timhunkin/bathyscape

engineer

tim .

. hunkin

cartoonist

THE BATHYSCAPE

Watch estate agent fish gazzumping

See retired, executive fish in their luxury homes

Discover the true Robert Maxwell

Be disgusted by raw sewage

Track down the last cod

Witness canisters of nuclear waste mating

You sit inside the ‘bathyscape’ (it seats a whole family), close the doors and turn the dive lever. At this point water rises and fills the portholes (one with TV screen behind) starting your underwater experience. This features executive fish, gazzumping fish and Robert Maxwell amongst others, all filmed in fishtank video. Finally the bathyscape springs a leak (dripping on everyone inside) and the occupants have to turn the reverse thrusters lever to return to the surface rapidly.
The Blue Planet TV series inspired the video - all filmed inside a fish tank. It also seemed a good opportunity to poke fun at Southwold snobbery – the outrageous price of houses and beachuts, etc.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

The chamber is made of roof insulation covered in glass fibre. The water is pumped round by an old central heating pump, with carefully sealed joints to stop the water leaking on the high voltage of the TV tube. The chamber originally sat on of three car inner tubes, with air pumped in and out to wobble the whole contraption about. Nervous that the tubes might puncture, they were eventually replaced by more conventional pneumatic actuators.
The experience lasts five minutes (nearly twice as long as I was originally intending, but it seemed to feel right). The bench is 1m wide and seats two adults - though whole families often pile in and I have seen five adults squeeze inside. It costs Ł2 a go.

The prototype base, showing the washing machine valves and one of the three pneumatic actuators.

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