The SNORT System!

During WWII the Dutch were the first to develop a Snort System. This was soon
capitalized on by the Germans and further adopted by the British in the 1950s. By
breathing air into the boat through a periscope height tube, the submarine could
recharge batteries and stay unseen for many days. Being at periscope depth also
avoided detection from sonar.
It would therefore seem reasonable that model submarines adopt the same idea, and
this gives them many advantages over current model diving systems. Lets establish
some facts regarding model dives.
Deep dives are very infrequent and not desired, as the boat is often out of sight.
Periscope depth, or just below the surface, is the normal depth.
There are many ways to achieve this operation, and they ALL currently have
disadvantages.
RCABS (RCAB-R) & Piston Systems. Expensive, high maintenance, prone to leaks,
many mechanical and electrical parts, difficult to assemble, takes up space, difficult to
get boat to correct waterline trim, not for amateurs. Air pump works hard to push against
the bladder.
Gas Systems. Although gas systems have none of the problems associated with the
other systems, their operation needs to be monitored to ensure sufficient gas is on
board. Of course, the argument is also that gas costs a little money.
The SNORT system revolutionizes the ballast tank problem. Taking up no more space,
the system sucks air through the Snort tube in the sail/conning tower, and blows the
ballast tank in a stately scale-like manner. The existing Sub-driver system has a servooperated valve, which vents the ballast tank to submerge. Almost limitless amounts of
shallow dives can be commanded. When a deep dive occurs, or a fail-safe system kicks
in, the normal gas system operates, blowing the tank to surface the boat.
The low pressure compressor can still operate if the Snort is underwater and the pump
is still running. The pump will simply pump water into the ballast tank, which will exit
through the holes in the bottom of the ballast tank, and not effect the buoyancy of the
boat.
How big is my boat. The answer will determine where and how you sail it. A six feet
long submarine is not a swimming pool toy, and is really only able to sail in lakes or
larger ponds. It is therefore subject to certain hazards, like weed, fishing lines, shopping
trolleys etc. etc. A Revell 144 scale Skipjack at 13 long will run in a bathtub, so
recovery is simple.

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Where am I going to sail this boat?

A paddling/swimming pool
or pond where I can easily
recover it?

You have no real need of a fail-safe system. A Snort

only setup is ideal.

A deep pond/lake with

clear visibility?

You can deep dive, so a fail-safe system is important.

Carry a charge of Gas to recover from deep areas.

A deep pond/lake with

mirky/weedy waters

Advisable not to lose sight of the boat, so periscope

depth only. Gas advisable, but not vital. Do not deep
dive.

The Snort system on its own, will not recover the boat from a deep dive or accident,
there needs to be another system to bring the boat back to periscope depth or the
surface. For most boats, trimming for Snort correctly will solve the problem.
When installing The Snort system, the boat will be ballasted and trimmed so that with
the ballast tank full of water, the boat sits in the water with just the tip of the Snort tube
visible. When under way the motor thrust will push the boat deeper, but when the
motor is switched off, the boat will surface. No fail-safe is necessary. However, very
deep dives will effect the buoyancy of the boat, and at some point the water pressure
will overcome the buoyancy of the boat. It is in this situation that a charge of gas is vital
to blow the ballast tank and surface the boat. A pump blowing into a bladder will not
have the same depth recovery capabilities as a shot of gas.
This is a 39 Moebius Models Seaview with its D&E
Sub-driver. The Snort system is to be installed within
the DRY compartment of the Sub-driver.
Using Plasti-dip, the pump motor can easily be
waterproofed and installed outside the cylinder on
certain models.
Here you can see the Snort tube being installed into
the sail.
Two types of pump are available. The smaller unit is
ideal for installation into models like the Trumpeter Kilo
and Seawolf, and pushes out 1 pint of water per minute
with a discharge head of 3 with only 4.5 volts at the
motor, a bit below nominal voltage for this unit.

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The space-saving Mini Pump Controller (MPC) mounts

directly to the back of a mini Snort pump allowing you
to save precious WTC volume and simplify installation.
Just plug the MPC into your receiver and wire the
pump power lead to your 6V to 12V battery and youre
ready to blow!
The MPC also features optical isolation and onboard
filtering to keep noisy motor currents from returning
through your receiver and interfering with your signal.
In the event of lost radio reception the MPC will
automatically remove power from the motor and failsafe to an OFF state.

Here are both pumps.

The pump controller for the larger pump.

Here is the assembled system in a

smaller 2.5 Sub-driver. The pump
and controller are inside the
cylinder, and their in-put and out
put tubes are connected to the
manifold on the end-cap. They
continue along the top of the
cylinder to the ballast tank area,
where another manifold diverts
one tube into the ballast tank, and
the other upwards towards the
Snort tube in the conning tower.

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The tubes are pulled away from the

manifold to enable the Sub-driver end cap
to be removed for maintenance etc.

This is another type of manifold for holding

the Snort tube in the vertical position.
Normally, this would be glued onto the top
of the Sub-driver. Manifolds can easily be
made from Quickwood putty and brass
tube.

Snort Systems
http://www.caswellplating.com/models/snort.html

Pumps
http://www.caswellplating.com/models/pumps.html

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