SeaPerch 2013

In pursuit of our desire to promote interest in naval architecture and marine engineering through the SeaPerch project, we at CMA-SNAME built one ourselves so that we could experience the process firsthand and thus be able to lead groups of high-school-age children in its construction.

This was conducted over five different build dates from 26 March 2012 to 13 April 2012 with following CMA cadets: Aaron Wong, Brendan Davis, Davede Thompson, Lee Morrow, Leo Sarrade, Lydia Nelson, Piotr Orzechowski, Rose Hendrix, and William Antrobus.

Throughout the build, we followed the standard base model suggested by the SeaPerch manual. The main structural material used was PVC pipe. After completing the construction of the base structure, we followed up with the waterproofing and mounting of the two thrusters. Next we soldered the control box to the control switches and motors. After we wired and soldered all the parts, we checked for any shorts in the circuit, tested all the controls, and prepared for the final step in the SeaPerch build process.

Lastly, we had to ballast and test the SeaPerch in the water. For ballast we used a clamp with a bolt attached onto which we could place a varying number of metal washers. We elected to use this method because it was simple, the clamp could be easily moved to various parts of the frame to adjust trim, and we could also easily add or subtract ballast (amount of washers) to adjust for different payload expectations, water conditions, SeaPerch modifications, etc...