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by coldcode 1099 days ago
Well built or not (clearly not) you could not pay me enough to be bolted into a carbon cylinder going down 4000 meters.

Given the whistle blower this company has no hope of surviving any lawsuits, even if the victims (passengers) signed away their rights.

4 comments

The carbon fiber tube is also sealed from the outside by 10 inch long bolts. There is no way to open it from the inside (not that it really matters at 13,000 ft deep), just to add to the terror.

Yeah, I'm happy to enjoy the views of Titanic wreckage from 4k video footage taken by robot subs, while viewing it in my underwear in front of a 70" OLED tv. In a few years I will probably be able to don a VR headset and swim around the titanic in VR. I'm satisfied with that alternative.

If you look at the pictures linked in the arstechnica article, you can see they used screws in the _carbon_ _fiber_ _hull_ to fix a monitor and lights.

They are really up there with boeing to compete for a price in malicious stupidity.

Obviously not the pressure hull, just sheeting. Probably got wiring, pluming, ventilation, insulation and expansion over probably insulation/expansion wiring and insulation and expansion joint under there before the real hull.

Found a photo looks like you can see the other side.

https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt949ea8e16e46...

And you can't really tell what fasteners are being used either. It could be screwed straight in the side like it's drywall, but it could be something slightly more reasonable.

It's not a contraption I would set foot in, but they reached the Titanic multiple times with it. That can not be done with screw your TV into the pressure hull level stupidity.

EDIT: And the pressure hull is 5 inches thick. That thing looks about a half inch.

I was wondering about that. What would be the proper way of doing it? Perhaps glue…but then you have the screws that hold on the titanium caps. Maybe carbon fiber in general wasn’t a good choice.

Edit: Actually I’m wrong. The hatch is bolted on to a titanium ring, which is glued to the carbon fiber body. So no hatch screws in the carbon fiber. [0]

[0]: https://youtu.be/4dka29FSZac?t=245

Wouldn't they want everything on a inner sled, like a cool looking carbon rollcage, hanging from attachment points, perhaps on Titanium rings on end caps?
I can't see any wires going to their camper world lamp on the ceiling, but I do see what looks like a reworked area in the hull from the back leading to it...
No, no, no. They can't have. Right?
I don't know what a lawsuit would hope to gain - given that the CEO and the company's main asset are gone, I doubt there's much of a company left to sue.
It doesn't even look remotely comfortable for more than a few few minutes - they seem to be sitting crosslegged on a metal floor. Couldn't they spend a few dollars to put a padded seat cushion on the floor?