. Haven't decided what to do with it all yet. Might offer some to collectors, some to museums, etc. We'll see. But we've got things to do before them. I want to finish the exterior detailing on the sub, and get it into the water with the suits for some serious 20,000 Leagues video and photo sessions. Magazines and TV maybe. There's still a lot of fun to be had. VBR, Pat
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Post by Nemo on Nov 15, 2008 15:46:41 GMT -8
Hey Pat! You're famous! You and the submarine got posted to Boing Boing, one of the websites I frequently visit, so you will probably be getting even more traffic and interest in your stuff! Here is the link to what they posted on Boing Boing www.boingboing.net/2008/11/04/working-replica-naut.htmlWow! You're not kidding! I'm surprised by where this is going. Myself, I'd never heard of Boing-Boing or Dethroner; but apparently they have a pretty big participant base. I checked my server stats and it seems like this article and ones related to it are having an "echo effect" on the Internet. Looking at my server stats, I was prompted to GOOGLE terms like Pat Regan Nautilus and Pat Regan Vulcania Submarine, and found many pages of new references to myself. I knew my website was being seen in many countries, but lately we're even big news in Serbia. Serbia?? Whodathunkit? I never knew what "Steampunk" was, either. ( A sci-fi genre focused on 19th century technologies.) Well, it seems there are a lot of people into steampunk, and apparently they really like my work. Some of what's being said is so flattering, if it keeps up, I may never get my head inside a diving helmet again. All I can say (beyond thank you) is, "An amazing thing, this Internet." VBR, Pat
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