BUILDING AN UNDERWATER BASE Written by Acidous 25. December 2002 Disclaimer: I hereby take no responsibility for what you may do with the instructions within this file. Everything you do will be your own decision, and you must alone take the fall for it. Introduction The underwater base is one of the safest base types when hiding, but of course, there is a chance it will have leaks and get filled with water, so there are some risks included when using it. But a well built underwater base will be as safe as a base on base land. Building The Base There are some important factors that MUST be included in this underwater fortress. The material which is used should be strong. Plastic is not recommended since it easily will be destroyed. Metals, on the other hand, is highly recommended. You might think that the metal will rust, but that is where you are wrong. The metal will not rust(perhaps just a little, but that is over a very long time) because there is no air present. So iron or steel is good, but even better is a strong type of aluminium(which doesnt rust at all), but it is slightly more expensive than iron and steel. Mainly, you will need two(2) parts. One main part where you will be staying when down there, and one airlock. The Airlock The airlock is very important if you want to get into the base without flooding it. It must be a box which is big enough to get a grown person in it, but also so that you may move around in it. You must construct two(2) doors, one where you get into the airlock and one where you go out of the airlock and into the main area. They are easy to make, it's only a metal(use a no-rust metal this time) door with gaskets(those rubber bands) around it to make sure no water comes through. You will also need two(2) fans and two(2) pipes. The fans must be electrical fans and well protected from water, each of the fans are to be placed in the pipes. One of the pipes will work as a drainage, and is put in the bottom of the airlock, and the other pipe will go from the main area to the top of the airlock. The pipe with the fan in the bottom will push the water out, and since the fan on the top pushes fresh air in, the water won't come back. When all the water is gone, open the door to the main area and walk in. Remember to close the door behind you in case someone else is entering the base later. A faster way of draining is to have a hatch in the bottom which you can open and close. So that when you turn the airlock switch to ON it will open, and all the water will fall down to anoter room below, and then be sucked out from there. The Main Module This is the biggest of the areas, and the most important. This is where you will be when staying in your base. It has to be higher than you are tall, so that you may walk straight(otherwise you may get an injury). Fresh air is a very important matter here. You will need two(2) pipes and at least two(2) fans here too. One of the pipes will be an exhaust pipe, and the other will supply you with fresh air. The amount of fans needed is determined by the strength of the fans, and how long the pipes are. If you have long pipes and weak fans, you may need several fans down the pipe to get the airstream all the way down. The exhaust pipe is more important than you might think. If you only have an air pipe, you might experience pressure inside the base, something which we do not want in this case. The fans must be placed so that they push the air down the pipes, they must not suck it, that is because sucking air is very limited and needs much power(ie. it is impossible to suck anything farther than 10 meters). The air and exhaust pipes should also come up on separate places, so that you do not breathe the same air over and over again, it is also wise to let them come up on places where there is no people(ie. under piers or docks). It is important that you check the air pipes before you go down into the underwater base, so that you do not die from lack of air. Lack of air is perhaps one of the most dangerous factor in the base. That is because you cannot see it, if there is a leak, then you can see it. But there are some ways to protect yourself from breathing CO2, or not breathing anything at all. You may have a lit candle. When the candle goes out, and you are unable to light it again, that is when you do not have any more air left, then the only thing you will have to do is to get out. Other things you may find very useful is some portholes(those round windows you often see on movies) to look out through. The reason they are round is that when it is round, it does not have any weaker points, the strength is divided evenly over the whole glass, something which is not the case with square windows. The portholes should be made of thick plastic or plexi glass and have gaskets on both sides to make sure no water comes through. Hold them in place with bolts. You could also have searchlights on the outside of the module, so that you may be able to see if something, or someone, is coming. You should also have lights inside the main module so that you are able to see what is going on. Calculating The Construction Strength The strength and thickness of the material used to build the modules is very important. You do not want a module to collapse while you are in it. Not many people know, but when at same height as the sea, there will be an incredible weight put on everything, but it is something which you do not feel, because the human body is grown in that environment, and is therefore made for being in it. We usually use the following for how much pressure is put on you. A 1x1 meter surface will have a pressure of 1 ton on it. This weight is caused by the air-pillar which is above it(yes, air also weights some - O2 alone weights 32 g/mol, and N2 weights about 46 g/mol). It is also a fact that for every 10 meter you go down in the water, you will have an pressure raise of 1 atmospheric pressure. Something which means that if you are 20 meters beneath the surface, you will have a 3 ton pressure over a surface of 1 square meter. To be on the safe side, you should add about 1 ton more than the lowest limit. Electricity As you might have understood, this underwater base requires electricity to run things like the fans, electric lights and other things. A way to solve this problem is to take electricity from the local area electricity network(which runs above ground). You may hook up with a wall socket in a house and use an extension cord to lead it down to your base, this is the most recommended way. You should bury the cord, so that no one will notice, and your underwater base will stay hidden from others. You could of course also use batteries, but batteries go flat, and then will have a problem with the air. Remember to always have ALL electric devices and item insulated and also connected to earth to make sure you will not get killed by electricity. Heating: Since you are under water, it will be very cold. If you have ever swimmed in the summer, and dived a little down, you will have felt how cold it will become. That is exactly how cold it will be inside your underwater base unless you install some proper heating. You should only use electric ovens. Any fossil-based fuel produce CO and CO2 gasses among many other which will sufficate you without you even knowing it. Electric panel ovens from houses are fine, but of course, any other type of electrical oven will work just fine. Safety And Crisis Plans Your safety in this is the far most important issue concerning this base. That is one of the reasons the base must be properly built. If you do not have a crisis plan, you might hesitate, something which may cause you to die. To make sure you will get air even if there is something wrong with the electric system, someone pulls the plug or the likes, you should use an electro magnetic switch. It is very easy to make, and will not cost you much. The following is the most basic way one of these works. You have two(2) metal plates which lead electricity. They are placed on a insulating base. One of them is attached to the base, and the other is put on rails and with a weak spring which pushes it so that it gets in contact with the other metal plate. Behind the plate with the spring, there is an electro magnet which holds the plate from getting in contact with the other. This electromagnet is ran by power from the main electricity network. Once the power goes off, the two(2) metal plates slam together and the circut is ended. Of course, you will have to connect one of the poles on a battery to the plate. The other pole goes through all the equipment which needs electricity and to the metal plate which is attached to the base. You should use the kind of batteries which is used in cars, that is because they are strong, and last for a long time. An escape pod could be really useful if the base is being flooded or you do not have time to get up. It should be as rounded as possible and the front should have a cone or the likes for a tip. There should be at least 4 BIG bags filled with air, or some other kind of gas on the escape pod. You might have these bags inflate themselves by using the same method which is used in airbags for cars. They use gunpowder, which creates a lot of gasses when burned, to inflate the bags. You could place the escape pod on a set of strong springs for good ejection. You pull a handle inside the escape pod, and the springs is released and you shoot out towards the surface. When you see/feel that you are not moving any more, inflate the bags/balloons to make sure you will reach the surface. It would be good to have a porthole in the escape pod too, so that you know for sure when you are not moving any more and to see if there is something in the way. If sleeping down in the base, you should have a friend or other person who would stay awake when you sleeped to make sure nothing goes wrong. You should change so that he sleeps and you stand guard too. If alone, make a good alarm system. If the power goes and the battery starts, make an alarm go off, a loud continous alarm sound so that you will wake up. You could also use the heat from the candle to make an alarm. When the candle is put out, the heat disappeares, and something which is held up by the heat may fall down and set off the alarm. Always check the air and exhaust pipes before you go down into the base, it would also be smart to check it with fixed intervals. Camouflage Camouflaging the base may be smart if you do not want everyone to snoop around, and in, your underwater base. Cover it with sea leaves, and different plants which naturally grow in the area around your base location. Anchoring Since the modules mainly are filled with air, it will most probably float. That is when you need anchors. Strong anchors which is bolted to the main module and the airlock. these MUST be strong, or your underwater fortress may get loose and float of, with you inside it. Big metal anchors will do, but you chould also using chains, which is bolted both to the modules and the surface which the base is put on. This is perhaps the most safe way, but harder to get loose if you decide to relocate. Rusting/Oxidation As long as it is beneath water, it will not rust/oxidize because of the lack of oxygen. It can not rust without oxygen. That is why you must watch yourself if taking it up from the water. When you take the modules out of the water, and into fresh air, is when the rusting begins. And it rusts very fast. There are a few ways to stop it from rusting. One of the ways is to use an sacrificial anode, paint it with anti-corrosive paint or use an non-corrosive metal. The sacrificial anode is a "weaker" metal which is placed on the outside of the modules. By weaker, it is not meant that you can bend it easier, but that it corrodes easier. An example of a commonly used industrial sacrifical anode is zinc(Zn). You should ask around, or check the tension chart over which metals oxidize the easiest. The anti-corrosive paint is easy to use. All you have to do is to paint the modules with this, it is very important that you paint everthing, do not leave any spots open. It works in the way that the paint is non-corrosive, and therefore protects the metal from corroding. Non-corrosive metals will also work fine, but are often much more expensive than normal metal, and will therefore raise your costs drastically. I would not recommend using this unless you have a lot of money. Using The Underwater Base The underwater base may be used for many different purposes, and will prove very useful for many things. If you wish, you may run a crime league from it. Doing your nasty, and then retreating to the underwater base, but this will only work if no one sees you go to the base. However, one of the drawbacks of the base is that you will get wet when entering it(caused by swimming to it), but that will be no problem if using a dry-suit, or if you have clothes to change into when safely inside the main module. You should always have ovens or some other way to dry clothes and other items which you need to get dry. I will not say much more about this, since it is only your imagination which sets the limits for the use of your underwater base. Expanding Into Underwater Cities If more people decide to build their own underwater bases, you might want to place them near each other, and build passages between them. In that way, with enough people, you will have a small underwater city. You may build a whole society under water, with parks, stores, farms and so on. It is important that not all of the modules is hooked up to the same electricity source. That is because if one should fail, and that modules backup battery won't work, they may enter another module which is hooked up to another powersource. All modules should have air-tight doors which can be closed in a hurry. This will come in handy if one module has a leak or the walls are torn apart by one thing or another. You may then close the door to that part and stop the water from flooding the rest of the modules. Note that there should not be some areas which are more important than the others. With important, it is meant that if that area is flooded, the rest of the modules will be flooded. Such areas do only exist on films. Parks may not be as distant as you think it is. Plant life is based on photosynthesis, which is really an uncomplex thing. The plant uses carbon dioxide(CO2), water(H2O) and sunlight, and it then produces clean air(O2) and sugar(C6H12O6). Sunlight may be "faked" in the same way they do in greenhouses, with strong artificial lights. You may choose to build a large module with a garden of plants in. You should not have many plants in your own module unless you keep the light on 24 hours a day. The explanation is simple. As long as the plants have enough sunlight, they will convert CO2 into O2, which is clean air. But when they do not have any sunlight, they will do it the other way around, they will use O2, and produce CO2. So if the city has one big park module, it should either be under constant artificial light, or the module should be shut off with water proof doors. Farms may be built in the same way as the parks. It must not be used tractors driven by fossil-based fuel, or any fuel which produces CO2 or other toxic gasses. Everything must be driven by electricity. There should not be an overproduction of food, but just enough to feed the people, and maintain a good backup storage. Everyone, except those who have permanent jobs in the underwater city, should shift on being a farmer, tending the gardens, performing maintenance work and the likes. The backup food storages should be in a sort of "basement", which has no heating. This is something which will cause the food storage to have a low temperature(4 C at the lowest) at all times. There should be no politicians in the underwater city. But there should be a permanent board which comes up with things which is needed or may just be fun to do. They vote over it, and if most of the board vote for it, it will be arranged a meeting for all the population of the city and everyone will vote over it. This is what seemed like the best idea to me, but you might think otherwise. Something else which may be good to do, is to not notify the government about your underwater city. In that way, you will not have to pay any taxes, and you will live free in the city beneath the water surface. A way you may live free is to make it look like you have died in some way. There should be no taxes for living in the city either, except the cost of maintaining your own modules, and a small part of the money required for maintaining the public modules, and for buying seeds the equipment the first time a new farm or park module is opened. Not everyone should be allowed to settle in the underwater city. There should be strict regulations on not telling anyone, except some people which may be potential citizens, about the city. Those who wish to settle there should be checked by the board (mentioned earlier) to see if they may fit in the society. You can not afford to have someone who may in time sabotage the underwater city and drown all the citizens. See end of file for Rules suggestion. IMPORTANT construction info: It is very important to remember that the bigger the module is, the more fragile is it. If it has a large surface(like a farm or park) it will be very vulnerable for breaking on the middle. So the bigger the surface/construction is, the stronger must the material be. You may use steel girders to make sure it won't fall apart. Conclusion As you may see, an underwater base is very realistic to make. Even underwater cities is possible to build with little resources. But you must be aware of the risk it is. Nothing is perfect, and nothing will ever be perfect, so there is always a chance of disaster. So it is best to be well prepared the day disaster strike down on you. I hope you enjoyed reading my file, and if you decide to build yourself an underwater base, I hope you will enjoy both building it and using it too. -Acidous E-Mail : acidous_@hotmail.com Site : home.no.net/acidous Rules Of Underwater City: -Everyone is to pay their part of the money needed to maintain the modules at an acceptable state. -Eveyone is to pay they part of the money needed to buy seeds, tools and materials needed to live in the underwater city. -Everyone is to do their job as good as they are capable of. -It is mandatory with air-tight doors in the opening of all your modules. -All fossil- and carbon based fuels are banned. -It is illegal to tell anyone, except chosen persons, about underwater city. -Those who do not obey the rules will be tested by the board. -There are no taxes. -Money is not allowed. If you want something, trade it for something you have traded with someone else, or something you have made.